Virtual (Emulator) CD/DVD-ROM

MagicDisc Virtual (Emulator) CD/DVD-ROM http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

For anyone unfamiliar with the terms 'virtual CD/DVD' or 'CD/DVD emulator', they mean that you can copy the entire contents of a CD/DVD-ROM to your hard disk as an ISO file and run the programs or access the files without the need for the original CD. This can make files more accessible, faster and more convenient. Given the speed and size of today's hard drives, you could easily fit a number of CD/DVD onto your hard drive without noticing the difference. Assuming you had 30 full CDs, these would take around 20GB on a hard drive and all will be accessible after a few clicks of a mouse.

Hard drives are about 10 times faster than a CD/DVD, plus you can instantly access the file instead of grabbing the CD/DVD case, inserting the CD/DVD and awaiting for the contents to load. It's true, you could try copying the files over to the hard drive, but this can get messy, plus some programs require a CD/DVD to be loaded in order to run. This virtual CD/DVD program 'pretends' it is a CD/DVD drive (even though the files are on your hard drive), so your programs will run as normal.

This program works on Windows 7 and it works great. What would you use this for? This program will save you money on CD and DVD by running the ISO on this program, instead of burining it on a CD/DVD. If you have ISO movie and/or program file, you can run it right off the computer hard drive, which is faster and time saving.

Excerpt from http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

MagicDisc is freeware. It is very helpful utility designed for creating and managing virtual CD drives and CD/DVD discs. For anyone who deals with CD-based programs – it is a MUST. MagicDisc allows you to use almost all CD/DVD image without burning them onto CD or DVD in order to easily access your favorite games, music, or software programs ---- It works like a real CD/DVD-ROM: You can run programs, play games, or listen to music from your virtual CD-ROM. Allowing you to run your game images at over 200x faster than from a conventional CD/DVD-ROM. MagicDisc is a powerful utility that uses a unique combination of options to ensure a perfect back-up every time. Partner with MagicISO, Your original games/program discs can be safely stored away, MagicISO mean that you always have your expensive media stored safely as CD/DVD image file on your hard drive, and use them with MagicDisc just like using the original discs. At the office: Program discs and many other applications generally require the original disc to be in the computer's CD-ROM drive. This restricts the amount of people in your office who can have access to the same software at the same time without the cost of additional discs. MagicDisc virtual drives resolve that problem for you. No more hunting around the offices for that elusive disc you need to run your application, everything you require is just a click away.

Daemon Tool Lite for CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite

I used Daemon lite while back on my Windows XP and works really well. I changed over to MagicDisc because at that time it did not support Windows 7 but reading their website looks like they got a beta version to support Windows 7. Once they finalized, I'll probably change over to Daemon because it support basically all media compare to MagicDisc.

Excerpt from http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite

DAEMON Tools is an advanced application for Microsoft Windows which provides one of the best optical media emulation in the industry. With DAEMON Tools you can back up your physical CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray discs into “virtual discs” or so called “disc image” files, which run directly on your hard drive. You can also work with images created by other burning programs! DAEMON Tools supports variety of image types. Use CD/DVD image converter to have one format images in your Image Catalog!
A virtual disc has much better access rates than a physical one in a corresponding physical drive because the reading speed of a virtual CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray-ROM is 50x faster compared to normal drive.
No more CD/DVD drive noise. No waiting for disc loading. No need to buy external optical drive for your netbook. DAEMON Tools enables you to use your CD/DVD images as if they were already burned to CD/DVD.