CD on hard drive

[King George John]

Hi:

I am considering software (from Best Buys) that permits one to store many,
many CD Roms on the hard drive.

I would like to do this because my kids are running a lot of game and
educational software and everytime they handle a disk there is the potential
of damage.

In particular, on educational package requires one disk to start and another
disk (in the SAME drive - I can't even leave the second disk in the DVD
drive) once the particular subject has been selected.

SO: is the software reliable? Is it relatively easy to use (by kids or
lazy adults)? In particular I saw a program (for $20) that was for
"gamers" and would use 23 virtual CD drives and otherwise keep an unlimited
number of other disks ready to be loaded.

Way back when (on a W-95 machine) I did something similar by copying a CD
onto a drive and making that folder a drive by the SUBST (or similar)
command. That did work for some disks but not for others.

Thank you,

jlg

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Hi:

I am considering software (from Best Buys) that permits one to store
many, many CD Roms on the hard drive.

I would like to do this because my kids are running a lot of game and
educational software and everytime they handle a disk there is the
potential of damage.

In particular, on educational package requires one disk to start and
another disk (in the SAME drive - I can't even leave the second disk
in the DVD drive) once the particular subject has been selected.

SO: is the software reliable? Is it relatively easy to use (by
kids or lazy adults)? In particular I saw a program (for $20) that
was for "gamers" and would use 23 virtual CD drives and otherwise
keep an unlimited number of other disks ready to be loaded.

Way back when (on a W-95 machine) I did something similar by copying
a CD onto a drive and making that folder a drive by the SUBST (or
similar) command. That did work for some disks but not for others.

Thank you,

You didn't mention the name of this software program?

You might want to go to http://www.google.com and search for this
software. You should get some links where it might have been tested and
reviewed.

--
Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Please reply to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Dwight Stewart]

SO: is the software reliable? Is it relatively easy to
use (by kids or lazy adults)? In particular I saw a
program (for $20) that was for "gamers" and would
use 23 virtual CD drives and otherwise keep an unlimited
number of other disks ready to be loaded.

From your description (23 drives), I suspect you're referring to GameDrive
by Farstone.

http://www.farstone.com/home/en/shtml/products.shtml

I use VirtualDrive, made by the same company, and consider it
indispensable. I've loaded more than a dozen game CD's into VirtualDrive
without any problems, allowing me, as advertised, to play those games
without the CD's in the actual drive. As for ease of use, I certainly
wouldn't let a young child do it, but it is child's play for an adult.

After the virtual CD is created, you simply pop the virtual CD into a
virtual drive found behind an icon in the taskbar (when you click on a
drive, a menu pops up with the virtual CD's to insert). After the CD is
inserted, the virtual CD acts just like you've put the actual CD in a real
drive (complete with an offer to install the software if that is on the
actual CD). The virtual drives even appear under "My Computer" as CD drives.

By the way, don't ask me what the difference is between GameDrive and
VirtualDrive. Since the specs look identical, I never did figure it out.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/

 

[Anonymous Joe]

Hi:

I am considering software (from Best Buys) that permits one to store many,
many CD Roms on the hard drive.

I would like to do this because my kids are running a lot of game and
educational software and everytime they handle a disk there is the potential
of damage.

In particular, on educational package requires one disk to start and another
disk (in the SAME drive - I can't even leave the second disk in the DVD
drive) once the particular subject has been selected.

SO: is the software reliable? Is it relatively easy to use (by kids or
lazy adults)? In particular I saw a program (for $20) that was for
"gamers" and would use 23 virtual CD drives and otherwise keep an unlimited
number of other disks ready to be loaded.

Way back when (on a W-95 machine) I did something similar by copying a CD
onto a drive and making that folder a drive by the SUBST (or similar)
command. That did work for some disks but not for others.

Thank you,

jlg

For some reason educational games/programs are always the poorest coded,
most absurd, anti-child friendly things on the planet.

But anyways, I use Alcohol 120%, which is mainly a CD image burner with
advanced copy protection functions, but also serves well as making image
files & then being able to assign it a drive letter....but it's more than
$20 (and not by a little, either.)

The only problem would be if you don't have enough HD space, so you need
atleast 5gb free (couple full games, especially if the games have 2 cds).
You may find it funny that the hard drive space is an issue, but I have a
60gb that has 5gb free

One last thing, though, if the game which requires the CD to be in a certain
drive (ie, it looks in D, then doing this won't change that. It will look
in D:, there's nothing, so it won't run, that is unless it runs off the cd
completly and when you go to "install" it just makes a link (quality
programming for you). If it does run completly off the CD, then that's
perfect, it will run faster as an added bonus!

 

[King George John]

From your description (23 drives), I suspect you're referring to GameDrive
by Farstone.

That's the one. I didn't write down the name when I had the box in my
hands.

http://www.farstone.com/home/en/shtml/products.shtml

I use VirtualDrive, made by the same company, and consider it
indispensable. I've loaded more than a dozen game CD's into VirtualDrive
without any problems, allowing me, as advertised, to play those games
without the CD's in the actual drive. As for ease of use, I certainly
wouldn't let a young child do it, but it is child's play for an adult.

After the virtual CD is created, you simply pop the virtual CD into a
virtual drive found behind an icon in the taskbar (when you click on a
drive, a menu pops up with the virtual CD's to insert). After the CD is
inserted, the virtual CD acts just like you've put the actual CD in a real
drive (complete with an offer to install the software if that is on the
actual CD). The virtual drives even appear under "My Computer" as CD

drives.

Sounds good.

Being greedy: Is is possible to "pop" a real CD into the virtual drive?

IOW: In my case, CD 1 of the set would be a virtual CD. When it asks for
CD 2 (or whatever), that would be a physical platter. (What I want is a
compromise between filling up my hard drive, and switching CDs all the
time.) I guess I should bite the bullet and get a 100 Gbyte drive.)

Anyway, thanks for your feedback. From what you describe I think my kids
should not get in too much trouble.

jlg

 

[Bill James]

Daemon Tools also works for this, http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php. I use it both for easily burning CDs from .iso images (as a CD to CD copy which is more reliable), and also to use .iso images without having to burn a CD. Works as a virtual DVD drive also. Free for private use.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Win9x VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/

 

[Dwight Stewart]

Being greedy: Is is possible to "pop" a real CD
into the virtual drive?

Never tried that. Of course, you can put one disk in a real drive and have
a second or even a third (up to 23) in virtual drives. The only time this
would not work is when a game specifically looks for the second disk to be
placed in the same drive as the first disk. In that case, all the disks will
have to be on virtual drives or all on a real drive.

(snip) I guess I should bite the bullet and get a 100 Gbyte
drive.

It's not that bad. The virtual drive image saved onto your hard drive is
only slightly larger than the actual data on the CD, not the full size of
the CD itself. My disk images range in size from 137MB to 650MB. There is
also an additional option to compress the data when creating virtual disks.
I have plenty of drive space, so I've never tried the compression.

Take care.

Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/