CD/DVD driveless…

The title of this post might sound strange, but let me explain: as netbooks continue to grow in popularity and laptops get thinner and thinner, the first thing to leave in order to cut girth and weight is the CD/DVD drive. This might seem like the end of the world when it comes to installing programs from CDs or DVDs, but it really isn’t. With a couple of tools, you will be back in business in no time.

1) A drive

The drive can be on any computer: at work, at your friend’s, at school. Of course the rest of this post could be moot if you jump over to Newegg and just by an external drive for $50-90. However, since most programs are going to be downloadable, you may end up using an external drive a very limited amount of the time.

2) Create an image

An image file (also called an ISO image) is an exact copy of a CD or DVD. Imagine that you are told to copy a phrase that is written out in Russian. You couldn’t read what you are writing, but you can look at it and make a pretty good rendition. This is how an image works: the program doesn’t care what files are on the disc, it just wants to make another disc that looks just like the current one.

To get that image file on the computer, you can download a program called ImgBurn. One of the options is to “Create an image file from disc.” Be sure you have plenty of space on your hard drive since an image file can be up to 700Mb for a CD and up to 4.2Gb for a DVD.

3) A CD or DVD

Duh. Pop that thing in and fire up ImgBurn.

4) A USB flashdrive

This is the most convenient way to transfer your hot, fresh image file to your driveless laptop or netbook. Other possibilities are to copy it over a network, send it by Bluetooth, or use other storage media such as an SD card. However, you intend to move it, be sure you have plenty of space or bandwidth.

5) Mount the image

If that phrase sounded like foreign phrase, let me explain. When you normally pop in a CD or DVD, you computer scans that disc and shows you what is on it. In computer terms, the computer has mounted the CD or DVD. Since the image is of a CD or DVD, your computer can mount an image file with a little help.

The recommended software for this is called Virtual CloneDrive. After installing Virtual CloneDrive, navigate to your image file, right click, and there should be a menu item for Virtual CloneDrive which has options to either mount or unmount (unmount is like ejecting the CD or DVD).

Once mounted, the image should behave just like there is a CD or DVD in the drive.

Not so bad

Now you can have the best of both worlds: a nice thin, light laptop and all the latest and greatest programs that you need to be productive. If you feel like this is something you would like to learn how to do on your new laptop or netbook, feel free to contact The Digitante by either email or phone by visiting the About page.