Author Topic: Virtual cd/dvd drive software (2011) (Read 21545 times)

superboyac · « **on:** July 13, 2011, 03:03 PM »

Every couple of years or so, it comes time for me to look into getting a different virtual cd/dvd software. I used to always use Daemon tools lite, but at some point, it gave me problems. Sometimes because of it's intrusive installation process, rebooting and all that. it feels like it's installing in a more complicated way than necessary. Then, it couldn't read certain images (this is years ago, to be fair). So I moved to PowerISO's virtual drives, which I was happy with. But that isn't free, so I eventually needed another one. So I got Elby's Virtual Clone Drive. I've been using it for a couple of weeks, and I find it not very stable. It will often sort of disconnect the loaded image, even though it still shows it as mounted. Then I remount it or reboot, and it works fine again. but it's annoying.

Now, I'm going to try this free WinCDEmu, which may or may not be good. If all these don't work, I'll go back to Daemon or PowerISO.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #1 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:21 PM »

WinCDEmu is what I use. Double click an .iso to mount. I can even use my Tray app. When I "open" the CD tray for that drive, it unmounts it. Neat.

superboyac · « **Reply #2 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:25 PM »

WinCDEmu is what I use. Double click an .iso to mount. I can even use my Tray app. When I "open" the CD tray for that drive, it unmounts it. Neat.

-MilesAhead (July 13, 2011, 03:21 PM)

Glad to hear. I'm also happy with it so far (5 minutes using it!). As long as it doesn't disconnect on bootup, or bug out, I'm fine. I know Daemon is very reliable and all, but it has one of those installations that are very complicated and makes you wonder why such a little program has such an involved install/uninstall process.

worstje · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:27 PM »

I use Virtual CloneDrive because Daemon Tools got way too bloated and adwarey for my tastes. All it has is rightclick the image to mount and a tray icon, and honestly - that's all one needs.

It has the same eject-like functionality as MilesAhead describes above.

cmpm · « **Reply #4 on:** July 13, 2011, 03:29 PM »

http://www.dvdfab.com/virtual-drive.htm

This one is free, maybe the answer.
I have not used it, but I have it anyway.

Renegade · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2011, 04:21 PM »

I've tried a truckload of them, and the only one that worked well for me was MagicISO. I have a couple licenses for it, but they also have a free version, which I use on new boxes.

For some reason, a lot of ISOs from MSDN don't work with some programs, but they work with MagicISO.

Here's a link to the free version:

http://www.magiciso....gicdisc-overview.htm

Sits in the taskbar notification area. Very simple and easy to use.

superboyac · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2011, 04:50 PM »

MagicISO gets bashed a lot around the internet. However, hardly anyone says why it's so bad. They just say it sucks. And I'm like, "But why??" Anyway...this WinCDemu is working well. I'll check out DVDFab, I had never heard of that one. I've tried MagicISO...I don't remember how it was. I think it was fine, but I went with PowerISO for some reason. Geez...these names...MagicISO, PowerISO, UltraISO...I need to do a Super(boyac)ISO.

Renegade · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2011, 04:58 PM »

A lot of bashing for different programs is because they don't support telepathic control.

Lashiec · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2011, 05:19 PM »

I guess it's because of its proprietary image format, UIF. Most people won't care about it, anyway, just a "select" few *cough*

If you want to know what the hullabaloo about the format is all about...

This is a verbatim extract from the UIF2ISO documentation, by Luigi Auriemma:

======================================
2) Shame on MagicISO and GPL violation
======================================

The chinese program called MagicISO has created the UIF format in the
2006 and, exactly like PowerISO already did at the beginning of that
year, this format has been slowly started to be used to re-diffuse
copyrighted material through BitTorrent... with the right effect that
anyone hates this format (which is totally useless and, being closed,
it should be NOT used on file sharing networks).

This is a shameful marketing strategy made by the same author of
MagicISO (a certain Gang JiaPing) for forcing the users who download
these torrents to buy and use his program.

