SimCity 3000 on Linux

[Rhapsody]

I posted about running SimCity 3000 on Linux way back (circa 2006) and I've finally made some progress on it. I've cracked the executable with unSafeDisc and got it running on a virtualized copy of Windows 2000 (using VirtualBox). Now it runs, but only with the CD. The CD itself isn't looking so great (the system will only recognize it if I insert it at the correct angle, though it works fine otherwise), so I'd rather be playing everything from the HD.

As far as I can tell, this will either require an ISO that will fool the game into thinking it's a real CD, no a no-CD crack. The former is difficult because K3b (my choice of CD ripper) gives a multitude of errors and proceeds at a glacial pace. The latter is difficult because this is SimCity 3000 UK Edition, and I believe no-CD patches are hard to come by for this.

So what's my best option? If I rip it, I'll need to know how to do it in order to get a good image (I'll use Windows apps if that's what it takes), and I'll certainly need help if I want to get a no-CD patch for this. Please help, I'm so close here!