A good method of backing up the data from CDs or DVDs is creating and manipulating UIF files, which are a slightly improved version of a more known ISO file. Unlike the ISO, the UIF (universal image format) file provides a few advanced features, like storing multi session disk images in the same file and can be, at the same time, password protection and encryption as well. Therefore, the UIF files are basically very compressed exact images of CDs and DVDs.

In order to get the job done, it is important to know how to manipulate UIF files. The first thing you must know is that it’s a file format that is proprietarily used by Magic ISO software. Given the fact that this software is not free, you can either buy it directly from magiciso.com or download a free trial version from the same website. These are the only two options you have if you want to manipulate (open, use) UIF files, because this file format is supported only by the Magic ISO for the time being, meaning that no other software can do that yet.

Fortunately, the free trial of Magic ISO allows you both to open and / or convert the UIF files to a more common format, let’s say ISO format, but only of a size smaller than 300 MB. The ISO format is very popular because it can be used by almost all image manipulating software available.

Another option of using the UIF files is to mount them to virtual drives, using a software at your choice from a lot of free ones available on the internet, such as Magic Disc. Just chose the Mount Image option from the software menu and point to the UIF file location and that’s really all about it. If converting the UIF files to ISO ones, other software can be used as well (Daemon Tools, Power ISO, etc).

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