Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.3.0 beta

[James]

Please try this version:

http://sandbox.slysoft.com/beta/SetupVirtualCloneDrive5430.exe

Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.3.0: 2009 05 20
- New: Added tray icon
- New: Added shell extension for images
- New: Improved shell extension for drives
- New: Added HD-DVD emulation (Windows 2000/XP/Vista)
- New: Added option to purge history of recently mounted images
- New: Added /p command switch to VCDMount.exe to purge history
- Fix: Mounting failed, if .dvd or .ccd file names contained unicode characters
- Fix: Virtual Sheep on Windows XP64
- Fix: Problems mounting files with some language settings
- Some minor changes and improvements

 

[Turkleton]

How comes you didn't add the image shell extension as a 'Virtual CloneDrive' top level cascading entry?

Then you could have added the cute sheep icon to the left of it.

Sub-entries could then be...

Unmount (if applicable)
--------------
Mount to Drive X: - [image currently mounted (if applicable)]
Mount to Drive Y: - [image currently mounted (if applicable)]

The tray icon could do with having the right click menu come up when you left click too rather than just having the settings box pop up.

Is there a way to control which images the new shell extension gets shown for? Unticking all the ones in the installer doesn't appear to make a difference.

 

[James]

How comes you didn't add the image shell extension as a 'Virtual CloneDrive' top level cascading entry?

Faster access (less mouse clicks / movement).

Sub-entries could then be...

Unmount (if applicable)
--------------
Mount to Drive X: - [image currently mounted (if applicable)]
Mount to Drive Y: - [image currently mounted (if applicable)]

It already works exactly this way, if you have more than one drive.

Is there a way to control which images the new shell extension gets shown for? Unticking all the ones in the installer doesn't appear to make a difference.

No. The setting in installer only controls the (old) double click behavior.

 

[JST200]

Hi James,

The 1st Drive doesn't have a Virtual Sheep icon. Subsequent drives do. In the attached capture.jpg Drive H: is the 1st Virtual Drive and N: is (clearly) the 2nd.

Is the the way its meant to be?

Sorry, I should have added some config info!
OS: Vista Home Premium SP1 64bit
VCD: V5.4.3.0
Settings: No. of Drives 2
Virtual Sheep selected

Cheers, Jim

 

[Turkleton]

It's not actually less clicks though is it?

I have 2 virtual drives and I can't click on the top level 'Mount' option which still means I need to wait for the cascading menu to pop out.

It would just look a lot nicer (for people with more than 1 drive) if the top level 'Mount' was replaced by 'Virtual CloneDrive' and the sheep icon for easy recognition.

 

[James]

It's not actually less clicks though is it?

If you have 1 drive it is. If you want to unmount the image it is.

 

[skypx]

This may seem like a silly question, but I was wondering, is the drive supposed to be HD-DVD or BD-ROM? It shows up as HD-DVD on vista and BD-ROM on W7 RC1.

 

[SuperGoof]

Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.3.0: 2009 05 20

Nice! Almost perfect! Thanks James!

The only problem I noticed is that if the same image is mounted to several drives, the "Unmount" menu item still appears only once in image's right-click menu, and it does not tell the drive it's going to unmount it from. When I select "Unmount", first it unmounts from one drive, when I select it second time, it unmounts from another.

And I also cast my vote for cascading menu for images: "Virtual Clone Drive" (with a sheep on the left), then all "Mount", "Unmount" etc. I always set it this way when I install, for example, WinZip and WinRAR. WinRAR even has an option whether to use cascading context menu or not (maybe WinZip too, do not remember).

 

[Turkleton]

I have to admit, I never expected to see an 'Unmount' option on the Image's context menu anyway - or certainly not one that was specific to the mounted image rather than at drive level.

I certainly wouldn't think to right click an open *.doc file and have it close down Microsoft Word!

The tray icon (or drive context menu) is a much better/quicker way of unmounting... unless you like to keep your explorer windows open all the time with the image file selected and in view of course.

Fingers crossed James considers making the 'Virtual CloneDrive' top level entry with 'Mount to/in Drive X:' sub-entries

There's something about doing 'Mount' -> 'Virtual CloneDrive X:' that just doesn't look / feel right. That would be a whole lot (too much) of 'Virtual CloneDrive' text if you like to use quite a few drives!

 

[James]

You don't seem to understand the concept.

The context menu of the drive, is from the view of the drive. You mount / unmount to/from this drive.

The file context menu is the view of the file. You mount it. Or unmount it (when mounted).

Once you get used to it, you'll love it.

