Use Disk Utility to create a compressed disk image

Easily produce a portable copy of your most important files

Creating a compressed disk image might sound complicated, but essentially it involves creating a single file that contains a copy of any folder on your Mac’s hard drive. For a one-off backup of your most important data it’s a great option and entirely free.

1 Select folders or files

Fire up Disk Utility, head to File>new Image>image from Folder and select the files or folder you want to include in your compressed disk image. You might want to organise these into a single folder.

2 Name and create

In the Save dialog that appears, give your disk image a logical name, select where to save it to and ensure that the Image Format is set to ‘Compressed’. When you’re ready click ‘Save’.