False cd drives - Maxtor HDD reported as wrong size [Moved from XP]

swaffml · 07-01-2008, 08:21 AM

A while back my hard drive was not booting, I made it a slave to another dirve I had and was able to get it back up and running correctly however now my machine shows 2 dvd drives and 2 cd drives I do have 2 dvd drives but no cd drives, they do not show up in device manager so I can not remove them. They do not seem to be hurting anything but would like to make it right.

**mack1** · 07-01-2008, 09:14 AM

Hi swaffml,

Look in Control panel under Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, then Disk Management. You might be able to straighten it out there.

Best regards,
Mack1

swaffml · 07-01-2008, 07:17 PM

been there the drives are there but you can not do anything with them there is no remove or delete for those drives.

**mack1** · 07-01-2008, 07:37 PM

Hi swaffml,
Have you installed anything that could put a virtual drive(or two)on your system?
I wonder if all four would go away if you unplugged both of your Real DVD dirves and booted. I also wonder if it would put all 4 back on if you uninstalled them in the task manager and let Windows reinstall them at the next boot.
I don't necessarily think removing the upper and lower filters for the drives in the registery would do any good, since that effort is normally needed if the drives can't be seen.
Basically, I don't know of no surefire way of getting rid of the extra drives. Mabe someone will jump in and help that has had a similar problem.

Wishing you luck,
Mack1

**Coolfreak** · 07-01-2008, 08:27 PM

Like mack1 mentioned, did you install any programs that give you virtual drives?

Alcohol 120% is a program that can do that or MagicDisc is also one I know of.

Then again, if I recall, even if the drives are virtual, they still show up in the Device manager. So I don't think that can be the problem.

You could try uninstalling your two 'real' drives in the device manager and then reboot your machine and let Windows reinstall them for you and see if that might get rid of the 'fake' drives.

Good luck,

-Coolfreak

swaffml · 07-02-2008, 02:38 PM

I have not installed anything that made new drive letters of late, I did use a card reader 8 in one that put 4 drive letters on but they left when I unplugged it. Today I decided to try to find out more about it and found that in disk management the false drive do not appear however they do show up in My computer. Also I use an external drive to store my personal data on it is normally drive H but it is now J the letters H and I are used by the false drives, I installed and ran microsoft powertoys and when I went to the drive section it listed all of the drive letters as active but the ones that are not real had a red ? by them (attached screenshot) If I uncheck the two wrong letters they no longer show up in explorer or my computer but I can not use those letters to rename the other drives. I will remove both of the DVD drives in device manager and post back tonight. I have unchecked all letters that are not in use by a real drive if I check the H and I they will get the red ? and the false drive will show up again.

swaffml · 07-02-2008, 04:30 PM

Ok guys, the false drives are gone not sure why. Removed both of my real dvd's in device manager, made all of the drive letters active using powertoys, rebooted. It hung up and would not boot all the way so I did the Ctrl+Alt+Del and told it to shut down it said explorer was not responding, so I ended it and the machine rebooted without the false drives they do not show anyplace that they did before, but still have the red ? in powertoys but maybe that is normal.

**Coolfreak** · 07-02-2008, 06:32 PM

I think that is normal since your computer doesn't have any drives connected to those letters

swaffml · 07-03-2008, 05:42 AM

There back! Everything looked correct yesterday that is the false drives were no longer showing up this morning they are back different drive letters but there. New letters are J and K

**Coolfreak** · 07-03-2008, 06:20 AM

I would try uninstalling both real DVD drives again in the Device manager, and then reboot. See what happens. You mentioned it hung up last time you did that, see if it does it again.

swaffml · 07-03-2008, 06:24 AM

Will give that a try when I get back home and will report on how it goes. I do know if I uncheck those two drive letters the false drives will go away but I'm thinking they will come back after a reboot with different letters, the last part is a guess as I think that is what happened yesterday. Will also try unchecking any letter that is not in use if the removing drive in device manager does not work.

**Coolfreak** · 07-03-2008, 06:27 AM

Alright, post back with the results

Good luck,

-Coolfreak

swaffml · 07-03-2008, 01:03 PM

removed the real drives and rebooted false drives are not there at this point, but that has happened before, will just go on and if things change will post well I will post either way will give it a day or two.

**Coolfreak** · 07-03-2008, 01:34 PM

Alright, lets hope they don't come back

-Coolfreak

swaffml · 07-03-2008, 08:02 PM

They're back! I do not know when they came back I was online and checked my email and a friend had sent me some photos when I went to save them I saw that the drives had returned. Going to uncheck those two letters in powertoys and see if they return with different letters.

