disk image

noun

: a compressed copy of the contents (such as installed programs, settings, and other data) of an optical disc, hard drive, or other digital storage device

By developing and using a standard disk image, information technology managers don't have to separately install all of a PC's programs. The disk image is copied onto each new PC's disk drive, and it's ready to go.

—Shawn McCarthy

Examples of disk image in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Microsoft made a downloadable ISO disk image file for the beta Insider version available for installing Windows 11, allowing in-place upgrades or clean installations on a PC or in a virtual machine. —PCMAG, 22 Mar. 2024

This frequently entails effectively shipping a complete computer disk image. —IEEE Spectrum, 6 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1981, in the meaning defined above