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Direct Access Archive

Filename extension	.daa
Developed by	PowerISO Computing, Inc.
Type of format	Disk image

Direct Access Archive, or DAA, is a proprietary file format developed by PowerISO Computing for disk image files. The format supports features such as compression, password protection, and splitting to multiple volumes. Because of its proprietary nature, popular disk image mounting programs such as Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools currently do not support the mounting of DAA images.

Currently there is no published information about the format. Among mainstream applications, it can be opened or converted with PowerISO and MagicISO. AcetoneISO is a free software package available for Linux which can convert .daa files to ISO and view them.

File Structure

A DAA image file seems to be simply a compressed ISO image, using the standard zlib for compression and encryption. If this is the case, it offers no advantage to a zipped ISO image.^[1]

Converting into a Standard Format

PowerISO provides free command-line tools for Linux and Mac OS X which allow you to extract DAA files or convert them into ISO format, however the tools haven't been updated to support the newest version of the DAA format. The PowerISO Windows trial version only supports converting images from DAA files up to 300MB[1], less than half of the capacity of a standard CD.

Daa2iso is an open source command line application has been developed to convert DAA files to ISO files. The program comes with a Windows binary and source code which compiles under Unix-like operating systems when linked to the zlib compression library. A brief tutorial for using the program is available here.

There is a .DAA to .ISO converter for MacOS X available under the GNU license at http://www.twilightedge.com/mac/daaconverter/

Graphical versions of daa2iso have also been made available for Windows and Mac OS X (see external links below).

Features

• Allows for compression saving space and making it easier to download
• Can be password protected
• Can be split into multiple smaller files

Disadvantages

• Proprietary format, currently with almost no 3rd-party support.
• Slow decompression/extraction process

External links

• PowerISO Website
• PowerISO downloads for Windows Linux and Mac OSX
• daa2iso application for Windows (source code included, and may be compiled for *nix without modification)
  • DAA Converter for Mac OS X, graphical Mac interface for daa2iso

References