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Software recommendation: create iso file
Simple question: My computer runs Window 10 Pro. I need to copy a program cd. The program is very old (created in 2000). I want to copy this cd before it becomes unuseable.
Question: What software do you recommend to create an iso file from a cd?
If you insert it, see whether you have a view/optio.n in explorer to create an image.
Do you have any DVD/CD creating media software on the system.Nero, power DVD, roxio. etc
if you give the name of the program, we can probably suggest other ways to solve your problem
ASKER
Thank you all for answering so quickly.
The name of the program is MD Dictate. It is ancient and the company is out of business.
The cd is not bootable. If the cd breaks then my client is in deep trouble.
If the original software company went out of business, then your client is already in deep trouble. That said, this kind of software is less likely to be covered by CD-based copy protection so you might be in luck for the short term. I see by your past questions (back in 2010) you've already moved to VirtualBox in order to run this MD Dictate because it's a 16-bit app that only ran on XP.
So you should be able to dump the CD to an ISO file using ImgBurn or any other similar tool, and then mount the ISO in VirtualBox, and it should see it as if it was a regular CD.
All that said, this has "eventual disaster" written all over it. You should work on finding similar software and migrate the data over. The fact that a physician is using ancient software that has no official support.... that's concerning. I'm surprised you haven't been able to find an alternative in the past 12 years.
And with a VM like this, you need to be backing up the whole machine snapshot (and test out a restore on a new machine to simulate what would happen if their PC died tomorrow).
On a side note, if MD Dictate is the voice recognition/ transcription program from MD Productivity, then it looks like that company was acquired by Softmed, which was then acquired by 3M. 3M has a speech recognition and transcription application for healthcare providers called Fluency that very well might be the updated version of MD Dictate. I've been in companies that got acquired and seen the original product stay mostly intact but simply be rebranded.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/health-information-systems-us/complete-list-solutions-services/
It could be worth looking into so your client isn't critically dependent on unsupported software.
ASKER
Hello gr8gonzo: I have told my client over and over he should move to modern software.
He refuses. He is willing to pay me to transfer this old software to a newer computer.
>> He refuses << ask him WHY; if he has a good reason - ok - otherwise persuade him to move on
Continuing to use it will keep us busy in the future though! 😀
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26640670/MD-Dictate-software-Must-reinstall.html
Seriously though having dictation software that you've spent many years training to recognise your voice accurately is a valuable resource and I can understand the reluctance to change.
Somewhere on the current installation is a settings file containing all the small tweaks that have been "learnt" by the system since install and it would be worth tracking that down and backing it up also (unless this worked perfectly for them "out of the box").
on what OS is it running now?
it can be as simple as making an image and restore it to other hardware
Get the info and pricing for the alternatives. The other one you can try getting an evaluation. of these options.
Is the person planning to retire near term?
ASKER
I have continuously encouraged my client to move on to modern software.
He refuses. He wants the old software to work on a newer computer. Period. End of story.
He is paying my invoices so I will continue to work on this old software.
arnold: An iso file means I don't have to be in the office to physically install the cd . I can do it remotely
Also a cd can break, get cracked. It is mighty difficult to crack or break an iso file.
ASKER
Thank you for all the links. Thank you for your timely suggestions.
MASQ raises an excellent point about copy protection.
If there are no copy protection issues, you should be able to simply put all of the files in a .ZIP file. Of course, do a test install after unzipping them to make sure that process works.