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I have a Sony P-Series netbook (VGN-P11Z) with no optical drive. It has an option to burn recovery DVDs with an external DVD drive.
I don't have an external DVD drive but would like these DVDs just in case (if I need to use them I'll have to buy/borrow an external DVD drive).
Is there a free alternative to Phantom Burner?
Or, is there another way I can create/download the recovery ISOs?
matt burns
Posted 2010-09-02T14:16:29.777
Reputation: 746
4
The only free product I could find was TotalMounter but I hear it is buggy. Could be worth a go though.
There is also a commercial product called Virtual CD which has a demo and this could be enough if you are not planning on using it again.
James P
Posted 2010-09-02T14:16:29.777
Reputation: 9 542
TotalMounter 2.0.13.1204 just worked for me on Win7x64 creating a System Recovery DIsk; however I used TotalMounter to create a mounted image then I used MagicIso to burn an iso from the mounted TotalMounter and that iso loaded fine in Rufus to create the USB disk. The img file TotalMounter created I couldn't use anywhere but in TotalMounter. – 9swampy – 2016-09-28T01:44:54.203
why I won't try TotalMounter: "Additionally, KernSafe TotalMounter has also provide virtual write technology into iSCSI Initiator and INetDisk Client, so that you can copy files into a read-only drive and do not affect the other peoples." <- What??? – MetaGuru – 2010-09-02T18:06:45.370
To be honest I wouldn't recommend TotalMounter at all, it's just that it is the only free program I could find that claims to emulate a DVD writer.
Personally I think that the demo of Virtual CD would be a better option. And at €29.95 it's not even that expensive to buy. – James P – 2010-09-03T09:08:29.850
I could never get TotalMounter to work at all. It's the only free virtual burner I've seen, but it's never worked for me. – afrazier – 2011-02-25T01:43:01.540
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Virtual CD is software only for mounting images, not to write to virtual image (drive) as to regular DVD drive.
You need commercial software like Phantom Burner. It costs 30 USD, but I recommend this software because it can WROTE virtual CD-RW, DVD-RW and even write 25GB BlueRay (BD-RW) discs.
There is also free KernSafe TotalMounter software emulating DVDRW drive but... it is buggy - I could make it working, as previous people, either. So it is DVD virtual writer, but actually not working for instance on 64-bit Windows 2008 Server R2 ;-)
Charlie K.
Posted 2010-09-02T14:16:29.777
Reputation: 19
1
Alcohol 120% is said to have emulate burners, but couldn't find (much of any) details on their website.
I'd try Phantom Burner, or Virtual-CD 10 over TotalMounter which seems to have pretty scary reviews.
ben
Posted 2010-09-02T14:16:29.777
Reputation: 43
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You might take a look at this one. I haven't used it but it's free and users give it 4.5 / 5 stars.
Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.4.0
http://download.cnet.com/Virtual-CloneDrive/3000-20432_4-173879.html
CHarmon
Posted 2010-09-02T14:16:29.777
Reputation: 487
1Your answer suggest a program that can only read ISO files, it can't write them (the virtual drive is ROM, not RAM - the question asks about a virtual CD/DVD RAM drive). – hakre – 2015-07-05T09:59:18.153
To the Googlers of the future: similar questions (looking for a software recommendation) are on-topic on https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com .
– peterh - Reinstate Monica – 2016-05-16T18:46:22.677