DropDMG

Just drag and drop a folder or file and you're done. Or, you can drag an existing disk image or archive onto DropDMG to convert it to any of the other supported formats or to burn it to CD or DVD.

Disk images pack entire folders or disks into a single compressed file, either for transport across the Internet or simply for backup. They are the only archive format whose contents you can directly access in the Finder, without the potentially slow and disk-consuming step of expanding the files into a folder.

DropDMG supports advanced options such as encrypted and segmented disk images, background pictures and custom volume icons, and rich-text license agreements in multiple languages. There are many time-saving features such as configurations to keep track of your favorite combinations of settings. It can also be automated via AppleScript, the command-line, and Automator.

* Create and convert disk images and archives with a simple drag and drop. There are also many other convenient ways to invoke DropDMG.

* DropDMG supports all the major formats, including compressed .dmg files, .sparsebundle files, .zip and .tar.gz archives, and hybrid disk images. Zlib disk images and ZIP archives created by DropDMG are smaller than those created by Disk Utility and the Finder.

Backups, Archival, and Cloning:

* Save disk space and network transfer time by compressing your files. Choose faster or more efficient compression.

* Split large files or folders into multiple segments to burn them to optical discs or easily transfer them over a network.

* Verify the integrity of your backups and archives to ensure that the media is still intact and that you'll be able to restore them if needed.

* Create a device image that records the exact contents of a data CD or DVD. You can then burn bootable backup copies of the disc, or double-click the disk image to access its contents as though the disc were still in your optical drive.
In one step, create a device image clone of an entire hard drive, optimized for restoring using Apple Software Restore or Disk Utility. This is useful for backups and for setting up multiple computers in a lab.

Encryption:

* Encrypt files that you want to keep private. DropDMG's encrypted, writable disk images are faster and safer than Apple's FileVault, but just as secure and searchable via Spotlight.

* Create encrypted, compressed disk images to securely transfer files via e-mail, iDisk, or FTP or to store backups safely off-site.

* Choose from 128-bit and 256-bit AES encryption, approved by the U.S. National Security Agency.

* Optionally store your passphrases in the Mac OS X keychain, so that you can quickly create and access encrypted disk images, without the hassle of double-typing or the risk of typos.

* Mount disk images at specific locations in the filesystem, so that your applications can keep their support files encrypted.

* Mount encrypted, segmented disk images without having to enter the passphrase separately for each segment.

Advanced:

* Runs multiple operations simultaneously, so you that you can keep working while DropDMG processes in the background.

* Takes advantage of multiple processor cores for faster compression and encryption.

* Keeps a detailed log of all the successful operations as well as any errors, including statistics such as the throughput and how much space was saved using compression. New log entries are also reported via Growl.

* Get detailed information about your disk images: their formats, partitions, compression ratios, checksums, etc.

* Easily queue up bulk operations for creating, converting, mounting, verifying, getting info, burning, joining, etc. If multiple encrypted disk images share a passphrase, you only need to enter it once.

* Process the names of the output files to add the current date or make the filename server-friendly.


Whats New in Version 3.1.4
* Added the **Check for News...** command to the **DropDMG** menu.

* Improved handling of localized button titles in license agreements.

WHAT'S NEW | Version 3.2

HIGHLIGHTS

DropDMG’s user interface is now fully optimized for Macs with Retina displays, as well as multi-display setups.
DropDMG now renders Retina-quality background images. The source background picture can be a 72 or 144dpi image, a PDF file, or a multi-resolution TIFF file. DropDMG will render a multi-resolution background picture that’s optimized for display on both Retina and non-Retina Macs.
Rather than adding an application icon to a layout, you now have the option of adding an application icon placeholder. This makes it easy to use the same layout to create disk images for different applications.
Previously, you could add an Applications folder symlink to layouts by dragging and dropping your Applications folder. There’s now a dedicated button for adding the symlink, to make the feature easier to use and more discoverable.
Layouts now support a maximum icon size of 512 points (up from 128).
DropDMG can now create segmented ZIP archives (e.g. .z01, .z02, .zip). Such archives cannot be expanded by Mac OS X’s built-in Archive Utility, but there are free third-party expansion utilities such as The Unarchiver.
Added the Append version number feature. When imaging or archiving an application or installer, this option will add its version number to the end of the filename.
Added support for Notification Center (requires OS X 10.8).
Added the Burn OS X Install DVD feature, an easier way to make your own installer or emergency DVD.
Streamlined disk image creation by no longer optimizing images for restore that don’t need such optimization.
Added the ZlibLevel esoteric preference, which lets you set DropDMG to create .dmg files more quickly but with less compression.
Added the DisableRetinaBackgroundPictures esoteric preference, which lets you create non-Retina background pictures in order to work around a bug in Mac OS X 10.6.

