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Best Free CD-DVD Emulation Software
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Introduction
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Having CD/DVD emulation software works like having multiple CD/DVD ROM drives. The emulation software allows users to run a CD/DVD image directly from a hard disk after mounting the image to a virtual disk drive. This works the same as or even better than the traditional way for users to run a CD/DVD from a physical disk drive after mounting the CD/DVD onto it. Depending on the emulation software, the number of virtual disk drives can be easily set to more than 10 or 20, at no extra cost, while the number of physical disk drives is usually limited to one that was bought as part of the PC. Most users need this software for reasons such as:
Serving most of the objectives, these free CD/DVD emulation software tools, or emulators, are reviewed and rated based on the following features:
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Discussion
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It supports up to 26 virtual drives. Other types of images which can be mounted include VHD, IMG, BIN, CUE, NRG, CCD, MDS, MDF and GDRIVE. In addition to mounting images to virtual drives, Gizmo Drive allows you to create ISO images from a disk or folder, and burn the contents of an ISO file or a folder to a recordable disk. It comes with a Gizmo Manager and Image Wizard to perform the various tasks. User interface of this program is informative and helpful. Other additional features include creating a GDRIVE image for simulating a hard drive with compression and encryption, creating a virtual hard drive backed by system memory for better performance in accessing time sensitive data, etc. |
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It allows you to run many types of CD/DVD images without burning them onto CDs or DVDs. It also allows you to create CD/DVD images from CDs/DVDs and save them into various formats including ISO, BIN/CUE, NRG, UIF. This program, with a simple interface, supports up to 15 virtual disk drives. Other features are available such as, compress ISO, NRG, CUE, MDS and CCD formats into UIF format, or decompress UIF format into ISO format. The feature for burning images to disks is not supported.
This program adds a Windows Explorer context menu for mounting and unmounting the images as well. In this version under review, it has increased the number of virtual drives up to 15, same as the number supported by MagicDisc. Mountable image formats include ISO, CCD, IMG, UDF, BIN, etc., but NRG, MDF/MDS and some other formats are not supported. The program comes with a Virtual Sheep option which is designed to mark all virtual drives created by the software with its icon, so that you can differentiate them from the physical drives. Auto-mounting the last image is also included as one of the options. On the down side, Virtual CloneDrive does not provide other features such as creating images from or burning them to disks.
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CD / DVD Emulation Software for Linux
This program allows you to select or drag-and-drop a file to mount an image in your home directory easily, and unmount an image with one click on a button. It also supports burning ISO and IMG files to optical disks. Other features include generating MD5 and SHA1 checksums, automatically saving the history of the last 10 images mounted and retrieving previously unmounted images. No creating disk images is included in the program. If necessary, you might want to try Brasero Disc Burner which can create an ISO image from a CD/DVD, without using a command line interface. Known Issues: Uninstallation of MagicDisc may cause your PC to freeze. This is because of a bug in MagicDisc SCSI Host Controller. Inorder to solve it and uninstall follow these steps: -Boot into Safe Mode |
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To be reviewed:
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Other CD / DVD Emulators
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| There are a number of other freeware products which were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. As they are not rated in this review, I am listing them here with brief descriptions and links to the related sites for ease of reference. |
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Disk Image Formats
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These are some image formats used by the emulation software for mounting images to virtual CD/DVD drives or other devices. |
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| ISO | Standard ISO 9660 image, supported by most emulation software | |
| BWT | BlindWrite image | |
| CCD /IMG /SUB | CloneCD image | |
| CDFS | CD File System image | |
| CDI | DiscJuggler image | |
| CUE /BIN | Cue sheet and binary image, introduced by CDRWIN. | |
| GDRIVE | Gizmo Drive image | |
| IMG /IMA | Floppy disk image | |
| ISZ | Compressed ISO image, developed by EZB Systems. | |
| JO | Joliet extension to ISO image, specified and endorsed by Microsoft | |
| MDS /MDF | Media Descriptor image, proprietary to Alcohol Soft. | |
| NRG | Nero Burning ROM image | |
| PDI | Instant CD/DVD image | |
| ROCK | Rock Ridge extension to ISO image | |
| UDF | Universal Disk Format, developed by Optical Storage Technology Associationproofread | |
| UIF | Universal Image File | |
| VHD | Virtual Hard Disk image | |
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Have Your Say
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You are invited to share and discuss your views in our freeware forum. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate. Alternatively, anyone can leave a comment at the bottom of this page. Please help us by rating this review |
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Related Products and Links
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Supported formats for mounting: ISO, GDRIVE, BIN/CUE, CCD, NRG, MDS/MDF, IMG, VHD.
Supported formats for mounting: ISO, CUE/BIN, CCD, NRG, MDS/MDF, BWT, CDI, PDI, IMG, UIF, etc.
Supported formats for mounting: ISO, IMG, BIN, MDF and NRG image files
Supported formats for mounting: ISO, CCD, IMG, UDF, BIN, etc.
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Editor
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This software category is in need of an editor. If you would like to give something back to the freeware community by taking it over, check out this page for more details. You can then contact us from that page or by clicking here |
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Tags
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CD DVD emulator, emulation software, freeware, free emulator, virtual drive, virtual burner, virtual RW, virtual ROM, mount CD DVD drive |
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Comments
Stop wearing out your CD/DVD'S
I use 2 CD/DVD emulators.
