The DAA File – Everything You Need To Know
What Is a DAA File
DAA files are yet another disk image file format, invented and used by PowerISO DVD software. This means that a .daa file contains an exact copy of a CD or a DVD – whether it be a movie, a game or simply a few gigabytes of accounting data (damn my perverted imagination). Disk images are used for a variety of purposes :
- Backup DVD movies and CD disks and copy DVD.
- Store DVD rips (politically correctly – “backups”).
- Use in virtual CD/DVD emulators.
- Burn DVD copy at a later date.
- Upload and download DVD disks on the Internet.
If you’re reading this, chances are you got (that is, downloaded) a .daa file somewhere (that is, BitTorrent or the like) and are wondering what to do with it. Read on.
Sometimes, when somebody wants to put a “backup” copy of a DVD film or some other stuff online, the .daa file format is used instead of the more popular disk image formats (like ISO, BIN, CUE) because it supports certain advanced features –
- Compression – a CD/DVD copy stored in .daa file format may be slightly smaller than a corresponding .iso file.
- Multiple volume splitting – this means that you get multiple smaller DAA files instead of one huge disk image.
- Encryption/passwords – I don’t think this one is terribly useful, but you can password-protect your disk images if you use the DAA file type.
On a side note, it’s possible to get all the aforementioned benefits of DAA files by simply archiving the ISO disk copy with WinRAR. This is why you may often see .rar files in BitTorrent downloads (additional information – how to deal with RAR files).
How To Open DAA Files
There’s actually only one alternative when it comes to opening DAA files.
There are two ways to deal with DAA files – you can either convert them to another file format (e.g. the widely supported ISO) and use the converted file, or use PowerISO (shareware) to open them. I’ll discuss both possibilities.
Converting DAA to ISO
Suzanne DeAngelillis has posted a wonderful tutorial on how to convert DAA files to ISO and/or burn them to CD/DVD using only freeware Windows applications. You can find the tutorial further below on this page.
I’ve also created a graphical interface for the daa2iso converter – my DAA converter GUI. It’s a simpler, easier alternative you can use if you’re not familiar with command-line tools or find the tutorial confusing.
If you’re using Linux, check out AcetoneISO – it can extract DAA files or convert them to ISO files. AcetoneISO is free, open source CD/DVD software that integrates with KDE.
Using PowerISO
To open a file with the .daa file extension on Windows you can also use PowerISO. After you’ve installed this program you can just double-click any .daa file (which will launch PowerISO and open the file) and extract any files contained in the disk image.
PowerISO can also “mount” DAA files with an internal virtual drive it creates. This means you don’t need to burn the DAA file to a disk before you can use it. You can just mount it and play the .daa file as if it was a real CD/DVD.
The .daa file format is proprietary and is not supported by any CD / DVD burning software I know of, except PowerISO. However, if you mount the DAA file with the virtual drive, you can probably copy/rip/do whatever you like with the virtual “disk” using whichever software you prefer.
Luigi Auriemma kindly replied to my emails (on Christmas eve no less) and answered all my questions sufficient for me to write up a simple tutorial which I will post in the next message for all to benefit from.
Based on my circumstances, Luigi kindly modified his code tonight (from version 0.1 to version 0.1.1) to allow any file name. Previously dvd2iso was looking only for files named as PowerISO would name them, e.g.,
foo.part01.daa
foo.part02.daa
foo.part03.daa
…
or
foo.part001.daa
foo.part002.daa
foo.part003.daa
…
or
foo.d01
foo.d02
foo.d03
…
Now, Luigi’s excellent dvd2iso freeware windows conversion utility will accept any name, e.g.,
foo01.daa
foo02.daa
foo03.daa
etc.
Likewise, Luigi fixed my second problem, the accidental file-overwrite, which occurs under the circumstances I mailed him. So now the dvd2iso program is safer even when you have badly named files and when you run the command incorrectly.
It’s still a good idea to make a back up of your DAA files and work off that backup. Just make sure you back it up correctly.
My third problem was that my backup accidentally omitted the last file, which, when I added it back, solved the error I reported above with a missing daa file.
In summary, thanks to everyone – we now have a simple to follow windows freeware-based tutorial for converting DAA files to DVD (with an intermediate ISO step in between).