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

DropDMG now tells the system that it can use the integrated GPU, which should reduce battery use on newer MacBook Pros.
You can now remove the background image from a layout using the contextual menu on the image view.
DropDMG now offers advice for dealing with “Resource busy” errors.
Expanded the Making Images With Background Pictures instructions to describe how to make a standard disk image for distributing a Mac application.
Improved the What information should I include when I report a problem? page.
Improved the folder name when a folder for segments already exists.
The documentation now recommends choosing a background picture that’s at least 437 points wide, to account for the Finder’s minimum window width.
The crash reporter can now make recommendations based on the contents of the crash log.
Deleting a layout, license, or configuration now moves it to the trash rather than deleting it outright.
DropDMG itself now has a Retina disk image background, and it shares the layout with other C-Command products.
After purchasing, DropDMG used to show your user image to indicate that it had been successfully personalized. It now shows a generic checkmark to avoid prompting you for Contacts access on OS X 10.8.
Added a link to the forum in the Help menu.

FIXES

Reverted to version 1.2.3 of the Growl SDK to avoid problems with high CPU usage, internal errors, and crashes.
Fixed a bug where sometimes the layout editor would reset the scroll position.
Fixed a bug where the tooltips in the main window’s pop-up menu didn’t always update when a configuration was changed.
Fixed a bug where sometimes packages weren’t wrapped.
Fixed a bug where sometimes disk images were created without enough space for the background picture or custom icon.
Layout thumbnail previews no longer change the aspect ratio.
Fixed a bug where sometimes changes to the segment size in the temporary options dialog didn’t take effect.
Fixed an issue where, when loading your recent destination folders, DropDMG would sometimes prompt you with a dialog to find folders on unmounted volumes.
Fixed a bug where TIFF files were not allowed for background pictures.
Fixed a bug creating images in .cdr format with custom icons or layouts.
Fixed a bug where there was an extra gray strip next to the action button in the Layouts tab of the preferences.
Fixed a bug handling errors if the software update failed; if it succeeded, the .dmg file is now deleted.

What's New Version 3.2.1:
* Fixed a bug where DropDMG sometimes didn’t create large enough disk images for files that were stored using HFS+ compression (e.g. applications from the Mac App Store).
* Fixed a bug where the log showed the source folder’s allocated size rather than its logical size.
* Fixed a bug creating a disk image with a layout that had text but no background picture.
* Fixed a bug that could cause DropDMG to create a device image with a dirty HFS+ journal. If the disk image was read-only, it would not be possible to mount the disk image. If you have such a disk image, you can fix it by converting it to a read-write format. The journal will then be replayed and saved in a clean state.
* Fixed a bug where DropDMG could hang when using the contextual menu in the log.
* Added instructions for burning a disc with a Custom volume icon.
* Updated the Italian localization.

Version 3.2.2:
• It is now possible to set (or override) layout variables from AppleScript or the command line. This is also useful when creating a disk image of non-application files; DropDMG would be unable to intuit the {$APP_BASENAME}, but you can still set it to whatever you want in your script and have it rendered into the layout.
• The HybridFSArgs esoteric preference lets you control which filesystems DropDMG uses for hybrid .iso disk images.
• Fixed a bug where sometimes creating a disk image failed if it contained a very large number of small files.
• Fixed a bug where .iso files would sometimes be owned by root instead of the user.
• Made various minor adjustments to the toolbar icons in the main window.
• Added Japanese localization.