[gentoo-user] deleting virtual cd in usb hard disc

[luis jure]

hello list,

i purchased recently an external usb disk (HP SimpleSave, 1.5 TB).

i re-formatted it with an ext4 file system, but i can't get rid of the
"virtual cd" created by the manufacturer with some backup software.

when i connect the disc, the system sees two devices: a hard disc (for
example /dev/sdb, that i can format with the usual tools) and a virtual
cd-rom (sr1 or sg1), that i'd like to erase but i don't know how to
manipulate. 

here is the relevant part of dmesg:

usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 5
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access  HP   External HDD    1028 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
scsi 3:0:0:1: CD-ROM         HP   Virtual CD 4607 1028 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] 2928904192 512-byte logical blocks: (1.49 TB/1.36 TiB)
sr1: scsi3-mmc drive: 51x/51x caddy
sr 3:0:0:1: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr1
sr 3:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 5
usb-storage: device scan complete
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 10 00
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sdb: sdb1
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk



and of ls -l /dev

brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 16 ene 26 10:02 /dev/sdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 17 ene 26 10:02 /dev/sdb1
brw-rw---- 1 root cdrom 11, 1 ene 26 10:02 /dev/sr1


any help would be greatly appreciated, i've been searching the web for
days and found many people asking the same question, but no solution
yet...

best,

lj