FreeVDF

FreeVDF enables you to create, mount and encrypt disk images, which can be filled with any files and folders from your computer. You can use it to connect CD or DVD drive images, for example. The software utility supports multiple security algorithms and it's pretty simple to figure out.

Installing this tool is a speedy task that shouldn't give you any trouble. It creates an icon in the system tray area at startup, enabling you to quickly create, mount and encrypt virtual disks.

A new image file with the VDF, IMG or ISO format can be put together by choosing a saving directory and file name. FreeVDF lets you set the dive letter, allocate any disk space amount (in MB), as well as apply encryption by setting a password and preferred security algorithm (e.g. SSE1, BLOWFISH, DES, 3DES). Formatting the new disk drive is necessary before creating it, even through it's empty.

Image files can be mounted by just indicating their full path and selecting a drive letter that's not already in use. It's possible to encrypt them as well as to enable read-only, auto-mount and ISO9660 mode (for CDs and DVDs). Only users with administrative privileges will be able to decrypt and unmount the drives. These are very simple procedures that require a couple of clicks.

We haven't come across any stability issues in our tests, thanks to the fact that the software program didn't hang, crash or prompt error messages. Unsurprisingly, it had minimal impact on computer performance, running on low CPU and RAM.

To conclude, FreeVDF delivers a simple and effective solution for creating, encrypting and mounting virtual disk images, and it can be handled with ease by anyone. Plus, it's free.