Windows virtual disc mounting software help

[Ryab]

Just going to apologize for the garble of text here but I've been fighting with this for awhile.

So I have a rather large number of game rips from over the years and PC game discs have taken on a rather large number of formats. Different ripping software such as burnaware and imgburn attempts to rip them to different formats, some discs fail, etc. I have had game CDs where some rip as BIN and CUE whilst others rip as ISO even though both are on a CD. I also have some that stream music from the disc while you play and have install files on that same disc. In this case mounting the ISO afterwards only shows the install files whilst the music is inaccessible as later tracks. Windows only natively supports mounting of ISO so managing all of these has been a massive pain.

My main confusion comes down to what are all these forms and how do I go about mounting them all? I've seen Daemon Tools mentioned so many times but that software just seems terrible from the bit I used on a side machine. Installer changed a bunch of my default extensions without asking, installed extra software, etc. Other software I tried like WinCDEmu didn't fit the needs to view all these forms of data. Any tips on what else I can try here?

 

[SylverReZ]

I have had game CDs where some rip as BIN and CUE whilst others rip as ISO even though both are on a CD. I also have some that stream music from the disc while you play and have install files on that same disc. In this case mounting the ISO afterwards only shows the install files whilst the music is inaccessible as later tracks.

I think what you mean by this is a mixed-mode disc - so one session containing CD-DA audio for the game's music, and the second session for readable game data. ImgBurn, DiscImageCreator and Nero seem to be able to rip these discs just fine. Could be probably down to what drive you are using to rip the disc, like a slimline burner found on laptops and cheap desktop PCs.

So I have a rather large number of game rips from over the years and PC game discs have taken on a rather large number of formats. Different ripping software such as burnaware and imgburn attempts to rip them to different formats, some discs fail, etc.

Games can also have copy protection such as SecuROM, SafeDisc, TAGES, etc. Finding a disc drive like an Asus, LG or Plextor should work without issues. If you check Redump, they have a list of compatible drives designed for dumping these.

 

[Ryab]

I think what you mean by this is a mixed-mode disc - so one session containing CD-DA audio for the game's music, and the second session for readable game data. ImgBurn, DiscImageCreator and Nero seem to be able to rip these discs just fine. Could be probably down to what drive you are using to rip the disc, like a slimline burner found on laptops and cheap desktop PCs.


Games can also have copy protection such as SecuROM, SafeDisc, TAGES, etc. Finding a disc drive like an Asus, LG or Plextor should work without issues. If you check Redump, they have a list of compatible drives designed for dumping these.

These discs definitely don't have any copy protection I can confirm that. These are some old Japanese PC games from the late 90s. I know for CDs that are in mixed-mode you want to keep as bin and cue to when mounted they can stream audio properly. My main question is what software would be best here for mounting? I've tried a few and they all either didn't fit my needs or were shady at best. I mainly just need a way to mount other formats such as bin, mdf/mds, and nrg.

 

[SylverReZ]

These discs definitely don't have any copy protection I can confirm that. These are some old Japanese PC games from the late 90s. I know for CDs that are in mixed-mode you want to keep as bin and cue to when mounted they can stream audio properly. My main question is what software would be best here for mounting? I've tried a few and they all either didn't fit my needs or were shady at best. I mainly just need a way to mount other formats such as bin, mdf/mds, and nrg.

BIN/CUE are recommended for mode-2 XA (i.e., PlayStation) and mixed-mode discs, ISO for non-copy protected games or PC games and MDF/MDS for copy protected games. You can mount some of these images using something like Alcohol 120%, DAEMON Tools or Virtual CloneDrive.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

The only two applications being able to cope with most non-standard discs (CD and DVD) are Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. Both are proprietary and both aren't trustworthy in my opinion. Alcohol 120% is a bit less fishy for me and officially offers a free version limited to one virtual drive and some bundled adware crap (which doesn't bother me on an offline XP).
Other than the Tagés/Solidshield dumper there is not much reason to use Daemon Tools unless you really need very advanced emulation functions (attaching an image to a real optical drive – which isn't possible to my knowledge on later Windows 10 and all Windows 11).

I've not tried mounting mixed mode CDs with WinCDEmu. While this piece of open source software is really nice, it is just providing the most basic emulation.
Another simple emulator is Virtual Clone Drive – Freeware. It should suffice for unprotected discs.

Virtual CD might be an alternative as well but it is pretty locked on it's own formats and… no free version available.

These are some old Japanese PC games from the late 90s.

