Negative and overflow sectors preserved đ§đž
Whatâs new
AaruFormat now stores negative and overflow sectors correctly, so Lead-In, first-track pregap, and Lead-Out regions are preserved when your drive can read them.
Why it matters
- Preserves the full physical layout of the disc for archival and forensic use.
- Ensures dumps include edge regions that were previously difficult to capture.
Merging two images đđ ď¸
Whatâs new
Weâve added a flexible image merging command that lets you combine two images from the same mediaâwhatever their original formatâinto a third, consolidated image.
How it helps
- You choose which sectors come from each source image.
- Perfect when a new Aaru dump has unreadable sectors, but an older, less archival-grade dump contains that data.
- Merge both to create a fully complete, archival-quality image without manual hex editing.
AaruFormat resume optimization âď¸đ
Whatâs new
AaruFormat is a copy-on-write format: when you resume, changes are written to the end of the file instead of overwriting in place. Previously, all structures (but not the data itself) were copied again, even if they were unchanged.
Weâve optimized this so that only the specific structures that are actually modified are copied.
Benefits
- Smaller resumed files than in previous versions.
- Faster resume operations and less disk churn.
- This optimization has also enabled new features, such as in-place metadata editing.
Basic AaruFormat metadata editor âď¸đ
Whatâs new
You can now edit the basic metadata of any AaruFormat image directly, without having to convert or copy the whole image.
Editable fields include
- Image creator
- Comments
- Media title
- Manufacturer
- And other core descriptive fields
How to use
Just open the GUI, adjust the metadata, and save. The changes are applied efficiently thanks to the improved resume behavior. Easy!
Full fledged Aaru metadata sidecar editor đď¸đ§Š
Whatâs new
Weâve added a full-featured metadata sidecar editor to the GUI, for working with the JSON files created from imagesâor for creating new sidecars from scratch, even without an existing image.
What you can do
- Edit JSON sidecars generated from images.
- Create new metadata sidecars without any image source.
- Add rich metadata: developers, publishers, release info, and more.
All of it is visible and editable at a glance.
Many style optimizations to the GUI đ¨â¨
Whatâs new
Weâve polished the GUI to make it more pleasant and responsive:
- New, nicer icons and hover effects.
- High-resolution versions of folder icons.
- Dark theme versions of media type icons and logos.
- Input gestures and hotkeys for faster navigation.
- Scroll viewers for users on lower resolution screens.
The GUI should now feel smoother, clearer, and more enjoyable to use.
Paranoia dumping of data đĄď¸đ
Whatâs new
Sometimes we canât fully trust what the drive reports. Weâve added an option to enable paranoia dumping for data sectors.
How it works
- Checks if the drive is really returning valid data, even when it claims the read is fine.
- Attempts to correct data when possible.
- Retries reads when suspicious or invalid data is detected.
Because we know some drives tell you everything is OK⌠while giving you anything but.
Faster verification with less unknowns â đ§
Whatâs new
Weâve added an option to skip audio tracks during image verification.
Why it matters
- Audio tracks cannot be reliably verified anyway.
- Skipping them prevents âunknownâ results that are expected and unhelpful.
- Verification output is now cleaner and focused on data you can actually verify.
Long sector comparison đđŚ
Whatâs new
Previously, only normal user data was compared between images. Now you can compare the full long sector, including tags.
Improvements
- Better insight into differences between two images at the sector level.
- When a comparison fails, the report is more specific:
- Are the contents identical but some parameter differs?
- Did the sector size fail?
- Or is the data itself different?
This makes it much easier to understand what went wrong.
Second layer DVD handling enhanced đđ§
Whatâs new
For supported image formats, we now dump the Physical Format Information of the second layer of dual-layer DVDs.
Why it matters
- More complete representation of dual-layer discs.
- Improved accuracy for use cases where second-layer structure is important (e.g., emulation or detailed analysis).
Whatâs coming đđ
We wish you happy holidays and a great 2026!
Thereâs a lot already in the oven: we have a huge new feature cooked up and next in lineâone we know youâve been waiting for a long, long time.
Youâre going to love whatâs coming next.
