Read CD on HD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gecko
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gecko

I have the content of a CD (data) on an external hard drive in a
folder, say 'CDCOPY'. I also have a program that expects CDs that it
reads to be on a disk in a disk drive. That is, selecting the
program's 'read CD' option causes the program to read from a disk
drive directly with no intervening options as to the target.

Is there any way in XP PRO SP2 that I can associate (my word) the hard
drive folder CDDOPY with the disk drive letter to fake out the program
to access the hard drive folder instead?

Just wondering and hoping..............

-GECKO
 
gecko said:
I have the content of a CD (data) on an external hard drive in a
folder, say 'CDCOPY'. I also have a program that expects CDs that it
reads to be on a disk in a disk drive. That is, selecting the
program's 'read CD' option causes the program to read from a disk
drive directly with no intervening options as to the target.

Is there any way in XP PRO SP2 that I can associate (my word) the hard
drive folder CDDOPY with the disk drive letter to fake out the program
to access the hard drive folder instead?

Just wondering and hoping..............

-GECKO
Click to expand...

Do a google search for "mount CD image" (without the quotes) for your
answer. This was a common dodge for people seeking to use bootleg copies of
games (or just to get around the requirement that a game CD be present in
the drive even if it wasn't being used for anything) and soon thereafter
the game makers started protecting against it by various means. So that
means that one may easily make an ISO file look like a real CD drive to the
operating system it may not prove acceptable the any programs one tries to
run from that virtual drive.
 
Do a google search for "mount CD image" (without the quotes) for your
answer. This was a common dodge for people seeking to use bootleg copies of
games (or just to get around the requirement that a game CD be present in
the drive even if it wasn't being used for anything) and soon thereafter
the game makers started protecting against it by various means. So that
means that one may easily make an ISO file look like a real CD drive to the
operating system it may not prove acceptable the any programs one tries to
run from that virtual drive.
Click to expand...

I did. It appears to me that I will have to make an ISO or UIF image
of my hard drive folder's contents in order to make things work? I
can't seem to mount the folder otherwise. Right?

Thanks
-GECKO
 
gecko said:
I have the content of a CD (data) on an external hard drive in a
folder, say 'CDCOPY'. I also have a program that expects CDs that it
reads to be on a disk in a disk drive. That is, selecting the
program's 'read CD' option causes the program to read from a disk
drive directly with no intervening options as to the target.

Is there any way in XP PRO SP2 that I can associate (my word) the hard
drive folder CDDOPY with the disk drive letter to fake out the program
to access the hard drive folder instead?

Just wondering and hoping..............

-GECKO
Click to expand...

I have no idea what the Message-Body says, but the Subject sounds like you
are looking for VirtualCD
 
Yes, AFAIK you need to re-rip the original CD to a CD image,
then mount it with something like Daemon Tools. Otherwise
there's no way to virtualize the CD, though I suppose you
could try to make an ISO and put the files into it with a
3rd party application but then it may not fool the
application that wants the CD, as it may not be looking only
for a CD with files.
Click to expand...


Thanks for info

-GECKO
 
gecko said:
I did. It appears to me that I will have to make an ISO or UIF image
of my hard drive folder's contents in order to make things work? I
can't seem to mount the folder otherwise. Right?
Click to expand...

You can use the subst command to create a virtual drive out of a
folder's contents. That might not fool your application, though, is it
might only look through removable drives. (I'm not sure what drive type
is created by subst.)

Fairly often a program that uses a CD will store the path to that CD in
the registry or in a configuration file. I would probably try to find
that setting and jimmy it to point to your HD folder.
 
You could get a more useful response if you stop trying to
generalize or be mysterious about what you are doing.

You have a folder with what Kind of files? Their file
extensions?

This "program" has a name? Its purpose, is?

Even if we can't figure out how to make it work with that
program we might be able to suggest another way to
accomplish your objective, if you are willing to let us in on
it.

Luck;
Ken
Click to expand...
Have gotten some useful replies, but you are right. I wasn't trying
to be mysterious.
-GECKO
 
gecko said:
I did. It appears to me that I will have to make an ISO or UIF image
of my hard drive folder's contents in order to make things work? I
can't seem to mount the folder otherwise. Right?

Thanks
-GECKO
Click to expand...

*If* you can make an ISO of just about anything you wish, and mount it
using VirtualCD then it should work pretty much exactly how it works on real
HD. I say "pretty much" because some software may require information from
Registry or the Configuration requires a specific drive letter etc..
 
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