What Is a Virtual CD Drive?
A virtual CD drive is a non-physical drive created by a CD emulator like Virtual Drive. It is used to play disc images, or virtual CDs. A virtual CD contains all the contents of a CD or DVD, but is in fact an electronic file.
Although Windows recognizes a virtual CD drive as a regular CD-ROM drive and assigns it a drive letter, a virtual CD drive operates directly on the hard disk. With most CD emulators, virtual CD drives are assigned to available drive letters, limiting the total number of virtual CD drives on one system to 23 or fewer. A virtual CD can remain pre-loaded in a virtual CD drive for quick launch, or it can be “inserted” by dragging and dropping.
About Virtual CDs
A virtual CD is an image file of a CD. Unlike a physical CD, a virtual CD runs on the hard drive like an MP3. Unlike an MP3, a virtual CD holds the contents of an entire CD, and not just a single track. While virtual CDs can include music, they’re most often used for video games and disc-based applications.
Benefits of Virtual CDs
Virtual CDs can’t be scratched or broken, and are easy to store and transport. Other benefits include:
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Optimal performance
Virtual CD-ROMs have access rates up to 200 times faster than physical CD-ROMs
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Reduced demand on system resources
Virtual CDs eliminate the need for a CD-ROM drive and extend the charge of laptop batteries
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CD-DVD archiving
Organize your virtual CDs in a searchable library
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Disc backup
Protect your CDs and DVDs from loss, theft, and damage by using high-quality disc images instead
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Multiple disc play
Pre-load up to 23 virtual CD drives and toggle back and forth between games or volumes of a CD set
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Portability and convenience
Transport your virtual CDs on a laptop, an external hard drive, or even a USB key
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Custom virtual CD creation
Add documentation, expansion packs, multimedia, and images to your virtual CD and share it over a network
