For the avoidance of doubt .DMG files aren't really "pictures" of Apple Mac software. As an alternative the .DMG file extension identifies Macintosh OS X (ie the latest version of the Mac working system) disk picture files. Within the context of IT and computer software the phrase "disk image" means something other than what we might otherwise understand to be a photograph of a disk, or an icon depicting a disk.
Indeed, in this context, "disk pictures" are comparable (if nonetheless very distinct) to software copies and laborious disk backups. The normal copying of a CD, DVD, laborious disk, or different media, would require that the pc read the file construction of the media and copy that throughout to somewhere else. Nevertheless this only works if the PC has access to all these information: your PC won't (or no less than not simply) be capable to copy information which can be protected, encrypted or in any other case not designed to be learn by the system (such as the content of bootable disks).
By contract disk imaging software program takes a distinct approach, in that it duplicates the knowledge actually on the CD, DVD, or different media, directly. By copying the person bits of information from the source media the disk imaging software can create a perfect duplicate of the unique content.
There are a range of applications of the principle of disk imaging. At first the know-how was used merely to backup a hard drive, or create a clone of floppy media or a CD/DVD. Nevertheless it's now a popular technique for creating full system backups which permit the system administrator to recuperate a broken pc by loading the disk image of an earlier configuration of that PC.
Similarly, in modern corporate environments, the place there are numerous identically configured PCs, methods directors will not set up all the software program on each single laptop, every single time. Instead they will configure one system appropriately, then clone it (ie create a hard disk image) to each new PC they need (additionally known as ghosting).