Need to delete a RAM Drive

I bought a game, and did not like the game, so i deleted it . For some reason the game created a "DVD-RAM Drive (D: )" . I assumed that deleting the game would get rid of the mentioned RAM drive, but it is still there, i dont know how to get rid of it, i just dont want it there. Yes, I googled my booty off trying to figure this out and just cant figure out how to get rid of it .
I am running XP Pro 32bit.

Thanks !

 

Are you sure that's not just your DVD drive showing up in My Computer?

 

yes im certain. I downloaded the TweakUI powertoy from microsoft, and unchecked the empty (D: ) drive , but that is just keeping it from showing up when i click MY COMPUTER .
I Also have a mounted ISO i mounted with Daemon tools that i cant get rid of , so i unchecked it as well. They are now not showing up, but id like to actually DELETE them . Im still googling for a solution .
Maybe someone here can offer one .
Thanks, though, greasemonkey

 

Hello Fed Up.
What was the game? and also, if you don't mind what is your system specs? As mentioned are you sure this is not your actual CD tray, or maybe even a virtual one created from software like Alcohol 120 or MagicDisc?

Also, check your Device Manager, and let us know whats listed there. Thanks

EDIT!!! Ha, just thought after Fed posted. Yeah, its probably the fact of your Daemon tools playing as a virtual drive. My best bet for you is probably to go to your device manager, and uninstall your virtual DVD drive.

Thats what I would suggest. Then uninstall the program, if you really need it gone. (Try uninstalling it using Windows Cleanup Installer)

 

+1 on the fact that it will be a virtual drive created by daemon tools

 

The game was Demigod, I didnt like the game, so i deleted it . Im POSITIVE it is not my actual DVD/CD drive, it is listed, when i click MY COMPUTER as " DVD-RAM Drive (D: ) " .
It is empty, just annoying. My actual Drive is a Sony NEC Optiarc SATA22x Dual DVD .
i have a custom built AMD Phenom II X4 940 3.0GHz, running XP Pro, and 4gigs of ram (although only 3.2 show up because my os is 32 bit) the memory is Corsair XMS2 (2x2GB) DDR2 800 .

 

Actually these are two separate issues. One is a RAM Drive created by DEMIGOD, the other is a mounted ISO created by Daemon tools.

 

Well, either way.
Here's what I'd try.

Is DemiGod uninstalled?
If so, do this. Go to your Device Manager, and unmount/uninstall your DVD Virtual Drives, minus your Sony. And cleanup and verify that it is uninstalled using either CCleanup, or Windows Installed Cleanup Utility.

Want Daemon Uninstalled?
Rinse and Repeat above, I'd say. Shouldn't be too too hard.

 

Your terminology was a bit confusing, sorry

A mounted .iso under daemon tools will show up as a virtual DVD-RAM (or CD-ROM) drive under my computer, daemon tools can often have a couple of virtual drives listed under my computer even if there is nothing mounted.

a RAM disk (or drive) is something different

either way, uninstalling as prescribed should fix it

 

ok. i followed your instructions, and uninstalled the drive that was NOT the Sony Optiarc .

Now my Sony Optiarc is not listed in MY COMPUTER .
I have no actual DVD/CD Drive listed.
Yes, i am ABSOLUTELY certain that I uninstalled the drive that was NOT labelled OPTIARC DVD RW AD-72205. In fact, it still shows up in device manager but not in MY COMPUTER .
Apparently it still functions, So if i could just rename it, that would be fine. I would be rid of the RAM drive, and have my DVD/CD drive labelled correctly in MY COMPUTER.

 

Hello Fed Up,
If you go to your Disk Management? Does your drive show up in there? If so, you should be able to rename your disk, and it should repopulate back into "My Computer." let me know if this works. (FYI out for the next hour. I'll check back later when I get home.)

Best of luck.

