POLL: Do you use an image drive?

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Hey, I was just wondering any of you guys use an image drive or "virtual drive" for anything. And what programs do you use to create the image file and/or use to run the drive? Also, *why* do you use them (i.e. don't like using CDs/DVDs, power saving, no optical drive on the computer.

I use CloneCD due to its ability to shrug write protections, and Daemon Tools to "mount" the image file. A lot of people I know just use Nero, but I've use the CloneCD/Daemon Tools combo for the longest time, and I've never had a problems...so why change?

To keep power consumption, noise, heat, and vibration down on my laptop, I decided to make a full install of all the games I currently play, and then image the "play" disk to my HDD so I can play the game wherever I want without needing a CD. Right now I've got about 10 images files of various games on a DVD and 3 on my HDD.

How about you?

Poll Information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 15 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Do you use an image drive? (15 votes.)

Do you use an image or virtual drive? (Choose 1)
* Yes I do. - 73% (11)
* No I don't. - 27% (4)
* What's a image/virtual drive? - 0% (0)

Why? (Choose 1)
* I don't like using, or don't always have access to the CDs/DVDs ( even though I own them). - 40% (6)
* My computer doesn't have a built in optical drive. - 0% (0)
* To ut down on power consumption, heat, noise, or vibration. - 20% (3)
* Other (please specify (nothing illegal)). - 13% (2)
* I don't use an image/virtual drive. - 27% (4)

 

Most of my software is in ISOs, so I need an image-drive, and I don't like of DVD-swapping. Changing a DVD doesn't take long, but still it's a bugger...

 

LiteOn drive. A beauty when it comes to quality and especially price/quality ratio, but damn is it noisy.

 

Errr...Taza, I think you mis-understood. We're talking about image/virtual drives here...not optical drives.

Lets take a look at what Wikipedia says about the image/virtual drive along with the Disk image emulator.

Unless that's your way of saying, "I only use my optical drive..."

 

Nah - it's my way of saying I use my virtual drive (with DaemonTools) almost exclusively - the noise from the optical drive is way too high for constant use.

(I use CloneCD to make the images too - there's no beating that little nifty tool.)

 

Ah. Sorry to have doubted you...

 

I'm using DaemonTools as well...

If you remember, I'd made topic a couple of weeks ago about my drive dying on me. I haven't had the 100 or so dollars to spare at the moment, so any DVD I need to use, I'm making an ISO from my brother's laptop, storing it on my iPod and then using that via DaemonTools...

Clumsy...but beggars can't be choosers.

Edit: And I forgot...my BG2 and IWD2 cds were so completely scratched after all those years of repetitive use, that I had to make backups of those things before they literally disintegrated...

 

I used to use Nero, but I like Daemontools better. I especially like being able to close it completely and still have the drive mounted.

As for why, two reasons actually. First, I had a very strict limit on what I could bring with me when I moved to Edinburgh (stupid airlines and their 20kg allowance) and I have very limited space here, so bringing all my CDs, CD-ROMs and DVDs was out of the question. I instead bought a hard drive and converted everything. Very handy. And even though I've bought things since I got here (Heroes Complete most recently) my optical drive (NEC 4550) is quite noisy, and has the annoying habit of speeding up and down constantly. Images eliminate both the noise and the pause while the drive changes speed, both of which are excessively annoying when watching movies.

 

I did that stuff years ago but can't even recall what programs those were.

 

Daemon Tools ftw .

I couldn't be without that these days.

 

I just find it to be a pain in the ass to try and find all my cd's/dvds. Get it, rip and and mount it, less hassle.