These facts have been confirmed just recently due to the introduction
of various senseless encryption mechanisms in the UIF files released
on BitTorrent, all encryptions which have nothing to do with the UIF
format but have been inserted only for trying to avoid the usage of my
uif2iso alternative... without success 8-)

For example the recent 5.5.272 version of MagicISO has introduced well
"8" customized encryption algorithms plus other modifications JUST
with the target of making the UIF format unreadable (again without
success, look at uif2iso 0.1.6) and has also introduced support for
the DAA image format.
Unfortunately most of the code used by MagicISO for handling the DAA
format has been "taken" from my other open source daa2iso tool
violating my GPL license and showing how much ehmmmm "unprofessional"
is the author of that program:

http://aluigi.org/misc/magiciso_gpl_violation.txt

Luckily that code which was copied was old and not compatible with the
newer versions of the DAA format so it fails to handle these files
correctly.

My best suggestion is to spread the voice about the shameful actions
of MagicISO and its author and avoiding to download or keep the
seeding of torrents of UIF or DAA images.

And remember that uif2iso has been created only for supporting the UIF
format and *NOT* for playing "cat and mouse" with an idiot who
modifies this stupid zipped format each time for becoming the only
program able to read it...

Then again, it could be because of its Chinese origin, who knows. Anyway, my personal favourites are VirtualCloneDrive, DaemonTools and MagicDisc in that order. DaemonTools is far more featured than the other two, but it's also a bit more intrusive. If you do not care about games of any kind, give MagicDisc a whirl.

Curt · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2011, 05:27 PM »

I think the $30 version of MagicISO is the same one that now is freeware. The program is still updated, occasionally, but one could certainly wish for the shop and the rest of the homepage to also be updated - though free, you can still pay $30 for a license!

mwb1100 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2011, 05:47 PM »

I think the $30 version of MagicISO is the same one that now is freeware. The program is still updated, occasionally, but one could certainly wish for the shop and the rest of the homepage to also be updated - though free, you can still pay $30 for a license!
-Curt (July 13, 2011, 05:27 PM)

My understanding is that MagicDisc is freeware from the makers of MagicISO.

MagicDisc only provides read access (mounting the image to a drive letter); MagicISO, which is $30, provides also the ability to create and update images.

I have not used the program in a long, long time, so it's certainly possible that this situation is different today.

steeladept · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2011, 08:44 PM »

I always found the Windows Power Toy a great tool, but I guess that is only for XP? It appears so now that I went and looked. For Vista onward, many sites seem to promote Virtual CloneDrive. Personally I have DAEMON Tools Pro (it was a giveawayoftheday offer a while back) in use right now. Can't say I use it much, but when I need it, it is handy. The only down side is I don't use any of the tools they offer. The Power Toy was more than enough for me. Too bad there isn't a simple tool like it for Vista/7.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #12 on:** July 14, 2011, 12:24 AM »

WinCDEmu is what I use. Double click an .iso to mount. I can even use my Tray app. When I "open" the CD tray for that drive, it unmounts it. Neat.

-MilesAhead (July 13, 2011, 03:21 PM)
Glad to hear. I'm also happy with it so far (5 minutes using it!). As long as it doesn't disconnect on bootup, or bug out, I'm fine. I know Daemon is very reliable and all, but it has one of those installations that are very complicated and makes you wonder why such a little program has such an involved install/uninstall process.
-superboyac (July 13, 2011, 03:25 PM)

I haven't tried using it in any persistent fashion. I like that I can double click an image and have it mounted, without it showing a drive when I'm not using it as most do.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 14, 2011, 01:21 AM »

I know Daemon is very reliable and all, but it has one of those installations that are very complicated and makes you wonder why such a little program has such an involved install/uninstall process.
-superboyac (July 13, 2011, 03:25 PM)

Daemon Tools specializes in being able to emulate copy-protected discs. So they have all sorts of voodoo going on to deal with copy protect schemes. Daemon Tools also implements its own copy protection/hardware activation scheme (which some people find ... ironic) that has been known to be touchy. At least it was - it's been a long while since I followed Daemon Tools' progress so it's possible that's all in the past.

