Files with the mdf and iso extensions contain data from optical media copied with increased accuracy. They are called disk images, meaning by this recording not only the information stored on the disk, but also the detailed structure (topology) of its placement. The mdf format was developed by the manufacturer of the program called Alcohol (Alcohol Soft Development Team), and the iso format corresponds to the international standard ISO 9660 for file systems for optical media.
Instructions
Step 1
If you only need to access the contents of a disk image in mdf format in the absence of an application that is designed to work with files of this extension, then it will be enough to simply change its extension. You can perform this operation in the same way as renaming a file of any other format. In Windows OS, to do this, start Explorer - press the key combination Win + E, or double-click the "Computer" shortcut on the desktop.
Step 2
Navigate to the folder containing the desired mdf file using the directory tree on the left side of the file manager interface. If Explorer displays only the names of files, hiding their extensions, then change the corresponding setting. To do this, in Windows 7, first open the "Organize" drop-down list located above the directory tree and select the "Folder and Search Options" line. Then go to the "View" tab and in the "Advanced options" list find the line "Hide extensions for registered file types". Uncheck this line and click OK.
Step 3
Right-click the mdf file and select the "Rename" line in the context menu. Then press the End button to move the insertion cursor to the extension and replace it with iso. Press Enter and this will complete the procedure for renaming mdf to iso. The contents of the renamed disk image can be accessed, for example, using the popular WinRAR archiver. However, keep in mind that you cannot use the resulting iso file as a disk image, but only as a regular archive.
Step 4
If you need not just change the extension of the mdf file, but transcode its contents into iso format while preserving all the information of the original optical disc, then you will need the appropriate application. This can be done, for example, using the UltraISO program or the specialized utility MDF2ISO. After installing the application, find and activate the corresponding option in its interface. This procedure, as a rule, takes a lot of time (up to an hour), since this involves first extracting the disk image from the mdf and mds files, and then packing it into an iso file. But the result is a full-fledged image of the original media, which can be used both for recording to the media and for mounting a virtual optical disk.
