What Is a DAA File
DAA files are yet another disk image file format, invented
and used by PowerISO. This means that a .daa file contains
an exact copy of a CD or a DVD - whether it be a movie, a
game or simply a few gigabytes of accounting data (damn my
perverted imagination).
It’s used to store DVD backups and… eh, who am I kidding
here? If you’re reading this, chances are you got (that is,
downloaded) a .daa file somewhere (that is, BitTorrent or
the like) and are wondering what to do with it. Read on.
Sometimes, when somebody wants to put a “backup” copy of a
disk online, the .daa file format is used instead of the
more popular disk image formats (like ISO, BIN, CUE) because
it supports certain advanced features -
* Compression - a CD/DVD copy stored in .daa file
format may be slightly smaller than a corresponding .iso file.
* Multiple volume splitting – this means that you get
multiple smaller DAA files instead of one huge disk image.
* Encryption/passwords – I don’t think this one is
terribly useful, but you can password-protect your disk
images if you use the DAA file type.
On a side note, it’s possible to get all the aforementioned
benefits of DAA files by simply archiving the ISO disk copy
with WinRAR. This is why you may often see .rar files in
BitTorrent downloads (additional information - how to deal
with RAR files).
How To Open DAA Files
There’s actually only one alternative when it comes to
opening DAA files. To open a file with the .daa file
extension you will need to download PowerISO. After you’ve
installed this program you can just double-click any .daa
file (which will launch PowerISO and open the file) and
extract any files contained in the disk image.
PowerISO can also “mount” DAA files with an internal virtual
drive it creates. This means you don’t need to burn the DAA
file to a disk before you can use it. You can just mount it
and play the .daa file as if it was a real CD/DVD.
At the moment there are no other known DAA converters
available. The .daa file format is proprietary and is not
supported by any CD/DVD burning software I know of, so
you’re stuck with using PowerISO to open them – at least for
now. However, if you mount the DAA file with the virtual
drive, you can probably copy/rip/do whatever you like with
the virtual “disk” using whichever software you prefer.
Jane C wrote:
> It's been a long time since I've even seen a .daa, so can't remember off
> the top of my head. Renaming it to .iso might work though.
>
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