Virtual CD 3

There's no doubt that CD-ROM drives are an integral part of the modern desktop/laptop PC, providing high capacity and cheap, transferable storage to the masses. Despite this, CD-ROMs and their partnering CD-ROM drives do have their problems. Notebook users in particular must contend with power-hungry CD drives reducing battery life and performance-affecting vibrations induced by use on the move. Things are better in desktop PCs but spin-up times and the mounting piles of little silver discs can get annoying, especially when someone wants a CD that inevitably you'll never find.

Enter Virtual CD 3, an innovative software program that allows you to create virtual CD-ROM drives on your hard disk, thereby eliminating the need for the actual CD itself. Like all previous versions of the software (reviewed issue 29, p184) Virtual CD 3 does this by operating at device layer, simulating a CD-ROM drive that looks, acts and operates like a physical disc.

The software works by creating a hard-disk image file of a CD. This image is read by the virtual drive as if it were the actual, physical media. Virtual CDs can then be inserted and ejected from up to 23 virtual drives instantly, again just as if they were physical components.

The image files themselves take from around ten minutes to an hour to create, using a 32-speed CD-ROM drive, but actual times will depend on the size of CD and whether you opt to use the software's built-in compression and/or error correction routines.

The creation process is all Wizard-driven, and a useful Help file takes you through any tricky occurrences. Another nice touch is that the created virtual CD image files can be assigned hot-keys that allow them to be launched instantly.

The only limiting factor in the number of images you can create is the size of your hard disk. This was an issue with Virtual CD in the past, when hard disks were far smaller, but with today's average PCs having upwards of 15Gb of storage, there's far more scope for storing several images at once.

The network version of the software also allows virtual drives to be accessed over a LAN on systems using any Microsoft OSes including Windows 2000 Professional. This is especially useful for anyone who requires regular access to CD media. As an example, take a situation where a user with a basic install of Office 2000 may suddenly require the use of PowerPoint. Instead of hunting down the actual CD, the server could hold a virtual CD image of the installation disk, which can be accessed by users from a virtual drive created on the requesting workstation. This removes the requirement for the actual CD media and gives all networked users access simultaneously.

Notebook users can especially benefit from Virtual CD. The use of a virtual drive removes the need to use any existing internal or external CD-ROM unit saving on battery power. And because virtual CDs only employ the hard disk, they're also less susceptible to vibration than an actual CD-ROM drive.

Virtual CD 3 is certainly an improvement over previous versions and the Network edition's full network functionality definitely makes it more useful in the business environment. The software works efficiently and is far from gimmicky, providing a truly useful alternative to constant CD swapping. At £26, Virtual CD 3 is certainly a tempting prospect, but at the end of the day it's not an essential item, and how much you get out of it will depend greatly on your own needs.

Author: Gareth Ogden