I have found Alcohol 52% to work well with some of my higher end games and DVD's the drawback being the free version has a limited number of virtual drives available. 6 allowed.
http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/
MagicISO
If you were fortunate enough to download the older free version of MagicISO, then you don't have to contend with the 300 MB restriction that has been implemented in the current available versions. The free version I use works well with allot of my older game CD'S
Download MagicISO from FileHippo.com
There is another emulator I found called VirtualCloneDrive_5411. I downloaded it from fileforum. It installed with no problem (Winxpsp3). Does what it says from what I can see. Does not have the bells and whistles of MagicISO or Alcohol 52%
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Virtual_CloneDrive/1224002998/1
Daemon Tools is also a great free CD Emulator with up to 4 virtual drives. It is a lot like the Alcohol 120's CD Emulator.
http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/download.php?catid=5&mode=ViewCategory
Why not get virutal clone drive from the source. you'll get the most uptodate verson that http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html
I have used Daemon for several years and it works very well. It never cause me any problems.
Drew
Daemon Tools comes bundled with a Trojan. I can't remember the file name, but AVG picked it up.
Alcohol 52% free version is good. 6 virtual drivers are enough for me, and it can create high-quality clone of your CD.
Are you sure that AVG is right; might it not be finding code that could potentially be trojan, but isn't? Why not check with more than only AVG, too? AVG would be claiming a trojan's found by running heuristics, I think, and if this is true, then maybe AVG is just reporting a false alert. Or did it find a specifically known trojan?
Mike Corbeil
Quebec, Ca
Just type "daemon tools trojan" into google. There is definitely something suspicious going on with their code. My anti-spyware program also had issues with it.
Looks like it comes with some ad-ware, not a trojan. Just be careful when you install it.
Isn't there a free tool, which can handle compressed ISZ image files?
The other important thing about Daemon Tools is that, unlike most emulators, its emulation is accurate enough to deceive some copy protection schemes. (This of course means it can be used for rather questionable purposes, but as mentioned above, there are plenty of legitimate reasons for using emulation software.)
What about Microsoft's (unsupported) free tool
http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/6/7b6abd84-7841-4978-96f5-bd5...
It's not as good as some of the others, but it works if you want to avoid installing a bigger software package
I've used Pismo File Mount Audit Package from http://www.pismotechnic.com/download with no complaints.
How about Alcohol 52%? It works well if you don't need a bunch of virtual drives. And I like the feature that lets me drag and drop a bunch of virtual discs into a catalog.
I'm going to give Gizmo a try though. And Virtual Clone Drive. I already use MagicISO as well as PowerISO.
Long ago I used Farstone Virtual Drive and loaded a PC with all my kids games and educational stuff and man, if you have kids, this is the way to go (virtual drives in general I mean). No scratching up the discs, losing them, jamming a drive, etc. And certainly they run way faster.
Can any of these be used on XBOX 360? I would like to not have to worry about leaving a disc in the machine which the instructions warn vehemently against, while moving the system around (cleaning house, bringing to friends etc.)
**In a way I hope not bcs then I'll regret only getting the 60 GB version.
Funny that this came out today. I spent a couple of hours last week looking for such a solution to use with my Father-in-law's new ASUS EEE1000H netbook (without an optical drive). I tried three of the items. I didn't like Daemon Tools or VirtualCloneDrive. I also tried microsoft's solution, but it is not particularly user friendly (I have no problem, but I want something easy for my Father-in-law.)
I'm looking forward to trying out Gizmo Drive and MagicDisc.
Eoin
#21 Addition
MagicDisc is in fact the same as magicIso My bad and yes its free with out the 3oo MB restriction. Live and learn. Tried Gizmo drive, don't like having to to reload the image files after each boot. So I am back with MagicDisc.
The problem with MagicDisk. it is not accurate enough to defeat some of the copyright protections.
That's when I breakout Alcohol 52%. It has good help files that give you step by step instructions to defeat those sneaky copyright protections.
(suggestion) I run both with no problem. six more drives :-) (winxp 32)
I have yet to try daemon tools because I am Leary about trojans and adaware.
Now for a gripe.
I Don't understand these protections. I paid for these games. CD's and DVD's wear out get scratched eaten by the dog etc. We pay for the software/programming not the plastic disc. what gives?
Thanks for bringing this up. There is some difference here. Pismo File Mount Audit Package mounts ISO, ZIP or other files as virtual folders in the Windows file system. It does not emulate CD/DVD ROM drive to mount the ISO image to a virtual disk drive and to 'run' the image as the way you run a CD/DVD from an optical drive.
Similarly, certain file archiver such as 7-Zip can unzip and view the contents of an ISO file in a folder, but it is unable to mount the image file to a virtual drive and run the image.
Thanks, it will be added to Other CD/DVD emulators for reference in the next update soon.
I use MagicDisc and I am particulary happy with it. It can even read some (not all, depending on version) Nero images.
regards
MC
It does...it's the Daemon Tools Toolbar...just opt out during the installation...after that, you should never have problems again...I've used a combination of alcohol 120% and daemon tools for years (I eventually bought the full version of alcohol so that I could back up my entire CD/DVD collection...I never play any of my games with originals anymore...they just get too damaged over time).
Daemon Tools Lite can mount ISZ image files.
ISZ image was created by EZB Systems Ltd which has a commercial software UltraISO to create, convert or mount ISZ images.
The company released a free command-line utility to decompress ISZ to ISO images. Available for download here:
http[COLON]//www[DOT]ezbsystems[DOT]com/isz/unisz.zip
Among the freeware under review, Daemon Tools Lite can be used to support mounting ISZ images.
I´m using the last version (4.30.3) with AVG and NOD32 and I have no problem.
gbr
Does anybody know of a freeware Virtual CD Burner? One that can write out cds to an image file. I know of two, Phantom Drive and Phantom Burner, but none of these is freeware. I need one to create a single multiboot disc that will contain all my bootable tools.
Alcohol 52% toolbar is not mandatory. You can choose not to install it.
Program (free edition) requires that you install a browser toolbar. Won't let you install the program without the toolbar.
not true at all!
You're wrong. You can install it without the toolbar.