How do I do this?

easyrider · Feb 7, 2006

I have a couple of apps that require that I have the cd in the player to operate. I have a huge hard drive on this computer with plenty of free space and would like to have the entire program on the hard drive so I do not have to keep switching cd's. Surely there must be a way to do this but I havent been able to figure it out. Anyone help?

nkhoi · Feb 7, 2006

what is file extension of those files on your CD?

easyrider · Feb 7, 2006

There are a lot of different files.

It seems like I should be able to copy the entire contents to a folder on my hardrive and then change whatever it is that points to the cdrom to point to that folder instead but I dont know enough about the way these things are layed out.

DblArrow · Feb 7, 2006

I've been trying to do this also - but one of the major drawbacks is the copyright prevention crap they put on cds and dvds to prevent copying. If you find away around that then you can get it to work.

Make 'em pretty, Chris

osorico · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from DblArrow:

I've been trying to do this also - but one of the major drawbacks is the copyright prevention crap they put on cds and dvds to prevent copying. If you find away around that then you can get it to work.

Make 'em pretty, Chris

Right. You have to make an image of the CD, usually .iso extension but there are others, and store that image on your drive. Then using one of several "virtual drive" programs you mount the image and voila.

Keep in mind...
1) the program or game you want to run may have to be installed before the image will run.

2) Most burning-for-the-masses programs WILL NOT handle copyrighted material properly. This includes Nero, and Roxio, and many others. The good news is there are many programs that will!... You may need some Alcohol, 120% proof

, to begin your search.

3) If you have Nero, the ImageDrive program is a good virtual drive program.

Cheers

nkhoi · Feb 7, 2006

Quote from osorico:

... You may need some Alcohol, 120% proof , to begin your search.

3) If you have Nero, the ImageDrive program is a good virtual drive program.

Cheers

that help

j_medved · Feb 7, 2006

Virtual Drive: free one from SlySoft:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

For copy protection issues (CD and DVD), AnyDVD is great and works on the fly in the background, so you can then use regular copying software like Nero, WinISO, etc to copy the disc or make an ISO file:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html

The rest is as stated above - just have ISO files and mount them as virtual drives

easyrider · Feb 7, 2006

Thanks all.

easyrider · Feb 7, 2006

Just copied my first one. This is really cool. I knew there had to be a way around this but didnt know they had the way around the protection too. They are creating this stuff faster than I can keep up with.