Author Topic: Alternatives to Daemon Tools? (Read 32,464 times)

tranglos · « **on:** December 21, 2009, 09:56 PM »

Are there any alternatives to Daemon Tools for mounting CD and DVD images as virtual drives? Preferably free or inexpensive. Daemon Tools is quite pricey, and I don't know what else is there, or what will run under Windows 7.

Number99 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:14 PM »

Daemon Tools has a Lite version that's free: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:20 PM »

Don't mess with daemon-tools if you don't need it's piracy features.

Check out MagicDisc or Virtual CloneDrive instead

tranglos · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:25 PM »

Quote from: Number99 on December 21, 2009, 10:14 PM

Daemon Tools has a Lite version that's free: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite

Indeed, thanks! I was only looking at the Store page, where the Lite version is listed at 14,90 Euro. That page does not mention it's free for personal use - only the one at your links does.

tranglos · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:26 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on December 21, 2009, 10:20 PM

Check out MagicDisc or Virtual CloneDrive instead

Oh wow, I already have Virtual CloneDrive! It was a freebie when I registered CloneCD/DVD, but I never used it and totally forgot about it

I. Am. Getting. Old.

Thanks!

Josh · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:40 PM »

MagicDisc...EWW!!!!! I hate programs which make a format that can only be opened in their program. YUCK!

f0dder · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:44 PM »

Quote from: Josh on December 21, 2009, 10:40 PM

MagicDisc...EWW!!!!! I hate programs which make a format that can only be opened in their program. YUCK!

So what? It supports .iso and .cue/bin, just produce your images in another app - MagicDisc works just fine for mounting the stuff, which is the important part.

Josh · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:49 PM »

Virtual Clone Drive is a program I can recommend for someone not looking to shell out cash. For the commercial aspect, however, daemon tools simply cannot be beat in terms of ease of use and feature support.

gexecuter · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:10 PM »

Pismo file mounter is pretty good since it doesn't install any special driver tough it can only handle ISO images however you can pair it up with AnyToISO Converter (last free version) to get the most out the program.

f0dder · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:18 PM »

Quote from: gexecuter on December 21, 2009, 11:10 PM

Pismo file mounter is pretty good since it doesn't install any special driver tough it can only handle ISO images however you can pair it up with AnyToISO Converter (last free version) to get the most out the program.

If it doesn't install drivers, you're going to have to extract files from your ISO archives rather than accessing them directly - that kinda sucks.

gexecuter · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:40 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on December 21, 2009, 11:18 PM

Quote from: gexecuter on December 21, 2009, 11:10 PM
Pismo file mounter is pretty good since it doesn't install any special driver tough it can only handle ISO images however you can pair it up with AnyToISO Converter (last free version) to get the most out the program.
If it doesn't install drivers, you're going to have to extract files from your ISO archives rather than accessing them directly - that kinda sucks.

Really? it's been awhile since i have tried the app tough.

f0dder · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:45 PM »

Yep - without a driver component, applications can't directly access files from inside the ISO images; the best you can get without a driver is a shell extension that handles things transparently, but that would involve extracting/re-inserting files from the image...

4wd · « **Reply #12 on:** December 22, 2009, 04:36 AM »

PFM is read-only for ISO images.

I use it all the time for ISOs that don't need to be "inserted" into a drive, (eg. DVD Video).

It's a simple matter of right-click->Quick Mount and then double-click the ISO to access the files via Explorer/DOpus. Applications can directly access the files in the ISO but will have to save any changes to somewhere else, (as is the case for a real CD/DVD ROM).

If you need to mount the ISO to a drive letter, then there is also Microsoft's own free VirtualCD Control Panel. Standalone, (un)install the driver, (un)mount images - pretty basic but good to carry around on your Flash drive.

Target · « **Reply #13 on:** December 22, 2009, 04:50 AM »

and another one - never used it so can't vouch for it, but it may be worth a look

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/

lanux128 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 22, 2009, 05:09 AM »

you can also try Alcohol 52% Free Edition which is the lesser version of 120% and is for private, non-commercial, single home computer use. This version allows creation of only 6 virtual drives while the retail version supports up to 31 virtual drives.

• http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition

Deozaan · « **Reply #15 on:** December 22, 2009, 05:15 AM »

I used to use Alcohol and PowerISO until I found the freeware Gizmo Central with Gizmo Drive. Now I just use Gizmo Central. I'm running it on Windows 7 right now with no problems.

http://arainia.com/software/gizmo/

Gizmo Central also has a useful Gizmo Hasher which calculates and compares a variety of checksums.

Actually it has more than that, too. Such as a Scripter which I think is kind of like AHK. An Editor, and a database thingy.

I only use Gizmo Drive and Gizmo Hasher, so I can't really comment on the other 3.

f0dder · « **Reply #16 on:** December 22, 2009, 11:29 AM »

Quote from: 4wd on December 22, 2009, 04:36 AM

It's a simple matter of right-click->Quick Mount and then double-click the ISO to access the files via Explorer/DOpus. Applications can directly access the files in the ISO but will have to save any changes to somewhere else, (as is the case for a real CD/DVD ROM).

Are you 100% sure it doesn't either extract the files temporarily from the ISO, or actually does install a driver?

y0himba · « **Reply #17 on:** December 22, 2009, 01:24 PM »

I gotta second Elby Virtual Clone Drive.

I own Daemon Tools Pro but haven''t used it in 6 months or so since trying Virtual Clone Drive.

f0dder · « **Reply #18 on:** December 22, 2009, 01:53 PM »

Just checked out Pismo File Mounter in a virtual machine, here's from the install log:

Quote

2009-12-22 13:52:57.691 Copying file "C:\Settings\Administrator\Desktop\pfmap-154.exe\pfmfs.sys" to "C:\WINXP\system32\Drivers\pfmfs_359.sys".

4wd · « **Reply #19 on:** December 22, 2009, 10:37 PM »

Quote from: f0dder on December 22, 2009, 01:53 PM

Just checked out Pismo File Mounter in a virtual machine, here's from the install log:

Hey, I didn't say it didn't install a driver

I just pointed out how it worked. With the SDK you could write modules for all kinds of archive/image access.

Tuxman · « **Reply #20 on:** December 23, 2009, 01:27 AM »

+1 vote for Alcohol 52%.

ewemoa · « **Reply #21 on:** December 23, 2009, 02:37 AM »

Quote from: Target on December 22, 2009, 04:50 AM

and another one - never used it so can't vouch for it, but it may be worth a look

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/

FWIW, this has been working ok for my limited use.

f0dder · « **Reply #22 on:** December 24, 2009, 01:58 AM »

Quote from: 4wd on December 22, 2009, 10:37 PM

Quote from: f0dder on December 22, 2009, 01:53 PM
Just checked out Pismo File Mounter in a virtual machine, here's from the install log:

Hey, I didn't say it didn't install a driver

Indeed not, sorry - gexecuter did, though

ewemoa · « **Reply #23 on:** April 12, 2010, 11:49 AM »

Quote from: ewemoa on December 23, 2009, 02:37 AM

Quote from: Target on December 22, 2009, 04:50 AM
and another one - never used it so can't vouch for it, but it may be worth a look

http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/

FWIW, this has been working ok for my limited use.

I forgot that ImDisk can work with iso images. I use ImDisk for other purposes but may be its iso image support is worth trying out.

Innuendo · « **Reply #24 on:** April 12, 2010, 01:12 PM »

I have tried every virtual disc program available & there are only two products in this category of software worth using, IMHO. Those two are Daemon Tools and MagicDisc. Every other virtual disc program leaves out support for half of the disc image formats that exist.