Today I finally had a reason to use the program VirtualDrive ($39.95 regular version, $69.95 for pro version) that came with my M1400 tablet pc. The program is particularly useful for emulating a CD drive for games. According to the website some DVDs can also be copied, but I didn’t try that. Being I only have a 60GB HD (only, imagine thinking that), can’t see filling it up with DVDs. They do add the caveat that some DVDs cannot be copied because of copy protection.

I don’t have a CD drive built-into the tablet but do have one that plugs in via USB. Some games need the CD to run so that’s where this program comes in handy for copying the CD to a virtual drive.

CNET says:

VirtualDrive is a “Must Have” program for gamers, music lovers and travelers with laptops. Version 9.03 lets you use your system’s RAM to emulate a hard drive and run your programs faster.

I noticed from the official VirtualDrive website that they are up to version 9.0 now and the version I had preinstalled with the computer is 8.xx. In order to use the VirtualDrive LiveUpdate function registration was required, so I registered. Wasn’t really expecting to get version 9.xxx without paying more (and ultimately didn’t) but it had some large patch file to install and then reboot the system.

A good program that does what it’s intended to do. I don’t know if it’s worth the $39.95 or $69.95 for the pro version but for software that came free with the computer, it’s definitely worthy. Grade: B

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