I used to use Daemon Tools, but I don't play PC games much at all, so I have no need for the copy protection support. I've moved to the free Virtual CloneDrive which works great for the unprotected, plain old ISO images I do use. I'd suggest that you consider Daemon Tools only if you want to be able to mount images for copy protected discs.

ilovekonoka · « **Reply #14 on:** July 14, 2011, 02:37 AM »

I use Alcohol 52% Free Edition . It lets you create disc images beside mounting them. It can also emulate copy-protected discs like Daemon Tools.

kfitting · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2011, 05:34 AM »

Need to add the MagicISO does support ISO, but uses UIF by default.

ewemoa · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2011, 05:43 AM »

FWIW, there's also a portable version of WinCDEmu:

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/portable/

Curt · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2011, 07:24 AM »

sorry, I confused MagicDisc with MagicISO.
MagicDisc is freeware, MagicISO is $30.

jpprater · « **Reply #18 on:** July 15, 2011, 08:37 AM »

MagicISO gets bashed a lot around the internet. However, hardly anyone says why it's so bad. They just say it sucks. And I'm like, "But why??" Anyway...this WinCDemu is working well. I'll check out DVDFab, I had never heard of that one. I've tried MagicISO...I don't remember how it was. I think it was fine, but I went with PowerISO for some reason. Geez...these names...MagicISO, PowerISO, UltraISO...I need to do a Super(boyac)ISO.
-superboyac (July 13, 2011, 04:50 PM)

In my case, it's because MagicDisc blew up Disk Manager on my old XP machine and I couldn't even uninstall it.

superboyac · « **Reply #19 on:** July 15, 2011, 11:43 AM »

MagicISO gets bashed a lot around the internet. However, hardly anyone says why it's so bad. They just say it sucks. And I'm like, "But why??" Anyway...this WinCDemu is working well. I'll check out DVDFab, I had never heard of that one. I've tried MagicISO...I don't remember how it was. I think it was fine, but I went with PowerISO for some reason. Geez...these names...MagicISO, PowerISO, UltraISO...I need to do a Super(boyac)ISO.
-superboyac (July 13, 2011, 04:50 PM)
In my case, it's because MagicDisc blew up Disk Manager on my old XP machine and I couldn't even uninstall it.
-jpprater (July 15, 2011, 08:37 AM)

Yes, I also remember odd things like this when I used MagicDisc, I just don't remember the details. I liked the functionality of the software very much, but it did have these weird behavior issues. Just like Daemon, I thought it worked great functionally, but it felt like it got its fingers into too many things on my computer.
WindCDEmu is a really great one so far. I've used it for a couple of days now, no problem. I just wish it had some tray features and a general settings dialog.

nite_monkey · « **Reply #20 on:** July 15, 2011, 04:16 PM »

No one has mentioned ImDisk I've used it for a couple of years now and I have had no problems with it.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 15, 2011, 06:02 PM »

No one has mentioned ImDisk I've used it for a couple of years now and I have had no problems with it.
-nite_monkey (July 15, 2011, 04:16 PM)

Thanks for the pointer!

I've never heard of ImDisk before - donationware with source available. And there are a bunch of other little utilities on the page that I'll have to check out to see if there's anything interesting.

lanux128 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 15, 2011, 07:29 PM »

another couple of software to add to the list, both are freeware.

• ISODisk
• Pismo File Mount

ewemoa · « **Reply #23 on:** July 15, 2011, 07:32 PM »

No one has mentioned ImDisk I've used it for a couple of years now and I have had no problems with it.
-nite_monkey (July 15, 2011, 04:16 PM)

I have found it to be a good utility too

JavaJones · « **Reply #24 on:** July 15, 2011, 07:36 PM »

Good lord, too many options. Hehe. I use Virtual CloneDrive personally, had no real problems with it. But I'd be curious to see some kind of review "shootout"/comparison of these. I doubt anyone has the time though...

- Oshyan