The late 90s is when they started the protected PC CD-ROM garbage. Better test the discs with ProtectionID and/or https://github.com/SabreTools/BinaryObjectScanner

 

[Ryab]

The only two applications being able to cope with most non-standard discs (CD and DVD) are Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. Both are proprietary and both aren't trustworthy in my opinion. Alcohol 120% is a bit less fishy for me and officially offers a free version limited to one virtual drive and some bundled adware crap (which doesn't bother me on an offline XP).
Other than the Tagés/Solidshield dumper there is not much reason to use Daemon Tools unless you really need very advanced emulation functions (attaching an image to a real optical drive – which isn't possible to my knowledge on later Windows 10 and all Windows 11).

I've not tried mounting mixed mode CDs with WinCDEmu. While this piece of open source software is really nice, it is just providing the most basic emulation.
Another simple emulator is Virtual Clone Drive – Freeware. It should suffice for unprotected discs.

Virtual CD might be an alternative as well but it is pretty locked on it's own formats and… no free version available.


The late 90s is when they started the protected PC CD-ROM garbage. Better test the discs with ProtectionID and/or https://github.com/SabreTools/BinaryObjectScanner

I know this developer well. They have never actually included copy protection on the disc itself. Later games used alpharom for a simple disc check at most.

Post automatically merged: Feb 15, 2024

The only two applications being able to cope with most non-standard discs (CD and DVD) are Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. Both are proprietary and both aren't trustworthy in my opinion. Alcohol 120% is a bit less fishy for me and officially offers a free version limited to one virtual drive and some bundled adware crap (which doesn't bother me on an offline XP).
Other than the Tagés/Solidshield dumper there is not much reason to use Daemon Tools unless you really need very advanced emulation functions (attaching an image to a real optical drive – which isn't possible to my knowledge on later Windows 10 and all Windows 11).

I've not tried mounting mixed mode CDs with WinCDEmu. While this piece of open source software is really nice, it is just providing the most basic emulation.
Another simple emulator is Virtual Clone Drive – Freeware. It should suffice for unprotected discs.

Virtual CD might be an alternative as well but it is pretty locked on it's own formats and… no free version available.


The late 90s is when they started the protected PC CD-ROM garbage. Better test the discs with ProtectionID and/or https://github.com/SabreTools/BinaryObjectScanner

Would you be able to link to Virtual Clone Drive? I see like 5 sites and I have no easy way of telling which is the real one.

 

[SylverReZ]

Would you be able to link to Virtual Clone Drive? I see like 5 sites and I have no easy way of telling which is the real one.

https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html

 

[Ryab]

https://www.elby.ch/en/products/vcd.html

Thank you. This allows me to mount bin and everything. However my main issue still is that when mounting these the game will still not be able to stream audio from the disc. Likely some minor oddity with the mounting method used?

 

[draftguy123]

Thank you. This allows me to mount bin and everything. However my main issue still is that when mounting these the game will still not be able to stream audio from the disc. Likely some minor oddity with the mounting method used?

Unfortunately Virtual CloneDrive only mounts the first track on (bin/cue) mixed mode cds.
Mixed mode is only supported in their img/ccd format.

 

[Jayro]

BIN/CUE are recommended for mode-2 XA (i.e., PlayStation) and mixed-mode discs, ISO for non-copy protected games or PC games and MDF/MDS for copy protected games. You can mount some of these images using something like Alcohol 120%, DAEMON Tools or Virtual CloneDrive.

I will never install DaemonTools on my PC ever again. I forgot how cancerous that shit is on my system. I'd rather use the one made by Slysoft, the makers of AnyDVD. It's non-intrusive, free, and just works.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

I'd rather use the one made by Slysoft, the makers of AnyDVD. It's non-intrusive, free, and just works.

Virtual Clone drive works for it is made for but it is fairly limited. Daemon and Alcohol are fishy. Alas, they are accurate emulators replicating most (all?) functions of an optical reading drive.
If you have to deal with non-standard discs and/or DPM, there is – to my knowledge – no way around the two unless you keep using physical discs.
Just use a dedicated (offline) PC (Win XP or 7) for these emulators.

 

[SylverReZ]

I will never install DaemonTools on my PC ever again. I forgot how cancerous that shit is on my system. I'd rather use the one made by Slysoft, the makers of AnyDVD. It's non-intrusive, free, and just works.

Daemon Tools wasn't as bloated as the old versions were. I've been using 4.41 on Windows XP without issues, its just that the later ones are bundled with a lot of shit.