Update: Welcome to all of the digg.com users! Thanks for digging and for coming to my site.

Note: This article was originally written for The Information Bank. Because of the high volume of related posts, I've decided to move the articles here.

In my last post, on IsoBuster, I showed the simplicity of CD (or DVD) backup and ripping. We know that it is possible to reburn backup files, also known as ISO files for data and WAVE files for audio. This would make relatively exact replicas (data-wise) of the original CD or DVD. (If you didn’t read my last article, *.iso files or ISO Images are exact sector-by-sector snapshots of CDs and DVDs).

There are more things you can do with these backup files. Obviously, you can play *.wav files on any multimedia player. But, there should be a way to “play” *.iso files.

Fortunately, we have Daemon Tools. Please do not think this is an evil program. In computer terminology, as opposed to spiritualism and mythology, daemon is an acronym for “disk and execution monitor.” Essentially, a daemon is a background program or process. According to the Daemon Wikipedia article,

“Daemons are characters in Greek mythology, some of whom handled tasks that the gods couldn’t be bothered with, much like computer daemons often handle tasks in the background that the user can’t be bothered with.”

Some good examples of daemon tasks are web server management and indexing. In the case of Daemon Tools, it is CD/DVD Emulation.

The site for Daemon Tools is a little hard to navigate but the rewards of downloading are worth it. Daemon Tools is a “Windows service” that emulates up to four CD (or DVD) drives. Instead of just the normal drive A: (Floppy Disk), C: (Hard Disk), and D: (CD/DVD Drive), you have A:, C:, D:, E:, F:, G:, and H:!

“Why would I need all of those virtual disk drives?” you ask. Use your imagination!

• For one, I have an enormous second hard drive where I keep all of my personal data. That way, when I periodically reinstall Microsoft Windows (so my computer runs at top speed), I do not have to find all of my CDs. Since I backup all of my installation CDs (as ISO files) on my second hard disk, I can just install them from the Daemon Tools virtual drives!
• Lets face it, CD and DVDs get scratched. It would be a pity to buy The Sims 2 Holiday Expansion and then scratch it up a couple of days later. If you created an ISO image, with IsoBuster, you could just reburn it on a new CD or run it from Daemon Tools!
• I really really really hate it when software developers force their customers to keep the CD in the disk drive while using the software. Some of you know what I’m talking about. This is true with The Sims 2. In order to play the game, I needed to insert the first CD! That’s crazy! Luckily, I had this program handy. So, I made an ISO backup. Fortunately (if copied correctly), Daemon tools “is able to emulate nearly all known copy protections on the market today!” I just “inserted” the “CD” via Daemon Tools and the game ran perfectly.

Other Benefits
CD switching sucks! For one, it’s so time consuming. You have to wait for the drive to spin down and eject. …… Then, you have to insert the CD and wait for it for it to spin up! With Daemon Tools, CD switching (or should I say ISO switching?) is instantaneous. Once you click, the autorun dialog appears!

I’m not too fond of CD drive sounds. Surprisingly, I’ve heard some that were louder than my bedroom fan! With Daemon Tools, the only noise you will hear is from you hard drive … and we can’t really get rid of that unless we just get a quieter hard drive.

I am a huge fan of minimalist programs. Fortunately, Daemon Tools falls into that class. It takes little room (I mean, it’s invisible unless you want it on your tray to administrate) and options are few and they are easy to understand.

Installation is just as simple. Only one restart is necessary. After that, you can add or remove virtual CD/DVD drive plus “insert” and “eject” as many ISO images as you desire without pause!

See! Deamon Tools aren’t so bad after all! Try to play around with this daemon and stay away from real demons.