 

Ok i went to computer management > Disk Management and only my (C: ) drive shows up there . I went to to Device Manager, then expanded DVD/CD-ROM Devices, where the optiarc showed up. I right clicked it and selected SCAN FOR HARDWARE CHANGES . This restored my drive configuration to where it was before i started trying to delete the RAM drive. Maybe i should just use powertools tweakUI and uncheck the RAM drive so it doesn't show up when i click MY COMPUTER ..........? I'd really like to delete it altogether . I'll be going to bed soon, gotta get up early for work . . . Thanks for your help, I'll look for a response from you after work tomorrow (about 4pm central time) . Im happy that at least we are back to where i was before, and relieved that i didn't accidentally uninstall my DVD drive .

 

Yeah, you could give that a try I guess, I've never used PowertoolsUI before, so best of luck, and let me know if that works out for ya.

 

yeah, it keeps it off the MY COMPUTER menu, but it still exists. I want to DELETE it .
:confused

 

Terribly weird. So, just to recap. If you remove it by using Device Manager, it also removes and deletes your normal DVD drive, but if you remove it using PowerUtils, it'll remove it but not delete it.

Hmm. Best option I can say, is try "Disabling" the device manager items instead of uninstalling them, give that a go. Best of luck.

 

If it's not your actual DVD drive, how come it's got assigned as D: ?

Fact is it IS your optical drive, they are frequently shown in Device Manager as DVD-RAM. Here's mine - and it's a physical drive

 

Did you actually delete the game folders and files, instead of uninstalling it the normal way? If you did, then it probably left all sorts of junk behind, and the only way I know of that can fix that is to reinstall the game and then uninstall it the proper way.

 

i used CCleaner for the uninstall .

 

I was not aware that was not the proper way to delete things .
Please elaborate.
Thnx .

 

I have never been able to figure out if CCleaner uses the game's unistaller or not, so can't quite help you there.

If it was my computer I would reinstall the game and then uninstall it using the game's own uninstall utility. If it takes away the RAM drive, then we solved your problem. And if not, we'll have more info to work with

 

ok ill try that after work tomorrow .

 

When Windows is installed on a computer which has an unpartitioned hard drive and a CD/DVD drive it always allocates C to the hard drive and D to the CD/DVD. These drive letter allocations are permanent unless you deliberately change them in disk management. Any subsequent drives installed, real or virtual (such as Daemon Tools drives), take the next sequential letter. It is therefore completely impossible for a game to create a DVD-RAM drive on a computer which already has a CD/DVD drive and assign the letter D to it.

This DVD-RAM drive you are trying to permanently remove is, as I said in #16, your Sony NEC Optiarc drive and I'm sorry to have to be so direct, but you are wasting both your time and everyone else's on what is just a wild goose chase.

 

okey dokey
ill get to that after work tomorrow evening.

 

Um, FED UP, see this from Earthling...

So if you haven't deliberately changed the drive letters in Disk Management, don't bother doing what I suggested, since the D: most likely is your physical drive.

 

ok i unchecked in Tweak UI the drive previousaly mentioned. After all the jacking around with this situation, i now have : DVD DRIVE (E: ) and i also have listed a CD DRIVE (D: ) .
Please explain how this is a wild goose chase when i only have ONE physical Drive ?
I guess ill just do a system restore, and never jack with Daemon tools again , Even though it was the GAME that created the RAM drive, which is now listed as a CD Drive .
In fact, now im ticked off so im going to install thew stupid game, and use the uninstaller for it immediately after installing it. I will then put the game disc in back into the box, and set it on fire.
I will also delete Daemon tools, as it is obviously a source of problems as well .

 

Off the top of my head, one of them does the CD function and the other the DVD function. Combo drives sometimes confuse the OS.

 

ok i reinstalled the game . i now have the following :

DVD-RAM Drive (D: ) and DVD Drive (E: )

what now ?

 

Uninstall it...?

 

Right. I did that before .
That's what created the problem .

