Is there such a thing as a virtual hard drive?

[shateredsoul]

I need to create an F drive on my pc that can be written and read from like a real drive.  Is there such a thing? I don't want to partition my hdd.

[Gatt]

It's possible,  but it's likely more hassal than it's worth.  You're going to incurr overhead from trying to virtualize the drive.  Partitioning is probably less hassal.  If you're in Win 7 you can do it without messing with any data,  it just breaks off a chunk into a new drive.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Can't you map a shared folder on your own computer to a new drive letter?

[SlayerAlex]

i never got into it, and dont really know what your asking. But i think thats like hard drive emulation? You might want to look into programs like Daemon tools or alchaol 120%. i think thats what they do.

[testicle187]

Can't you map a shared folder on your own computer to a new drive letter?

+1  This should do the trick.

[Haze]

or you could create an image file with something like truecrypt and mount that...

[bkenobi]

You can just use the "subst" command to map a path to a drive letter.  That's the easiest way to accomplish what I *think* you are after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subst

[Malenko]

maybe Im reading it wrong but isnt he just trying to  make a ramdrive?


 DEVICE=[drive:][path]RAMDRIVE.SYS [DiskSize SectorSize [NumEntries]]]
    [/E | /A]

in config.sys

[shateredsoul]

maybe Im reading it wrong but isnt he just trying to  make a ramdrive?


 DEVICE=[drive:][path]RAMDRIVE.SYS [DiskSize SectorSize [NumEntries]]]
    [/E | /A]

in config.sys

Yeah I think that's what it's called, I want a program to think I have an F: drive and to be able to save to that drive

[jtslade]

Are you running dos on your arcade cab?

[bpark42]

I need to create an F drive on my pc that can be written and read from like a real drive.  Is there such a thing? I don't want to partition my hdd.

Multiple valid solutions have already been proposed, but it would be helpful to at least know what operating system you are using.  Also, you say you want a program to be able to read and write from this virtual drive.  Why are you trying to do it this way?  Performance?  Do you want the files to be maintained permanently or do you not care what happens to them when the system is powered down?

Personally, assuming you are using any recent form of Windows, I would just use the previously mentioned subst command.  It is the simplest way of accomplishing this.

If performance is your main concern then a ramdisk may be what you are after.

[bkenobi]

Like has been mentioned, it really makes a difference what you are doing with the drive to be able to recommend a good solution. 

I was thinking you just wanted to fake a program into thinking your mounted image was in a drive.  You can use subst for that.

If you want to extract an image to the virtual drive, you might be better off with a ram drive since it will be faster and you don't have to worry about deleting the files when done.

There's a lot of ways to solve your question, but without more info, you won't really have a solution.

[shateredsoul]

I am running windows 7 and someone mentioned in another forum that they could make this program run using a ram drive.  I think i'll give that a try.

I'm being vague about the game because it's a current arcade game and I think we're not suppose to talk about that stuff here 

BUT it includes flying women and it's a shmup.. and it recently came out on xbox 360.  This is the arcade version I'm trying to setup.

[Malenko]

sounds like DeathSmiles.

Try a second hard drive?

[SirDaShadow]

I am running windows 7 and someone mentioned in another forum that they could make this program run using a ram drive.  I think i'll give that a try.

I'm being vague about the game because it's a current arcade game and I think we're not suppose to talk about that stuff here  

BUT it includes flying women and it's a shmup.. and it recently came out on xbox 360.  This is the arcade version I'm trying to setup.

Guys you are doing it wrong, here is how you do it. I have 2 vhds with emulators in there because the roms are so small it's wasteful to have it on the OS filesytem.


http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-create-attach-detach-a-virtual-hard-disk-vhd-in-windows-7/


Edit: Once you have it up and runnning, install this program to easily manage the vhd http://lifehacker.com/5396539/vhd-attach-adds-virtual-hard-drive-mounting-to-your-right+click-menu

[Gray_Area]

I think you can use Magic Disc for this.