Multiple CD ISO Mounts

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SinghKing
Posts: 1
Joined: 29. Jul 2008, 22:08

Multiple CD ISO Mounts

Post by SinghKing »

Hi,
Is there a way to have multiple mounts on VB?
I have just downloaded FreeBSD as 3 separate CD's, is there a way to mount all 3 of them onto VB at once, or do I need to combine them together and re-create the ISO again or burn them to CD?

TY

-SinghKing
TerryE
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Post by TerryE »

Why not just swap CDs when asked to? You can do this even with ISOs.
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VirtualFun
Posts: 13
Joined: 31. Jul 2008, 00:28
Location: Germany

Re: Multiple CD ISO Mounts

Post by VirtualFun »

SinghKing wrote:Hi,
or do I need to combine them together and re-create the ISO again or burn them to CD?
For installing your system you can swap the CDs like TerryE said.

After install you can transfer the ISOs from host to quest using a shared folder, so you can mount the ISOs to virtual drives.

Just have a look at:
http://www.freebsddiary.org/iso-mount.php
pete_l
Posts: 62
Joined: 23. May 2008, 15:10

Re: Multiple CD ISO Mounts

Post by pete_l »

SinghKing wrote:Is there a way to have multiple mounts on VB?
-SinghKing
To answer your question, No. VB limits you to a single CD/DVD drive.
However, it's not necessary to unmount old CDs before mounting the
next one.
Assuming you've moved the .iso files to the CD/DVD Images directory
under VB's "Virtual Disk Manager", (and added them, so they're
visible in the selection menu) you can just mount the next one
by selecting it from
Devices -> Mount CD/DVD Rom -> CD/DVD Rom Image
on your guest and it'll automagically dismount whatever was
already mounted and replace it with your new selection.
mtgstuber
Posts: 3
Joined: 1. Feb 2009, 04:48

Multiple DVDs

Post by mtgstuber »

It would be very helpful to support multiple DVDs within Virtual Box. I have a number of data applications that use DVDs (reference library stuff). Paranoid publishers won't allow the data to be copied to the local hard drive, so I have to mount the DVD, or an image of the DVD. I'd like to be able to access more than one of these at once. It seems it would be relatively simple to support a second (or third, or fourth) drive. VBox already supports 4 NICs. Why not support more DVD drives?
TerryE
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Re: Multiple DVDs

Post by TerryE »

mtgstuber wrote:Why not support more DVD drives?
Basically it comes down to a trade-off between development priorities vs. perceived benefit. There isn't much demand for multiple CDs. Why not go out and buy a cheap USB DVD if you want a second DVD on your VM?
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bencoder
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Joined: 3. Apr 2008, 04:22

Post by bencoder »

Why not use a solution within your guest? Rip the DVDs or copy the ISOs to the virtual drive, then use a tool like daemon tools (if your guest is windows) or mount (under linux) to make as many virtual drives as you need. VB doesn't need to do this itself.
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