[fargazer]

Greetings all! It's time to update my CD emulator (and other software if necessary), and I need some recommendations.

My wife and I have a pair of workstations connected to a Linux Samba server. Currently I use the personal network version of VirtualCD v5 to avoid digging out and through CDs, and over time scratching them up. In the past year or two though, I am noticing more and more CDs that Virtual CD cannot emulate sufficiently to run the program without some sort of additional crack. Some examples include Age of Wonders Shadow Magic (SecureRom), Doom3 (Safedisk3.20.022), Unreal Tournament 2004, and Kohan II (SecureRom 5.03.06).

My intent is to take CDs or DVDs I already own and make network images to use in game play. I want network images both because it's more secure (I have RAID50 on the server) and I don't have to worry when I reformat / reinstall / tweak individual machines. I am looking for a solution that I don't need to use noCD or other cracks with, if possible.

Any recommendations for software? I am RTFMing Virtual CD 6, DAEMON tools, and Alcohol 120%, but feedback from owners of those programs would be very helpful.If I end up having to use cracks anyway (Protection Emulation is OK) to do this, I will probably stick with VirtualCD.

Sidenote: I have a SCSI system, and use a Plextor 8/2/20 that can use RAW DAO and subchannel data.

Thanks, Fargazer