Octocontrabass wrote:
Secure how? There are only a handful of very old computers that can boot a CD in floppy disk emulation mode but can't boot a CD in no-emulation mode.
What I mean by 'more secure' is in a data-access kind of way. With emulation, it's almost as though the actually functionality of the CD/DVD is in a sort of 'purgatory,' and any program or code on the emulated-disk that wants to access data on the real disk has to go through the emulated disk via a driver of some sorts. This also stops rogue programs on a CD/DVD from executing, since the functionality to execute a program is all in the emulated disk in the first place. No program can start, unless started by the emulated disk.
Say that you have a driver that you write, and it only recognizes specific files on the disk that are needed to install your system or run the disk, and it only allows execution of those specific files or programs. If you put random files or executables on the same disk, they won't be recognized as important system files, and therefore will not be allowed to run. You might most likely will have to sign the files in some way, shape, or form, so that they are only recognized.
This could also help against viruses or malicious attempts to create look-a-likes and just implant them into the disk. And I do understand that malicious people could decompile and disassemble them and see what they signatures they have, but you get the point. It could even just help in random programs being executed for whatever reason, although it is unlikely. It's still a precaution, since it has the chance, even though it's low, to screw something up while installing or whatever.
Obviously it's not really that much different in the long run, because you could easily implement this kind of program guard your self without emulation, but there is that little extra layer of accessibility measures, and it
could prove to be useful in some way, shape, or form. If if it's hard-disk drive emulation, because floppy-disk emulation is probably going to not exist for much longer, since computers are advancing so quickly.