TutorialsSoftwareMiscellaneousSoftware Utilities - MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD

Software Utilities - MagicDisc Virtual CD/DVD

Written by Marc Roberge | 14 June 2010

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In this tutorial, we look at the MagicDisc (a.k.a. MagicISO) CD/DVD virtualization software. MagicDisc is a freeware application that allows you to create or compress disc images and load them just like a CD or DVD without the need for a CD/DVD drive. For those of you with Netbooks that, for the most part, come without CD/DVD drives or those of you who are tired of carrying your software CDs – MagicDisc will become an indispensable tool.

In a previous tutorial featuring the freeware ImgBurn software, I discussed the many advantages of creating disc images as a backup of your original software, movie, music and game CDs and DVDs. Whether you simply want to protect your investment against theft, loss,damage or, like myself, prefer the convenience of having essential software applications stored on a USB thumb drive, making backup images is the way to go. For more about this and ImgBurn, read: How to create backups of software and games in ISO disc image format with the free ImgBurn.

You may be asking: “OK! So I followed your advice and I have all these disc images stored on my hard drive or USB drive. Now what?”. Well, for starters, if anything ever happens to your original CDs or DVDs, you can use ImgBurn to burn a copy of your disc which works just like the original. Or, you can simply use MagicDisc to load the image which also works just like the original without the need to burn a CD or DVD.

MagicDisc is a CD/DVD virtualization application the essentially creates a software version of a CD/DVD drive which acts and performs exactly like a real drive, only, without the need for physical discs. This can be especially useful for those of you with Netbooks or with computers with drives that don’t support your particular disc format.

You can install MagicDisc on your computer (in fact I recommend it) by downloading it here: Download MagicDisc

I also recommend you download all 4 available versions (x32, x64, Win7 and Win 98) to a USB thumb drive or external drive. As all versions have a similar file name (ie. magicdisc_setup.exe), I like to rename them according to their actual versions (ie. magicdisc_win7, magicdisc_x32, magicdisc_x64, magicdisc_98).

I have an 8GB USB thumb drive strictly for holding MagicDisc install files and 2 or 3 essential software disc images. 4GB may be enough if you are only storing a few CD images or a smaller DVD image – otherwise, the bigger the better. The MagicDisc setup files are only a touch over 1MB in size.

Installation:

Installation is quick and easy. Whenever I have to install software on a Netbook or PC without an adequate CD/DVD drive, I simply plug in my USB thumb drive into an available USB port, double-click the MagicDisc setup file and Bob’s your Uncle.

When the installer launches, click “Next”…

…”Next” again…

…and “Next” again!

It installs in a few seconds…

…and once done, you click “Finish”.

Creating or compressing image files with MagicDisc:

Once installed, MagicDisc is relegated to your system tray. If you glance down on the bottom right in the vicinity of your system clock, you will see the MagicDisc icon (looks like a hand holding a CD):

You can access all of MagicDisc’s features and functions by right-clicking this icon. As I mentioned earlier, you can use MagicDisc to create or compress a disc image or, again, to load an image.

To create a disc image, of course, you will need to perform this on a computer that has a physical CD/DVD drive in order to extract the image. Simply load the CD or DVD into your physical disc drive, right-click the MagicDisc system tray icon and select “Make CD/DVD Image…” from the menu.

From the “Make ISO From CDRom” dialog, specify your source drive (the one your CD or DVD is inserted in), your Output file name and destination, desired Output format (ISO or UIF). You can even password protect your disc image. When you’re ready, just click “OK”.

A quick word on image file formats: MagicDisc supports a few common formats including ISO and ZIP. ISO is a standard image file format and is compatible with every CD/DVD burning and virtualization software worth it’s salt. MagicDisc also offers the UIF image format. I’m not sure if it’s proprietary to MagicDisc or if other software can handle it – but, the advantage here is the file compression. I ran a compression on an ISO image of Wordperfect 2002 to see and, while the original ISO image ate up 597MB, the compressed UIF image came out nearly 50% smaller at 307MB.

So, if space is a concern the UIF image format is definitely an option you want to look into. You can also compress existing ISO files (perhaps some you’ve downloaded or have created using ImgBurn) to UIF format by right-clicking the MagicDisc system tray icon and selecting the “Compress ISO Files…” option.

Loading and using image files with MagicDisc:

Once your image files have been created, you can save them to a large internal or external hard drive for safe storage. Of course, I always carry a copy of a few essential CD images on my USB thumb drive. To load an image file, right-click the MagicDisc system tray icon and select “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM>(Drive letter): No Media>Mount”.

Once your disc image is mounted, if it supports Autoplay, your CD or DVD should automatically launch. Otherwise, to browse your CD/DVD contents, simply right-click the MagicDisc system tray icon and select “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM>(Drive letter): (image file name)>Browse CD”.

Use it just like a regular physical CD/DVD drive and when you are done, if you want to “Eject” the disc image, simply right-click the MagicDisc system tray icon and select “Virtual CD/DVD-ROM>(Drive letter): (image file name)>Unmount”.

For more tutorials on everything you can do with MagicDisc, right-click the MagicDisc system tray icon and select “How to…” from the menu. You’ll find links to 20+ tutorials there!