 

[James]

The only problem I noticed is that if the same image is mounted to several drives, the "Unmount" menu item still appears only once in image's right-click menu, and it does not tell the drive it's going to unmount it from. When I select "Unmount", first it unmounts from one drive, when I select it second time, it unmounts from another.

Yes, but I consider it a "bad idea(tm)" to mount the same image multiple times.
What is missing, is an indication in the file context menu, if a drive is already in use.

 

[James]

And I also cast my vote for cascading menu for images: "Virtual Clone Drive" (with a sheep on the left), then all "Mount", "Unmount" etc.

Overruled.
Come on, you have max. two menu items in the root. Cascading doesn't make sense in this particular case.
It does make sense in the drive context menu, where it is already done.

 

[Turkleton]

lol I get the concept (I might look like a newbie but my email says otherwise), I just don't understand your design decisions.

 

[James]

lol I get the concept (I might look like a newbie but my email says otherwise), I just don't understand your design decisions.

I don't understand what's not to understand.

With a file you have menu items like "open" or "open with" for ages.

With an image file you now have "mount" (or "mount ->" in case of multiple drives) or unmount.

Very similar in concept.

 

[tqhoang]

James,

I like the shell integration changes...working perfect so far. :rock:

I only have one request. Would you consider shorting/abbreviating the names of the images on the menus? I have pretty long file names on some of my images and they're nested a few folders deep...just image a really long absolute file path.

When I right click on the drive, the menu with the "VCD <AbsoluteFileName>" is really wide. Perhaps show just the image name (possibly abbreivate if over some char limit)?

Thanks!

 

[James]

When I right click on the drive, the menu with the "VCD <AbsoluteFileName>" is really wide. Perhaps show just the image name (possibly abbreivate if over some char limit)?

Thanks!

I know what you mean. But only showing the file part isn't a good solution.

Imagine paths like

C:\Images\Robocop\Image.iso
C:\Images\Finding Neverland\Image.iso

At least the something like

...\Robocop\Image.iso
...\Finding Neverland\Image.iso

should be shown.

 

[Turkleton]

With a file you have menu items like "open" or "open with" for ages.

With an image file you now have "mount" (or "mount ->" in case of multiple drives) or unmount.

That's half the problem... you just have 'mount'. It's just a random entry thrown into an already long list of entries without any 'context' of it's own.

It needs something else to tell it that 'mount' is related to VCD. You can either do that with text (aka the style of the old file associations - 'Mount in/with/to Virtual CloneDrive') or you can do it via the sheep image. On a single drive system you'd almost get away with just doing that to the current 'mount' option. The 'unmount' one is obviously straight below it (in their separated group) so it's easy to put 2 and 2 together.

On a multi drive system, as the 'mount' item itself is useless, you'd be much better off calling that 'Virtual CloneDrive', sticking the familiar sheep image next to it and then renaming the 'Virtual CloneDrive X:' sub-items to 'Mount in/to Drive X:'. Why repeat 'Virtual CloneDrive' x times in a submenu when you can just rename the top level item and improve the overall flow/feel?

As has already been discussed, if the same image is mounted on multiple drives, the 'unmount' option is kinda useless too. You could just extend the 'Virtual CloneDrive' submenu and put the 'Unmount' (multiple - for each drive) above the 'Mount in Drive X:' ones.

There was a picture of all this (from the awxDTools shell extension) in the other thread about shell extensions / tray icons. I believe they got it pretty much spot on with their design.

http://forum.slysoft.com/showpost.php?p=198268&postcount=20

Of course this is all just my personal opinion

 

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

I'd like a somewhat more polished systray icon. I don't intend on having the icon visible often so that's not a huge deal but the icon could look a bit spiffier. Yeah, yeah, I'm being overly-demanding, I know.

 

[SuperGoof]

Yes, but I consider it a "bad idea(tm)" to mount the same image multiple times.

I know. Just wanted to test in general case. I think it won't hurt if you make "Unmount" item the same way you made "Mount", e.g. make it a cascading menu if an image is mounted several times. And show the drive letter if it is mounted only once.

What is missing, is an indication in the file context menu, if a drive is already in use.

It would be good to show the full path of currently mounted image for each drive, as in systray icon's menu.

 

[SuperGoof]

Overruled.
Come on, you have max. two menu items in the root. Cascading doesn't make sense in this particular case.
It does make sense in the drive context menu, where it is already done.

OK, fine. Just if later you decide to add some extra items (don't know which ones) to the menu, you will have to return to the idea of creating "Virtual Clone Drive" root.

Also, why the installer does not select "Associate with ... image" items by default anymore? I had to tick them all... Or Mount/Unmount items would appear in the context menu for all relevant extentions regardless of these selections?