BurnAware vs gBurner Virtual Drive

BurnAware is Windows software for burning optical discs and creating or burning ISO images. It supports CD, DVD, Blu-ray, Double Layer, M-Disc, Archival Disc, and extra-large-capacity DVD and Blu-ray media. Tools include bootable and multisession discs, copying and backup, verification, erasing, disc spanning, and data recovery. It also handles audio CDs, video DVDs, Blu-ray video discs, MP3 discs, audio track extraction, and DVD-Video conversion. Advanced options include command-line use, writing an ISO to multiple recorders at once, and ISO, UDF, and boot settings; listed image formats include ISO, BIN, and CUE. The free edition is for personal use and supports Windows 32-bit, but excludes video conversion, disc spanning and copying, data recovery, and business use. Premium costs $29.95 once, and Professional costs $39.95 once; both are perpetual single-user licenses with one year of free updates. Each has a seven-day trial with the same functionality as its registered version.

gBurner Virtual Drive is a free Windows utility for creating virtual CD/DVD drives and accessing disc images without burning them to physical discs. It can create up to 16 virtual drives and supports formats including ISO, GBI/GBP, DAA, NRG, MDF/MDS, BIN/CUE, UIF, ISZ, DMG, IMG, and VCD. To mount an image, users open the virtual-drive tray menu, choose the mount command, select an image, and confirm. The same menu provides an unmount command. The download page lists Windows support from version 98 through Windows 11, including 32-bit and 64-bit editions. The free utility is listed at free and is described as free for personal and business use. However, the download comparison identifies mounting an image file to a virtual drive as a gBurner Pro feature rather than a gBurner Free feature. Pro costs $39.95, paid once. The maker says game and program images can run at over 200 times the speed of a conventional CD/DVD-ROM.