VIRTUAL CD V4 MANUAL © 2001 by H+H Software GmbH. All rights reserved.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Foreword Thank you for choosing Virtual CD. We have improved and expanded the VCD program both to address the needs and preferences expressed by our users and to reflect broader developments such as the latest CD technologies and the increasingly widespread use of DVDs. A couple of very basic changes have been made in the Virtual CD software for this fourth version.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Contents Foreword.............................................................................................. 2 You don't read manuals?..................................................................... 4 What is Virtual CD? ............................................................................. 4 New Features in Version 4.................................................................. 5 System Requirements ............................................................
Virtual CD v4 Documentation You don't read manuals? Are you one of those people who never bothers to read instruction manuals? No problem! Experienced PC users will find no surprises in the installation procedure that sets up VCD v4. Not only that—the Help program starts automatically the first time you run the new installation. Especially for you impatient types, we have developed the following 4-point 'Instant User's Guide': 1. 2. 3. 4.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation New Features in Version 4 The new version is a completely reworked software suite, with a new user interface and lots of new features: • • • • • • • • • • • Compatible with Windows 98/ME/NT4/2000 and XP Supports DVDs (independent of FAT32 file size restrictions!) Optional password protection for individual virtual CDs New data readout techniques (RAW mode, including sub-channel data) support the latest CD technologies Simplified Easy Copy Mode for beginners Virtual CDs can be s
Virtual CD v4 Documentation • • • • • MS Internet Explorer 5 (or later) MS Media Player 7 (or later) Approximately 10 MB hard disk space for installation of the Virtual CD v4 software Optional: DirectSound-compatible sound card Optional: Internet access, to retrieve audio CD data over the Internet You will also need space on the hard drive for your virtual CDs.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Structure of a Virtual CD Container You don't really need to understand how these files are structured in order to work with Virtual CD. But for those who are interested, the following provides a brief description of virtual CD container files. Each virtual CD consists of 2 or more files: • • • The container file, with the extension .
Virtual CD v4 Documentation When installing Virtual CD under MS Windows XP, you may get some rather drastic-sounding warnings about installing a non-certified hardware driver. You can ignore these warnings (simply confirm and continue), as they refer to the virtual CD driver, which will not damage your system in any way. Once the installation is finished, you need to restart your computer in order to have it detect the virtual drives.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Select the first option here. You are then asked to enter your license code, which is either included in the package that contained the installation CD or was sent to you electronically: If you don't have your license code handy at the moment, click on Cancel. You can still use the program, for another 30 days. To enter your license code at a later stage (within the 30-day period!), click on Help in the VCD Management program and select the Licensing menu item.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation If you are a "Virtual CD Beginner", we recommend selecting the Easy Copy Mode at this point. In this mode, creating a virtual CD is really about as easy as falling off a log. You can always change to the Expert mode—and back again—at a later stage (see page 36). Creating a Virtual CD: Easy Copy Mode Select the physical CD from which you want to create a virtual CD and place it labelside up in your physical CD-ROM drive.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Select the desired source and click on Next. Make sure the source CD is not accessed by any other application while you are making the virtual CD. In particular, make sure that Media Player is not running, as it might be set to start automatically any time a CD is inserted. If the source is an audio CD and you activated the "CDDB" function when you installed VCD v4, Virtual CD now attempts to download the CD title and track titles from the Internet.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation If you have any problems while making a virtual CD, please refer to the Troubleshooting. section on page 39.. Creating a Virtual CD: Expert Copy Mode Depending on the current settings in your Virtual CD program, you might have to deactivate the Easy Copy Mode before you can use the Expert Copy Mode (see page 36). Select the physical CD from which you want to create a virtual CD and place it labelside up in your physical CD-ROM drive.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Entering a Label and a Description You can edit the CD Label if you wish, if this option has been activated in the Virtual CD Settings (see page 36). The CD label is limited to 16 characters and may contain letters, numbers and the hyphen or minus sign ("-"). Some CD applications identify the CD by its label. In such cases, changing the label might cause the application to malfunction. Thus it is not always advisable to change the CD label.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Selecting Data/Audio tracks The next window shows all of the data and/or audio tracks on the source CD. If you simply click on Next at this point, all tracks are included on the virtual CD without modification. We strongly recommend doing this when making a virtual CD from a software CD. If you are making an audio virtual CD, on the other hand, you may wish to exclude button.