 

ok i Uninstalled it using windows add.remove program. It DID use the demigod uninstaller, i still have the same DVD-RAM Drive (D: ) and DVD Drive (E: ) .

 

i will likely never install another game. this is ridiculous .

 

just forget it ill leave it like it is and just figure it out eventually. thank you for your time. Sorry if i "wasted your time".

 

Hey Fed,

Ya didn't waste our time. This was a learning experience for us all.

So, odd question, and I know you're kinda have given up on this. But if you put any normal CD into your drive currently, which one does it show up on D or E?

And if you look into your device manager under your Disk Drives/Optical Drives, and under your Disk Management, what is listed?

Thanks.

 

Of the two remaining drives it seems D is your physical, and E is a virtual drive set up by Daemon Tools. Doesn't Daemon allow you to add or remove the virtual drives it creates? That would seem the cleanest way to remove it.

 

ok sorry for the bad attitude in my posts yesterday. Had a bad day at work, and all around in general . I will check out some more options, including those you guys suggested this evening after i recover from my work day . Thanks !
By the way, when i put a disc in the drive, it shows up as Drive (D: )
so (E: ) is the irritating culprit i want to get rid of .
Or i can just hide it with tweak UI, but only if i fail at actually removing it .

 

See if it's possible to unmount it in Daemon. If not, uninstalling Daemon would remove it, as virtual drives can't exist without it or something equivalent such as Alcohol 120%.

When I last used Daemon in 2005, uninstalling it wasn't a cake walk. Let's hope it's been made simpler since. I made some notes at the time. Let me know if you have problems and feel they might possibly help.

It's getting late now in UK, so I won't be around until tomorrow.

 

i Uninstalled Daemon and Drive (E: ) is still there.
GAH
lol

 

Look in your Disk Management. What does it say E: is?

 

If you are absolutely certain that you have uninstalled daemon tools 'properly' and (to your knowledge) have no other software that could create a virtual disk, then do this:
open device manager, uninstall 'all' of your optical drives, D: and E:
reboot and let windows automatically discover and reinstall them (it should be only the sony this time)

Does this fix it?

If not, I've got some more steps for you to go through

 

Was this after a reboot?

 

ok , i installed a new game and the problem vanished . Thanks for all your help and attention. Im not sure really why the problem is gone, but so long as its gone, im happy .

 

:celebrateI'm glad that its finally sorted for ya

this has been an interesting thread and a learning one for all I think?

Maybe its been a problem of not having been provided the right information or even the whole picture.
Problems in communication, possibly by those trying to help not asking the right questions or breaking down the steps you need to follow enough.
Possibly also to do with the right terminology not being used

I find it easy to fall in the trap of automatically assuming people know what I'm talking about. Major Geeks is a place where people of all abilities hang out, some trying to help, others trying to learn, I'm not quite sure where I fit in yet, still trying to find my place (somewhere in the middle I think), but, I digress...

One thing I've found through following this thread (it might just be me?), has been never actually being sure if the hints and troubleshooting tips have actually been carried out properly and reported back in full.

Most of the conclusions that everyone has come up with are all quite correct... given the information provided. Some of us may have been harsh, but, don't let that put you off.

People definitely want to help you out, but, knowing the full picture always helps.

GM

 

Yes, communication is key. I do appreciate the attention and assistance of all involved.
I also come to MG mostly for assistance with various issues, and have received invaluable help.
Sometimes i simply peruse various threads, sometimes i learn new things sometimes i don't.
MG is without a doubt a HUGE asset to the online community .
Oh, And my skin is thicker than treebark, so anyone being "harsh" was never a bother .
I was a wrecker driver, and impound lot employee for years - you HAVE to have thick skin to work those jobs !
I shall return !


Until then ::dood

 

Please do! We love it when new people stick around after their problem is solved and become active MG members.

If you ever find out how you got rid of that RAM drive, please come back and tell us! We're all going to be sleepless for weeks over it! LOL

 

lol ok