[pchelpers] S/W to make a folder emulate a CD

Good morning folks

It's time for me to tap into the collective brainpower and experience of
this group which beats Google hands down. It's amazing what the human
brain is capable of :-)

Ok now onto my request.

I'm looking for a Windows utility that will take a folder full of files
and emulate a CD/DVD. I'd prefer a utility that was portable and
freeware but I'm not that fussy...

There are plenty of utilities that will take a folder and make me a
"virtual drive", but none (that I could find) that can make my folder
into a CDROM drive.
There's even utilities that will take a folder, convert that into an ISO
(a cd image) and then load that as an emulated CD drive. That's
essentially what I want to do, but I want to do so eliminating the ISO
creation process. Ie Straight from folder to Emulated CD/DVD drive.

Why specifically a CDROM drive you might ask. Well it all boils down to
my love for drivers... No, not the ones that cut in front of you on your
early morning pilgrimage to work, but the sometimes loved, sometimes
hated pieces of software that enable our beloved copies of MS windows to
communicate more intimately with our precious hardware.
When MS Windows updates or installs drivers, it specifically searches
for drivers on CDs and single directories that you specify.
But here's the clincher... It searches all subdirectories of CD rom
drives but not subdirectories of folders that you specify.

Now for a person like me who stores drivers in folders sorted by device
type, manufacturer, version, etc this becomes a huge task and I have to
try hundreds of folders before I hit jackpot.=20

What I would like to do is move my driver collection onto a portable
drive or flash drive, along with the CD emulating software. When I get
to a PC that needs drivers, I stick in my flash drive, load the
emulating software, point it to the "drivers" folder on my flash drive
and then voila, I can have a searchable "CD" full of drivers that I can
use.

My only other option, as I see it, is to recreate an ISO every time I
update my drivers collection (which is VERY often) and use ISO --> CD
software...but this is really a pain.

So folks, what do you think? Can this magic utility be found? Please put
your collective detective skills together and help me track this elusive
utility.

If you have any tips/hints/tricks on how to solve this little problem of
mine, please feel free to share.

Thanks for a great group.
------------------------------------
Best regards,
Eugene Ramulu
Publisher, Independent Newspapers KZN
Ph:  031 308 2492   Fax: 086 651 8939
*  Eugene.Ramulu@xxxxxxxxx
------------------------------------
"Isaiah 52v7 : How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who
brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings news of happiness..."




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