disc utility basics.....

hi,
i have a cd-rom....i tried to make a disc image of it...it said failed. so i just copied and pasted the contents into a new folder in my macbook.

when i have a disc, cd-rom, or something like the leopard install discs etc.
people have said to make a disc image. (for backup purposes)

is this the same as copying and pasting?

should i make disc images and keep them on hard drive of leopard install discs? and windows xp disc?

can i make a disc image of both my leopard discs or ...........

leopard discs........make a copy dvd of it....?

sorry .....thanks.

 

but with like data discs....its the same thing as just copying and pasting....

but yeah....i think i understand the diff between image and just copying files....

the kinda things im talking about are not music cds or dvd films etc...im talking about data cd-rom disc or a data dvd disc........

the cd i tried was from a pro tools book im borrowing....there is an included cd with various things on it...files etc....disc utility couldnt make a disc image of it......so i just copied and pasted all the contents from the cd to my mac hard drive, into a folder..........see? its the same thing in this case, right?


i have leopard install discs.....and also windows xp install disc........
should i make disc images of these? and keep them on my mac hard drive?
leopard dvds are dual layer.... so would it just make an image of the dual layer dvd, into one image? so 2 disc images from 2 leopard dvds right?

say if im gonna travel somewhere FAR..... for however long.....and i need to take my software....lots of software.....they are all on many many cds.....would it be possible to just make disc images of all the cds.....and just keep them on my mac internal harddrive? and when needed i can run them? this would be exactly like putting the cd in? or is there issues sometimes?...........


what do people use disc images for?

thankyou....