I’ll post that tutorial in the next append because this one is kind’a long.
Ciao,
Suzanne DeAngelillis
I had posted the tutorial last night but for some reason it didn’t take so I repost now (I also sent this by email to Nandu who requested it above).
Suzanne DeAngelillis
As far as I know, below is the only freeware tutorial on the Internet which shows how to convert DAA archives to DVD when the original DAA files are larger than 300 kb.
QUESTION (previously not answered on the Internet as far as we can tell):
How do I convert large DAA files to DVD on Windows using freeware?
ANSWER (thanks mostly to Bjorn S., Jim S., & Luigi Auriemma):
0. Download Luigi Auriemma’s Windows freeware daa-conversion utility:
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz.htm
This contains a zip file with source code & a Windows binary:
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz/daa2iso.zip
1. Point Luigi’s dvd2iso to the *first* file in your DAA archive:
c:\> daa2iso filename.part01.daa output.iso
This will convert single or multi-part DAA files to a single ISO.
A single output.iso file image will be the result.
2. You can burn that ISO image to DVD using Windows ImgBurn freeware:
http://www.imgburn.com
This will get you a playable DVD.
3. Or you can unpack that ISO image using Windows IZArc freeware:
http://www.izarc.org
This will result in the original files that were in the DAA archive.
ALTERNATE SOFTWARE (not necessarily freeware nor Windows):
PowerISO (not freeware, especially for large DAA files):
http://www.poweriso.com/poweriso-1.1.tar.gz
AcetoneISO (this is freeware, just not windows, works only on Linux):
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/AcetoneISO-16724.shtml
REFERENCES (none of which currently outline the simple solution above):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Access_Archive
http://filext.com/file-extension/DAA
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2007/09/07/the-daa-file-everything-you-need-to-know
http://www.articlealley.com/article_170967_11.html
http://aluigi.altervista.org/mytoolz.htm
I don’t know why, but, I’ve posted the tutorial *twice* and it won’t take. Sorry. Maybe Nandu can post it (I sent it to him).
Or someone can post it from the USENET newsgroups (I posted it there also). It’s in alt.comp.freeware, among others.
Hmm, maybe it exceeds the maximum comment length or something.
Anyway, you could always email it to me as well (whiteshadow [at] w-shadow [dot] com), I’d gladly post it.
Edit : looks like the tutorial was caught by the automated spam filter. I’ve de-spammed it and updated the post accordingly
Merry Christmas!
Thank you White Shadow for hosting this excellent page (all your comments were dead-on accurate as to what my problems were).
Happy Holidays to all!
hey!, good job with the tutorial…..one question though,
how do you do this:
“1. Point Luigi’s dvd2iso to the *first* file in your DAA archive:
c:\> daa2iso filename.part01.daa output.iso”?????
You’re supposed to type that in the command prompt (Start -> Run… -> cmd). If you’re not familiar with using command-line apps, here’s a beginners guide.
o ok, thank you very much. i’ll be sure to look into that because i don’t have much experience with command line
thanks again =)
You’re welcome
IT WORKED!!!
you guys are all geniuses lol
thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!
I have only one big DAA file, 800 Mb and following your instructions I found out that after I download and unzip the Daa2iso program and try to run the Daa2iso application program it flashed for a fraction of a second on the screen and doesn’t open. Please, give me some help. Andrew.
Try my DAA to ISO converter GUI (if you haven’t already).
If that doesn’t work, your .daa file probably isn’t supported by the freeware converter. In that case, there’s always PowerISO (see the post for a link), though it’s not free.
I read you tutorial all over and found out that it was a Windows appl program so I did and follow all your instructions to get to the result of “permission denied”. I have not idea of what to do. Any how, thank you very much for your time and devotion. Andrew.
I’m not sure I quite understand the nature of the problem… what is your operating system?
So here’s a short tutorial (just to make sure we’re on the same page) :
1. Download daa2iso_gui.zip, if you haven’t already, and extract the ZIP file to whatever folder you want.
2. Run daa_converter.exe
3. Drag and drop the .DAA file into the converter window.
4. Click “Start conversion!”
5. If everything went right, you’ll have the ISO file in the same folder as the DAA file.
If that doesn’t work, here are some things to try :
* Check if there is enough space to store the new ISO file. It will be at least as big as the DAA file.