**Coolfreak** · 07-04-2008, 01:37 PM

Wow, this is really weird. I haven't seen anything like this before. There has to be something causing them to appear.

Let us know what happens when you uncheck them in powertoys.

-Coolfreak

07-01-2008, 08:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
swaffml Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 377 OS: Windows XP Home	False cd drives - Maxtor HDD reported as wrong size [Moved from XP] A while back my hard drive was not booting, I made it a slave to another dirve I had and was able to get it back up and running correctly however now my machine shows 2 dvd drives and 2 cd drives I do have 2 dvd drives but no cd drives, they do not show up in device manager so I can not remove them. They do not seem to be hurting anything but would like to make it right.

07-01-2008, 09:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
mack1 TSF Articles Team Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Texarkana, Texas Posts: 767 OS: xp sp2 My System	Re: False cd drives Hi swaffml, Look in Control panel under Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, then Disk Management. You might be able to straighten it out there. Best regards, Mack1 __________________ "If you like yourself others will like you also" me "Don't drink downstream from the herd" Will Rogers Submit New Articles Here

07-01-2008, 07:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
swaffml Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 377 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: False cd drives been there the drives are there but you can not do anything with them there is no remove or delete for those drives.

07-01-2008, 07:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
mack1 TSF Articles Team Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Texarkana, Texas Posts: 767 OS: xp sp2 My System	Re: False cd drives Hi swaffml, Have you installed anything that could put a virtual drive(or two)on your system? I wonder if all four would go away if you unplugged both of your Real DVD dirves and booted. I also wonder if it would put all 4 back on if you uninstalled them in the task manager and let Windows reinstall them at the next boot. I don't necessarily think removing the upper and lower filters for the drives in the registery would do any good, since that effort is normally needed if the drives can't be seen. Basically, I don't know of no surefire way of getting rid of the extra drives. Mabe someone will jump in and help that has had a similar problem. Wishing you luck, Mack1 __________________ "If you like yourself others will like you also" me "Don't drink downstream from the herd" Will Rogers Submit New Articles Here

07-01-2008, 08:27 PM	#5 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives Like mack1 mentioned, did you install any programs that give you virtual drives? Alcohol 120% is a program that can do that or MagicDisc is also one I know of. Then again, if I recall, even if the drives are virtual, they still show up in the Device manager. So I don't think that can be the problem. You could try uninstalling your two 'real' drives in the device manager and then reboot your machine and let Windows reinstall them for you and see if that might get rid of the 'fake' drives. Good luck, -Coolfreak __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan

07-02-2008, 06:32 PM	#8 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives I think that is normal since your computer doesn't have any drives connected to those letters __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan

07-03-2008, 06:20 AM	#10 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives I would try uninstalling both real DVD drives again in the Device manager, and then reboot. See what happens. You mentioned it hung up last time you did that, see if it does it again. __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan

07-03-2008, 06:24 AM	#11 (permalink)
swaffml Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 377 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: False cd drives Will give that a try when I get back home and will report on how it goes. I do know if I uncheck those two drive letters the false drives will go away but I'm thinking they will come back after a reboot with different letters, the last part is a guess as I think that is what happened yesterday. Will also try unchecking any letter that is not in use if the removing drive in device manager does not work.

07-03-2008, 06:27 AM	#12 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives Alright, post back with the results Good luck, -Coolfreak __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan

07-03-2008, 01:03 PM	#13 (permalink)
swaffml Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 377 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: False cd drives removed the real drives and rebooted false drives are not there at this point, but that has happened before, will just go on and if things change will post well I will post either way will give it a day or two.

07-03-2008, 01:34 PM	#14 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives Alright, lets hope they don't come back -Coolfreak __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan

07-03-2008, 08:02 PM	#15 (permalink)
swaffml Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 377 OS: Windows XP Home	Re: False cd drives They're back! I do not know when they came back I was online and checked my email and a friend had sent me some photos when I went to save them I saw that the drives had returned. Going to uncheck those two letters in powertoys and see if they return with different letters.

07-04-2008, 01:37 PM	#16 (permalink)
Coolfreak Mentor, Microsoft Support Join Date: May 2008 Location: PA Posts: 998 OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04	Re: False cd drives Wow, this is really weird. I haven't seen anything like this before. There has to be something causing them to appear. Let us know what happens when you uncheck them in powertoys. -Coolfreak __________________ I subscribe to all threads I post in. But, if in case I don't or I forget, and I don't post back within 24 hours, please PM me. I will get back to your thread ASAP. #5 Texas Longhorns #5 Texas Longhorns 5-0 Everest ~ DBAN ~ UBCD4WIN ~ SpeedFan