Editor's Review:
by FrostApps team on 2010-02-22 13:05:45
Version reviewed: WinMount 3.3.0209
Version reviewed: WinMount 3.3.0209
With todays big cd/dvd/blue ray home libraries that everyone has you will want to copy some of your favorite tv shows, movies and/or games to your computer for easier access and maybe to prevent your optical media from getting scratched constantly by its frequent usage. Everyone knows that the best way to copy a dvd is to create its image, maintaining its full functionality. Now once images have been made you will need a software to mount them on virtual drives so they can be used as intended. WinMount is a program that can help you accomplish just this. We are aware that there are tons of programs with same or similar functions but this one really caught our attention.
Meant as a simple image mounting tool this program is this and much more. With WinMount you can not only mount images, but also mount all sorts of compressed files like zip, rar, wmt (which is WinMount file) and so on and so forth. You can also mount folders to drive (not that we see the point of this but its nice to have). Besides these functions WinMount can be used for creating images from files and folders on your computer as well as from inserted CD/DVDs. Basically this program provides you with everything you might ever need concerning back up.
Once installed the program prompts you whether you want it to associate certain file extensions to it and which. You can choose which and default action for those files when double clicked (like "mount", "browse" etc.). Also there is option for shell integration, meaning when you right click on any file in windows explorer WinMount will offer some of its options available for that specific file type besides default windows actions. There are also options to remove icon from those context menus as well as make them cascade, which means only one option called WinMount3 will appear in context menu and when clicked on will cascade to all the available options for given file type. Also there is an option for setting up which context menu items you want displayed and which not.
There are also options for mounting and converting non-MOU archives to MOU archives. MOU is a highly and fast compressed format developed by WinMount. The program will create index files for ZIP/RAR when mounting them to a virtual path while MOU never needs to create index files, and its mounting process is always in an instant.
WinMount has three different views: mount view, browser view and compress view. Their names are really self-explanatory but letﾒs go through them anyway. Every view has unique set of buttons and entirely different looks than other two. For the mount view which is the first one there is the "Mount file" button which opens up a browser for you to chose an image file for mounting located on your hard disk. Next we have "Mount to" button which gives you the same option, but once the file is selected you are prompted where you want the file to be mounted to (specific virtual drive or specific folder). "Mount blank" button gives you the option to mount a blank cd to a drive with a different format options and specific size that you can select. "Mounted list" and "Unmounted list" buttons show you the list of mounted and unmounted images (well duh) also there is a "Buy Now" button present in evaluation version and inevitable "Switch view" button where you can select which view you want to use.
Browser view displays your folder tree and provides you with some options like "Compress" which is similar to WinRar's compress option (if you are familiar with winrar that is). You can select location where you wish to store compressed file, type of compression aka file format and level of compression, number of CPU threads to use during compression and much more. Also there are buttons for extracting compressed archive, SFX for creating self-extracting archive, info for looking at properties of selected file or archive, delete, comment and of course switch view.
Lastly for Compress view there five buttons for you to use. This view is mainly used to create images from files and/or inserted DVDs. First button is "Add folder" which adds the folder that you specified to compilation. Next we have "Add file" which does pretty much the same as the previous button, only with selected file instead of the folder. "Delete selected" is pretty self-explanatory, it deletes file or folder that you selected from your compilation. The "Save as" button actually does the converting aka creating the image form selected files and folders in your session, and of course there is "Switch view" button again.
Graphic interface of WinMount is really neatly done, it has three different built-in skins that all look very nice. Big buttons with good looking icons, everything is just as it should be. Only bigger complaint is about the way different views are displayed. We would prefer it that program perhaps had bigger window and all views available at the same time, so we wouldnﾒt have to switch them if for instance we were making an image and needed to mount other image to take files from it for our compilation, but this is just a thought, someone might like it more the way it is. Another thing that we would change is that when you click on x button in the corner it closes the program. It would be much better if it minimized to tray like MSN Messenger. Note that it actually does that if an image is mounted but still we would like it to minimize to tray regardless of current state.
All in all a really great and highly customizable program, with full functional trial period (which is much more that most of other developers offer). Works really fast, doesnﾒt use up much memory we would say one of the best image mounting/creating software that we used. Everything is just in its place and working perfectly. We can highly recommend you this software for most of your backup/mount needs!