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Settings for Audio Tracks The default setting in this window is the option for creating audio tracks as individual sound files. With this option, you can also select the Compression method for sound files from the select list. At the time of printing of this manual, "ACM" is the only method offered. Additional methods will be released shortly for integration in your Virtual CD program. As soon as these become available, you will find them on the Virtual CD Web site, at www.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation If you select the data files option, the audio data is not treated as audio files by Virtual CD, compressed using audio coding/compression methods, but rather the raw data is read digitally and stored as data tracks. The compression method used, if selected, is for data compression.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Settings for Reading and Compressing Data This dialog allows precise definition of the method used to read data from the source CD. These are the most important options for successful creation of a virtual CD! When you insert the source CD, Virtual CD analyzes the performance of its CD-ROM drive and the structure of the source-CD data, and suggests a "conservative" choice of settings. You can change these settings as desired.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Each sector is read individually and defects are reproduced only if a test routine shows an error. Without this option, each sector is read repeatedly until the exact same data is read several times. If a virtual CD created using this option doesn't work, deactivate this option. Again, the creation process takes longer if this option is not active. Read RAW sectors RAW sectors contain other information in addition to the desired user data.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation None • Quickest method for creating a virtual CD • No added load on the CPU Takes up the most space on the hard disk, as the size of the container corresponds directly to the data volume on the CD Level 1 Good compromise between CPU load and storage space taken up Low added CPU load Level 2 Especially well suited for use with sectors copied using the RAW mode Higher added CPU load Level 3 Lowest disk space requirement • For use only with processors of at least 700MHz
Virtual CD v4 Documentation The default path shown here is defined, and can be changed, in the Virtual CD Settings dialog (see page 33). Generally, the path shown here is selected (white letters on a dark blue background) when this dialog opens. Thus when you enter characters, the entire default name is replaced by what you type. All you need to enter is a name for the file itself, as Virtual CD automatically adds the default path (see above) and the .VC4 file name extension.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation We recommend using a password that is not too easy to guess. The longer the password, the more secure it is; combinations of numbers and letters are also more secure than simple words. The password is case sensitive (a distinction is made between upper and lower-case letters), and can have up to 15 characters. You can change the password at a later stage in the virtual CD Properties dialog.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation You can stop the procedure temporarily by clicking on Pause, or end it before it has finished by clicking on Cancel. Even if defective sectors are indicated in the Sector overview (opened by clicking on More>>), this does not necessarily mean that the virtual CD created will be defective. Some CDs are purposely made with defective sectors; these are included on the virtual CD if the Correct bad sectors option is selected.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation When you move the mouse cursor to this option, a list of all your virtual CDs is opened. Click on the desired CD to insert it. You can now work with this virtual CD in the same manner as if it were a real CD. Working with the Virtual CD Management Program Virtual CD Management is the main program in Virtual CD, and should be quite familiar to users of earlier Virtual CD versions.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation This window offers direct access to the most frequently-used Virtual CD functions. To open the Virtual CD Management program from here, click on either Manage your virtual CDs or Disable the Start Selection Dialog. In the latter case, the Start Selection dialog is not opened any more unless you re-activate it (see page 33). CD Management program window: This main window is divided into 3 panes. All drives and all virtual CDs are shown on the left in the usual tree structure.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation shows only your virtual CD-ROM drives, as was the case in the earlier Virtual CD program versions (see page 34). The upper half of the right-hand pane shows all of the virtual CDs that are registered (see below) in the Management program. The lower half shows the contents of the selected virtual CD. Adding Existing Virtual CDs to the Management Program When Virtual CD is first installed, it doesn't "know" about any virtual CDs you may already have on your hard disk.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation program. Alternatively, you can click on Add all image files to register all of the virtual CDs found. In order to integrate new functions in Virtual CD, we have implemented a whole new file format. The new files have the extension .VC4, rather than the old .FCD extension. When you add older files to your new Virtual CD Management program, they are automatically converted to the new file format. Once an older .FCD file has been converted to the new .
