Virtual Clone Drive

[Chuckster]

I am in desperate need of a software that will allow you to run CDs without the need of the physical media. CC3 has the CD ROM Player equivalent, I think, but what would you guys recommend for me to use on a vanilla network? I need this to play (is it?) VCD files and quite preferably ISO files too.

 

I've heard of Daemon tools and VirtualCloneDrive, but how would I integrate either of them or just any one of them on a network?

[CyberNerd]

If you have an apple or Linux server you can create a windows share then mount the iso inside the windwos share.

 

mount -t iso9660 -o loop /path/to/filename.iso /path/to/sambashare/

[Chuckster]

Unfortunately I don't have a Linux or an Apple server to do this. I would preferably need something that will work on Windows and not some other OS as I don't have anything other than M$.

[CyberNerd]

videolan with play VCD's - maybe you could stream them

VideoLAN - Free and Open Source software and video streaming solutions for every OS!

[RabbieBurns]

Use daemon tools to create a virtual cd drive on the server and then just share that drive on the newtwork?

[Michael]

Alternatively (if possible) simply copy the disc to a folder on a file server and share the folder (with the correct permissions). Then use a UNC path to allow users to connect to the share (for example):

 

\\SERVERNAME\CD-ROM\Run.exe

[SimpleSi]

As per Michael's suggestion - try the easy way first.

 

I usually copy all the files to a folder on the individual machines to speed up access.

 

If the CD is protected, I use Daemon Tools on individual workstations with a local .iso copy of the CD on each machine to save teachers having to swap CDs in and out during lessons. I've done this for Wordshark and Numbershark.

 

regards

 

Simon

[ChrisH]

 

If the CD is protected, I use Daemon Tools on individual workstations with a local .iso copy of the CD on each machine to save teachers having to swap CDs in and out during lessons. I've done this for Wordshark and Numbershark.

 

regards

 

Simon

 

Hacker!

[Chuckster]

As per Michael's suggestion - try the easy way first.

 

I usually copy all the files to a folder on the individual machines to speed up access.

 

If the CD is protected, I use Daemon Tools on individual workstations with a local .iso copy of the CD on each machine to save teachers having to swap CDs in and out during lessons. I've done this for Wordshark and Numbershark.

 

regards

 

Simon

 

 

After hearing people's thoughts on this, I think this might be the better route to go down. However, I have one question. Say you made an .ISO of two CDs, would teachers be required to mount and unmount one .ISO for the other using the DAEMON Tools?

[ChrisH]

You can specify more than one virtual drive.

[User3204]

CD servers, CD towers, CD networking, virtual drive technology

 

It's not free, I think we paid about £2k for an 80gb server (a few years back).

The software is a bit of a pain in the as it needs the client app remapping everytime you sysprep. But it's up and running quickly, Windows AD integration, NTLM, etc.

 

We have one that had a fan overheat issue, so we were thinking about replacing with Daemon Tools, but it was easier to break the warranty seal, and swap the heatsink.

[ChrisH]

As already mentioned about linux and the ability to mount ISOs. I bet it wouldn't take a lot of work to create a server full of mounted isos then some scripting system to mount them on clients. The only issue would be user right probably on the client which would likely be the downfall of that plan.

[RabbieBurns]

Ive got a load of ISO's just added to the /etc/fstab to get mounted on boot. No need for a script. If i want to add a new one I just add it to the fstab then mount -a

[ChrisH]

scripting system to mount them on clients.

 

I didn't say scripting on the server

[RabbieBurns]

oh yeh. My bad sorry