I checked around the forum and didn't see these questions actually asked before, so here goes...pardon if my "tech" is a little low right now.

I burned a DVD as an ISO image on my hard drive, but right now I want to check it first before burning it from my hard drive to disk. Is there any way to actually PLAY an ISO image when it's on your hard drive? Darned if I can figure that one out! If it's not possible, how can I copy the files onto my hard drive so that I can view the video? Do I have to go back and do it all over? And if so, using what? Also, I have read different things about ISO's, that they're both smaller and larger than other files. Which is it?

Also, I have a video game and a friend wants to try it too, but I just got it so don't want to really loan it out...so I thought I'd make an extra copy of my own and just let him borrow it to give it a test run to see if he likes it. Now I hear that you can't do this with copy protected software without special tools...but if you find those tools (maybe decrypter & shrink?) can you just make an ISO image of the game and then copy it from there? Would everything still work ok? Or would you still run into problems, and if so what do you suggest to solve them? Freeware suggestions?

Before anyone asks, I know it's perfectly legal to make a copy of something I own for entertainment or back-up purposes so I'm not asking anything wrong. So let's not go there?

Thanks for any help!

Mount on a virtual drive with daemon tools or alcohol 120

Yes, lets . It is legal to make a backup for personal use only. That's the interpretation the courts have taken and that's the interpretation that would be used against the operators of this forum if industry lawyers decided to be @ssholes about it. Be a good sport and don't bring this forum unwanted attention; just invite your friend to come over to your house and try it out.

Much easier way to do it with 100% chance of success. Go to http://www.videolan.org and pick up VLC Media player. It will play the ISO file just as if it were a DVD Disc. VLC media player also plays a whole bunch of other weird file extensions (including raw .bin files) so it is well worth the D/L.

Jesterrace, I've actually tried VLC player before and was quite impressed! The only reason I don't have it now is because there was some sort of conflict going on in my system so I started dumping unnecessary programs. Have you ever had conflict issues involving VLC?

Just downloaded VLC again. The video looks great! But there's no sound! Any suggestions on how to fix that?