Formatting of virtual optical images

For virtual optical, images are available in International Standards Organization (ISO) 9660 format, Universal Disk Format (UDF), and High Performance Optical File System (HPOFS) format.

ISO 9660

If a virtual image is in ISO 9660 format, it is read-only. Also, you cannot span virtual images that are in ISO 9660 format.

UDF

The virtual image is in UDF if you do one of the following:

  • Create a virtual image by specifying FROMFILE(*NEW) on the Add Image Catalog Entry (ADDIMGCLGE) command and initialize the associated volume to UDF using the Initialize Optical (INZOPT) command.
  • Create a virtual image from a device containing a CD or DVD formatted with UDF.
  • Create a virtual image by specifying FROMDEV(*VOL) and VOL(volume ID of a physical volume that is formatted with UDF) using the Add Image Catalog Entry (ADDIMGCLGE) command.

HPOFS

The virtual image is in HPOFS if you do one of the following:

  • Create a virtual image by specifying FROMFILE(*VOL) and VOL(volume ID of a physical volume that is formatted with HPOFS) on the Add Image Catalog Entry (ADDIMGCLGE) command.
  • Create a virtual image by specifying FROMFILE(*NEW) on the Add Image Catalog Entry (ADDIMGCLGE) command and initialize the associated volume to HPOFS using the Initialize Optical (INZOPT) command.

Typically, you specify FROMFILE(*NEW) when you plan to save to a virtual image or plan to use a virtual image to distribute software. You can also span virtual images that are in UDF.

You can also specify FROMFILE(*NEW) when creating virtual images of media type WORM or ERASE for use in a library mode Image Catalog for archive applications.

If you want to create actual media from a virtual image that was created specifying FROMFILE(*NEW), you can send the virtual image to a PC or you can use the Duplicate Optical (DUPOPT) command to copy the virtual image directly to a DVD drive on your system.