Virtualising a (DVD) Burner

Hey OCF, had a quick question and wasn't sure if it's possible or not.

Basically I just purchased a netbook last week (thread) and need to create backup drives for it. The only option I see is that Acer has its own software that will burn restore discs using 2 options: 1) full restore disc, 2) software & drivers. This program requires an external dvd burner to be attached.

The issue is I don't have an external dvd burner, and didn't feel like dropping $80 on a quality one with the primary use of doing a 1 time creation of restore discs. I have a dvd burner on my main rig and am setup to easily share files between all rigs at my place via a home network.

Anyone know if it's possible to "virtualize" a dvd burner on a (my) netbook so that it will give me the option of burning to a .iso file, or possibly using the dvd burner on my main rig to create the dvds? Trying to save a bit of cash here if possible, otherwise I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet

TIA,

i'll bump in the hope that someone knows something to assist =/

wow, talk about luck, stumbled on a SINGLE post in a random thread on some random forum that seems to be the answer to my question. Searched the webs for over two hours (I consider myself pretty savvy at searching when I want to be, and that's a long time).

In any case, without further adieu...

VirtualCD is the only program (shareware) that I've found that can actually create VIRTUAL CD-R/DVD-R/HD-DVD-R/BR-R drives. In fact it supports (or appears to from the drop down menu) a ton of different media types.

It should be able to be read by most cd/dvd/br authoring software packages, I've currently only tested it on the Acer eRecovery Management software that came with my netbook but it appears to be working like a charm.

Basically the recovery software thinks I have put a disc in an optical drive (even asked me to do so, I created a virtual disc and clicked "OK", everything is grand) and is now generating my backup discs. I'll go ahead and share these over my network and if push comes to shove and I need to recover my netbook to factory settings I can throw cash down for an optical DVD-ROM which will be cheaper than a DVD-R (if I can't get a USB boot option for some reason.

Lastly... PICTURES:

PS - It's not obvious, but the pictures are meant to show that the program is in fact creating the backup discs while there is no optical drive attached (just my usb mouse)