When you first see the name Alcohol 120%, you probably don't expect it to be the name of a program. Certainly not that it is a program with which you create and manage virtual disks and disk images. However, don't be fooled by the strange title, because the software is one of the nicest to use in its genre.
Alcohol 120% allows you to create a virtual disk drive, which makes your PC think it has one to a maximum of six additional DVD-ROM drive(s). This virtual hardware supports CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and Blu-ray format. You can also create an image file from physical disks in .iso or .mdf format, among others. Useful, for example, to make backups of CDs or DVDs, which you can save on a hard disk and load without the intervention of a physical disk. Especially with netbooks - which do not have a DVD-ROM drive - you can easily install software thanks to Alcohol 120%.
The additional virtual disk drives are listed in My Computer as BD-ROM drives.
You can also manage the image files, with the Xtra Wizard you add files or remove files from an image. It can also be the other way around: images can easily be burned back onto a disc. A great relief if, for example, the original discs have been lost.
Version 2.01.1820 didn't get a lot of new features compared to the older versions. Version 2 mainly contains bug fixes, an automatic security scanner and folder management, but what stands out most is the addition of the Audio Converter, which allows you to rip audio files from a (virtual) CD. Unfortunately, this option is still limited to .mp3 files. In fact, many additions are not really necessary. The interface is clear, well-arranged and, moreover, pleasant to use. Images are easy to create in clear interfaces and in the main screen you can load an image with two mouse clicks.
The many available wizards help you easily on your way with Alcohol 120%.
Alcohol 120% percent is available as a trial version for fifteen days. In this case, the startup screen will indicate that you have not yet registered, which requires a few seconds of extra patience. There is also a free version: Alcohol 52%. This light version is certainly also worth considering. The biggest lack of the Alcohol 52% variant, however, is that the burning function is missing.
Alcohol 120% 2.01.1820
Price € 39,-
Language English
Download 10MB
Trial version 15 days
OS Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
System requirements 32 MB memory, 10 GB hard disk space
maker Alcohol Software
Judgment 8/10
Pros
Many possibilities
Clear interface
Heavy use of wizards
Negatives
Audio Converter is a bit limited
Not a lot of extras compared to the free version
Safety
Pay attention: 1 of 42 virus scanners sees something suspicious in the installation file. But since it's only one, we suspect it's a false positive (i.e. a false positive). See the full VirusTotal.com detection report for more details.
