I don't use NVIDIA but shellcheck.net says that script is a pile of buggy shite. Don't use it. Have you tried nouveau?

When the devices are missing does thunar show any error messages when started from a terminal? How about the X.Org log?

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

If the laptop is kept plugged in with the battery at 100% that will degrade it over time

Indeed. The things that will kill li-ion cells the fastest are heat, repeated deep-discharges, and continuous trickle-charging... Two of which you will get in spades if you leave a machine plugged in with the EC set to maintain 100% charge.
If you intend to store a battery (functionally what an always-on-ac laptop is doing), you want it at 60-80% and as cool as possible.

Often this means it's better to remove the battery entirely if the machine allows it.

You need to load the .ccd file, not the .img. The .ccd contains the session and track information needed to determine the disk layout, without it you will get only the first (data) track, if anything.
Same with bin/cue format, you load the .cue file not the .bin.

There are plenty of CD rippers. There are fewer drive emulators, because drive emulators are primarily used either for dealing with proprietary windows disk image formats or for piracy... Neither of which are a priority for free software.
CDemu works fine though, why do you need more than one virtual disk drive anyway?

I disagree. Finding the software needed to load those clonecd images was extremely easy, and I didn't even have to navigate the minefield of shitty websites, adware, crippleware, and malware I would have on windows.

I am very sorry to hear of your misfortune, I hope things get better for you soon.

Because I prefer to use the same operating system as all of the world's top 500 most powerful computers.

And anyway you don't have to buy Windows at all — just download one of the official ISO images and install using that without adding a key when prompted (just select "add later"). All Windows will do is display an "Activate Windows" watermark on the desktop, remove the ability to change wallpapers after the first few days, and keep nagging you to add an activation key. The operating system will continue to update itself and stay functional in all other respects indefinitely even if you don't pay. It's just nagware these days.