Dinosaur
04-10-2001, 06:36 PM
I have discovered that some (not all) CD ROM applications can be run from your hard drive. I mentioned my intent to do this in another Thread, and promised to post if it worked. Some people here claimed that it could not be done. I understand why they thought so: It does not work for some applications.
For example, I am currently running Rand McNally New Millennium World Atlas from a hard drive partition, with no CD in the CD reader. It runs exactly as it does from a CD on my okder system.
The same methodology did not work for the American Heritage Talking Dictionary, which insists on a CD being inserted. I wonder if it actually reads the hard drive, and only thinks it needs a CD in the reader.
I am guessing that there are two API’s for accessing a CD Reader. One provides a Drive letter and requires the OS to determine that it is a CD instead of a Hard Drive. The other requests CD input and requires the OS to determine the Drive letter. Perhaps somebody with API smarts can provide information here.
Methodology as follows.
Make a separate partition on some Hard Drive. I am not certain that this is necessary, but would be afraid not to do it. I used Partition Magic, which will stretch, shrink, move, delete, & create partitions without disturbing the data in existing partitions. It resized a partition to make room for a new partition and created an oversized new partition. When it was all over, PM shrunk the new partition, moved it, and expanded an old partition to reclaim some space. PM is a neat utility.
Copy entire CD to the new Partition. Windows Explorer will do this in one huge copy operation if you select all and then drag/drop.
Follow application instructions for installation, using hard drive instead of CD. Just to make sure I get it right, I remove the CD from the reader before the install.
An interesting discovery while experimenting with the above. If you create an Autorun.inf File in the root directory of a hard drive, you can cause Windows Explorer to display an Icon in the Tree View on the left side of the Window. I do not think I am the first to discover this, but I am sure that it is not common knowledge. The file must be named Autorun.inf, and contain the following.
[autorun]
icon=C:\Icons\Earth 1.ico
The path and file name given above is just an example. I am not sure about the effect of other lines in the file when the autorun file is copied to a hard drive. Most Autorun files have a line which references an executable file. If there is an autorun file on a CD and you do the above, I am not sure whether you should remove lines other than the icon line. My guess is that it is safe to leave them alone.
I hope the above is of interest to some of you. I have enough hard drive space to hold half a dozen or so CD applications, which is what I intend to do. It is handy to run a CD application without inserting a CD into the reader.
I have not yet tried running two CD applications at once. There does not seem to be any reason why it cannot be done.
I do not expect Music applications to not work as above, because the CD reader has a cable to the sound card and your hard drive does not. My World Atlas talks to me, but that uses direct communication to the Sound Card.
------------------
Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.
For example, I am currently running Rand McNally New Millennium World Atlas from a hard drive partition, with no CD in the CD reader. It runs exactly as it does from a CD on my okder system.
The same methodology did not work for the American Heritage Talking Dictionary, which insists on a CD being inserted. I wonder if it actually reads the hard drive, and only thinks it needs a CD in the reader.
I am guessing that there are two API’s for accessing a CD Reader. One provides a Drive letter and requires the OS to determine that it is a CD instead of a Hard Drive. The other requests CD input and requires the OS to determine the Drive letter. Perhaps somebody with API smarts can provide information here.
Methodology as follows.
Make a separate partition on some Hard Drive. I am not certain that this is necessary, but would be afraid not to do it. I used Partition Magic, which will stretch, shrink, move, delete, & create partitions without disturbing the data in existing partitions. It resized a partition to make room for a new partition and created an oversized new partition. When it was all over, PM shrunk the new partition, moved it, and expanded an old partition to reclaim some space. PM is a neat utility.
Copy entire CD to the new Partition. Windows Explorer will do this in one huge copy operation if you select all and then drag/drop.
Follow application instructions for installation, using hard drive instead of CD. Just to make sure I get it right, I remove the CD from the reader before the install.
An interesting discovery while experimenting with the above. If you create an Autorun.inf File in the root directory of a hard drive, you can cause Windows Explorer to display an Icon in the Tree View on the left side of the Window. I do not think I am the first to discover this, but I am sure that it is not common knowledge. The file must be named Autorun.inf, and contain the following.
[autorun]
icon=C:\Icons\Earth 1.ico
The path and file name given above is just an example. I am not sure about the effect of other lines in the file when the autorun file is copied to a hard drive. Most Autorun files have a line which references an executable file. If there is an autorun file on a CD and you do the above, I am not sure whether you should remove lines other than the icon line. My guess is that it is safe to leave them alone.
I hope the above is of interest to some of you. I have enough hard drive space to hold half a dozen or so CD applications, which is what I intend to do. It is handy to run a CD application without inserting a CD into the reader.
I have not yet tried running two CD applications at once. There does not seem to be any reason why it cannot be done.
I do not expect Music applications to not work as above, because the CD reader has a cable to the sound card and your hard drive does not. My World Atlas talks to me, but that uses direct communication to the Sound Card.
------------------
Gouverneur
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.