What is diskimagesiod?

You might see diskimagesiod in Activity Monitor when working with disc images. It may also appear as diskimagesiod.ram or diskimagesiod.spb.

What is diskimagesiod?

diskimagesiod handles reading and writing for disc images on macOS. When you open a .dmg file (the standard macOS format for distributing software), diskimagesiod manages the data flow to and from the mounted image.

What are the variants?

• diskimagesiod: the standard disc image handler, for regular .dmg files
• diskimagesiod.ram: handles RAM disc images, which live entirely in memory for fast access
• diskimagesiod.spb: handles sparse bundle disc images, which grow as data is added rather than using a fixed amount of space (used by Time Machine network backups and encrypted disc images)

When does it run?

diskimagesiod runs whenever a disc image is mounted. This includes:

• Opening .dmg files to install apps
• Mounting encrypted disc images
• Time Machine backups over the network (which use sparse bundles)
• Any app that uses disc images behind the scenes

Does it use many resources?

It can use noticeable CPU and memory when moving large files to or from a disc image, or when a sparse bundle is being written to heavily (for example, during a network Time Machine backup). Otherwise it is light.

Should you worry?

No. It is a standard macOS process for handling disc images. If you have closed all disc images and it is still running, it may be handling a background job like a Time Machine backup.

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