Meant as a simple image mounting tool this program is this and much more. With WinMount you can not only mount images, but also mount all sorts of compressed files like zip, rar, wmt (which is WinMount file) and so on and so forth. You can also mount folders to drive (not that we see the point of this but its nice to have). Besides these functions WinMount can be used for creating images from files and folders on your computer as well as from inserted CD/DVDs. Basically this program provides you with everything you might ever need concerning back up.
Once installed the program prompts you whether you want it to associate certain file extensions to it and which. You can choose which and default action for those files when double clicked (like "mount", "browse" etc.). Also there is option for shell integration, meaning when you right click on any file in windows explorer WinMount will offer some of its options available for that specific file type besides default windows actions. There are also options to remove icon from those context menus as well as make them cascade, which means only one option called WinMount3 will appear in context menu and when clicked on will cascade to all the available options for given file type. Also there is an option for setting up which context menu items you want displayed and which not.
There are also options for mounting and converting non-MOU archives to MOU archives. MOU is a highly and fast compressed format developed by WinMount. The program will create index files for ZIP/RAR when mounting them to a virtual path while MOU never needs to create index files, and its mounting process is always in an instant.
WinMount has three different views: mount view, browser view and compress view. Their names are really self-explanatory but letﾒs go through them anyway. Every view has unique set of buttons and entirely different looks than other two. For the mount view which is the first one there is the "Mount file" button which opens up a browser for you to chose an image file for mounting located on your hard disk. Next we have "Mount to" button which gives you the same option, but once the file is selected you are prompted where you want the file to be mounted to (specific virtual drive or specific folder). "Mount blank" button gives you the option to mount a blank cd to a drive with a different format options and specific size that you can select. "Mounted list" and "Unmounted list" buttons show you the list of mounted and unmounted images (well duh) also there is a "Buy Now" button present in evaluation version and inevitable "Switch view" button where you can select which view you want to use.
Browser view displays your folder tree and provides you with some options like "Compress" which is similar to WinRar's compress option (if you are familiar with winrar that is). You can select location where you wish to store compressed file, type of compression aka file format and level of compression, number of CPU threads to use during compression and much more. Also there are buttons for extracting compressed archive, SFX for creating self-extracting archive, info for looking at properties of selected file or archive, delete, comment and of course switch view.
Lastly for Compress view there five buttons for you to use. This view is mainly used to create images from files and/or inserted DVDs. First button is "Add folder" which adds the folder that you specified to compilation. Next we have "Add file" which does pretty much the same as the previous button, only with selected file instead of the folder. "Delete selected" is pretty self-explanatory, it deletes file or folder that you selected from your compilation. The "Save as" button actually does the converting aka creating the image form selected files and folders in your session, and of course there is "Switch view" button again.
Graphic interface of WinMount is really neatly done, it has three different built-in skins that all look very nice. Big buttons with good looking icons, everything is just as it should be. Only bigger complaint is about the way different views are displayed. We would prefer it that program perhaps had bigger window and all views available at the same time, so we wouldnﾒt have to switch them if for instance we were making an image and needed to mount other image to take files from it for our compilation, but this is just a thought, someone might like it more the way it is. Another thing that we would change is that when you click on x button in the corner it closes the program. It would be much better if it minimized to tray like MSN Messenger. Note that it actually does that if an image is mounted but still we would like it to minimize to tray regardless of current state.
All in all a really great and highly customizable program, with full functional trial period (which is much more that most of other developers offer). Works really fast, doesnﾒt use up much memory we would say one of the best image mounting/creating software that we used. Everything is just in its place and working perfectly. We can highly recommend you this software for most of your backup/mount needs!
Editor's Ratings
| User Interface: |
Features: | Ease of use: | Cost: | Overall: |
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Screenshots:
| Downloads: | 67 |
| Editor's Review: | reading! |
| Publisher: | WinMount International Inc. |
| Publisher All: | More programs |
| Publisher Home: | http://www.winmount.com |
| OS Suport: | Windows All |
| Licence: | Shareware |
| Date Added: | 2010-07-21 |
| Size: | 3.0 MB |
| Cost: | 49.0 USD |
| User rating: |
NOT RATED
out of 0 votes |
| Editors Rating: |
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