ImDisk vs TotalMounter

ImDisk is a free Windows virtual disk driver for creating disk volumes from image files or system memory. It can present virtual hard disk partitions, floppy drives, and CD/DVD drives, with support for raw images, VHD, VDI, VMDK, NRG, SDI, and BIN formats. The installer provides the imdisk.exe console tool, a Control Panel applet, and an Explorer command for mounting files. I/O requests can be passed to third-party image handlers or services on other computers over a network. API functions are available to C/C++, COM, and .NET applications, with wrapper libraries on NuGet. The current installer supports 32-bit and 64-bit Windows and lists x86, ia64, x64, arm32, and arm64 architectures. ImDisk is free to download and use; a voluntary usage fee is welcome. The maker says it receives maintenance fixes, but no new features are planned and its legacy design is not recommended for recent Windows versions.

TotalMounter is a free Windows utility combining virtual CD/DVD drives, virtual disk mounting, and iSCSI initiator functions. It mounts ISO, CDI, BIN, MDS, MDF, IMG, RAW, CCD, and NRG images. Its virtual CD/DVD burner can write data to an ISO file through CD/DVD burning software. TotalMounter creates and mounts IMG and VHD virtual disks, with AES 256-bit encryption listed for virtual disks. The built-in iSCSI initiator connects to CHAP-protected targets, including those created by iStorage Server, and the program can act as an INetDisk client. Virtual Write allows copying files into a read-only drive without affecting other clients. Up to eight virtual drives are supported. The free edition includes a basic GUI, virtual optical drives, encrypted virtual disks, iSCSI disks, an INetDisk client, and forum support. Listed systems include 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008. Ethernet is required for INetDisk and iSCSI mounting.