* If you’re having file permission issues, try to set the location for the output file to some folder that you’re sure you have the permissions to, like your Desktop. Try the ellipsis “…” button near the “Output file” box.
* If all else fails, you can try contacting Luigi, the author of daa2iso.exe (his email address is on his website).
Sorry if I wasn’t of much help.
Yes you were a lot of a help but I am not too bright. I am using Windows Vista 64 in this computer but I tried the same approach in a laptop with Win XP and had the same result. You said that I should have the daa2iso opened on Windows but like I said before it doesn’t open. I reach where the program daa_converter.exe opens I drag and drop the .daa file and click “start conversion”, I got a window telling me “daa2iso.exe was not found! Re-downloading this application may fix the problem”, I do that with no solution. I really appreciate your help and effort. Thanks Andrew.
daa2iso.exe and daa_converter.exe need to be both extracted to the same folder. Note that if you have Windows set up to handle ZIP files as folders, it means you need to copy & paste those two exe’s from the ZIP folder to somewhere else. If you have done that and it still gives you the “not found” error, I honestly have no idea why.
thanks for this guide on how to convert daa to iso:no problem on Vista ultimate 32 bit.
i’ve used the gui program and successfully convert to iso..
Yes!! Every thing worked perfect. Thank you very much Ms. Suzanne and Mr. Shadow and have both a happy new 2008 for you and your families. We need more people like you. Thank you again, Andrew.
Hi. I found opening the GUI daa converter allowed me to extract the 3 files successfully. Saving the GUI & then extracting didn’t work for me; kept getting error messsage. Not a very big leap but handy for some?
Thanks to you all!
IT WORKS!!!- I’ve been pottering around trying to convert this bloody file for days now and I’ve just managed to do it (thanks to your very helpful website, which I just discovered this morning) So I just wanted to thank you guys for helping a total computer illiterate like myself, successfully convert a daa to an iso and then burn a disc. Genuinely, I’m a 30 something who doesn’t even know how to compress a file yet- so this really was a big help to me. So once again thanks to all the guys involved in making this whole process relatively painless. Keep up the great work. All I need now is to find a licence for Adobe Prem. Pro CS3 and I’ laughing!!
LICENCE KEY ANY ONE???
Actually that moment of joy has surpassed to the brain stretching agony of finding a licence key for adobe prem pro CS3. I’m sure that this is a walk in the park for many of you fine people adding your comments to this blog- but I’m relatively new to the whole thing. Could some perhaps offer some much needed guidance as to where and how I can find a key. Thanks in advance- I hope!
Hey Mob, you don’t actually expect me to post a pirated licence key on my semi-legit site, do you?
Just google it, it should be easy to find.
fair comment!- quick question then- of someone had ‘lost’ their licence key could someone use keygen to find a licence- genuinely out of my dept at moment but getting there!- cheers for getting back to my request
Yes, probably. In fact, if someone downloaded a disk image from the Internet, one would expect to find the keygen on the disk, as it is often included. Failing that, searching for “softwarename keygen” would probably work.
A true gentleman. thank you kindly sir.
Hi
thank you to all you wonderful people for all the help!! i had to fix my girl friends computer and in doing so had to download some .daa files and i am not a windows person at all. but thanks to your kindness and patience in explaining the whole process i could convert them nicely.
i had one query and was a bit confused about it…what is a good safe torrent downloading software. currently what i am doing is (someone advised me) visiting this site called http://www.mininova.org for any stuff and then downloading the torrents using “limewire”. but i am not sure if thats the way to do it or is there any better way!!!?? someone suggested “flashget”.
and is there any other site for torrents like “Mininova” ?? all this is a bit new to me!!
so right now a bit confused, could someone kindly advice
cheers!!
There are many BitTorrent guides available online, just do a Google search. Here’s one – BTFAQ.
For some sites like Mininova, well, Torrentz.com is nice (there are lots more though)…
thank you so much i will check these. but do you think using limewire to download a torrent is ok?
thanks again for your help
Don’t know, I haven’t used limewire. I usually use µTorrent.
thanks a lot mate…much appreciated!