Virtual CD v4 Documentation need—which would otherwise take up space unnecessarily—such as service pack installers or demo files. One way to start the Virtual CD Editor is by clicking on the CD Management program: symbol in the Virtual The Editor program window is divided into 4 panes. The view on the upper left shows a tree structure with all of your system's physical drives, including all their folders. The contents of the folder selected here are shown in the upper right-hand pane.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation If the physical drive selected in the upper left-hand pane of the Editor window contains an audio CD, the tracks are listed in the box shown here. The option to Store audio tracks on the hard disk temporarily is especially useful if your virtual CD will contain audio tracks from a number of different source CDs.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Alternatively, you can just save the data in a 'definition file', which contains the information (see below) for creating the virtual CD, without actually making a virtual CD at this point. To do this, select Save from the File menu. The file is saved with the extension .VCX, and can be opened in the Virtual CD Editor at a later stage and used to create a virtual CD. The .
Virtual CD v4 Documentation established, and any start program or autostart function defined for the CD starts automatically. Comment Dialog Page This dialog is fairly self-explanatory. You can enter up to 2047 characters here, to provide additional information about the virtual CD. Statistics Dialog Page The fields on the Statistics page cannot be edited, but provide you with statistics on the virtual CD.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Properties of a Physical CD Drive The properties of a physical CD-ROM drive provide information not only about its performance features and drivers, but also indicate what methods it supports for reading data. The newer the drive, the better the chances that it supports all of the available options. To check these properties, first load a data CD in a physical drive and then select that drive in the Virtual CD Management program.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation In the example shown above, the drive letter K: has been selected for use as a virtual drive. After selecting a drive, click on Refresh and then restart the computer; the new virtual CD drive is then shown in the Windows Explorer. If there is only one virtual drive, then the Set drives button is deactivated, as the Virtual CD program requires that at least one virtual drive exists.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Global Dialog Page The Current language setting applies to all Virtual CD v4 programs. You need to restart your computer after changing this setting. The Current symbol style setting lets you choose between the Windows XP and Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000 styles for the symbols displayed in the main program, the menu bar, and in program windows. This setting does not affect the functioning of Virtual CD.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation the Internet, from the CDDB Service. Please deactivate this option if your computer does not have Internet access. The Show popup information texts option lets you activate and deactivate the tool tips. A tool tip is the brief explanatory text that appears when the mouse cursor rests on a given operating element. Once you know your way around the Virtual CD program, you might want to deactivate these texts.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation virtual CD drives, as was the case in the earlier Virtual CD versions. This mode might be easier to work with for VCD beginners. The option Show only Virtual CD symbols in the image view gives you the choice of having only Virtual CD icons shown, or using the symbols that come with the original CDs. Not all CD applications come with their own symbols. For those that don't, a Virtual CD symbol is used in the display.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Creating Virtual CDs Dialog Page One of the most important options is the selection of the copy mode. The new Easy Copy Mode has been added especially for users who want to create virtual CDs as quickly and easily as possible. Deactivating this option sets the Image Wizard to the Expert Copy Mode.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation copy method. To make a virtual CD from another virtual CD, select the source virtual drive and then activate the Create function in the Virtual CD Management program. The Enable CD/DVD label editing option lets you edit the field for CD labels. If you select the Create a title list in the 'Comment' field of virtual audio CDs option, then all track titles from a source music CD are automatically listed in the "Comment" field of the virtual CD.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Compression Defaults Dialog Page The defaults you set here are applied automatically by the Image Writer when the Easy Copy Mode is active, and are presented as defaults that can be overwritten in the Image Writer when you use the Expert Copy Mode. For detailed information on the use of data compression, please see "Compression" on page 18.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation The default compression level for the Virtual CD Editor is a separate setting, configured at the bottom of this page. Audio Defaults Dialog Page The default settings for audio tracks that you configure here are applied automatically when working in the Easy Copy Mode, and presented as defaults that you can overwrite in the Image Wizard when working in the Expert Copy Mode. Please see "Settings for Audio " on page 15 for details on audio track settings.
Virtual CD v4 Documentation Settings (see page 36) and then try configuring other settings in the Image Wizard when defining your virtual CD. Refer to the instructions starting on page 12 in this manual for detailed information on the options available. Unfortunately, if the source CD is a video DVD with CSS copy protection, then no combination of settings will work! There is no way to get around this copy protection technique, due to legal technicalities.
