USB Flash Drive Problem

BicycleRow · 25 Aug 2016

Hey guys,

So, I have this 8 GB USB Flash Drive which is completely empty, no hidden files/folders, nothing. But it says that around 1 GB is used - Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
Why is that? Can I free up that memory? Not that it's very important, but I just wanna know what is taking up that space.
As you can see here, it's empty - Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Berton · 25 Aug 2016

When a drive is formatted there is some space taken so one really doesn't have a truly empty drive. 1GB out of 8GB does seem a bit much. I just opened a new Verbatim 8GB drive and got this:
Attachment 98158
You might right-click the Start button, go to Disk Management to see more. You can also delete the partition on the drive then create a new one.

BicycleRow · 25 Aug 2016

I think it's something else, because you can see in the first screenshot that it says "6.47 GB free of 7.48 GB", which means that the system already took some of it? And as you said, it seems a bit too much. But I can't think of what else it can be, there's no other reason?

Berton · 25 Aug 2016

My screenshot came from right-clicking the drive in File Explorer and choosing Properties. It's possible there's hidden data on it. Not knowing what and being best to be leary of it, I'd use Disk Management to delete the partition then recreate it at full size followed by formatting. Some years ago there were rumors of some Thumb drives containing infections but its been awhile since having heard of it.

Kbird · 25 Aug 2016

Berton said:

When a drive is formatted there is some space taken so one really doesn't have a truly empty drive. 1GB out of 8GB does seem a bit much. I just opened a new Verbatim 8GB drive and got this:
Attachment 98158
You might right-click the Start button, go to Disk Management to see more. You can also delete the partition on the drive then create a new one.

Hi @Berton , have you tried booting off those Verbatim Go drives ? I just returned a 3 pack of them as nothing I did would make them into Bootable USB disks , eg for a MR Bootdisk or KYHI PE Disk , Win10 recovery Drive etc.

@ BR look at the USB Key with Minitool Partition Wizard (Free) (MTPW) , maybe something is hidden ? certainly a bit weird , unless it was formatted incorrectly or something ? as Berton said delete all partitions and reformat Fat32 with MTPW.

KB

Berton · 25 Aug 2016

Berton , have you tried boot of those Verbatim Go drives ? I just returned a 3 pack of them as nothing I did would make them into Bootable USB disks , eg for a MR Bootdisk or KYHI PE Disk , Win10 recovery Drive etc.

No, I haven't yet.

BicycleRow · 26 Aug 2016

Kbird said:

@ BR look at the USB Key with Minitool Partition Wizard (Free) (MTPW) , maybe something is hidden ? certainly a bit weird , unless it was formatted incorrectly or something ? as Berton said delete all partitions and reformat Fat32 with MTPW.

I did it, but using the Disk Management not MTPW. And it's still the same.

EDIT: After that, I used MTPW's Check File System with "Check and fix detected errors" checked and that solved the problem. - Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

ANOTHER EDIT: I don't know what's going on with this flash drive. After the problem was "fixed" I tried to install Windows PE on it using Macrium Reflect but it showed up an error and now it says I have to format it again. :X

Kbird · 26 Aug 2016

HI , there is no need to use Imgur here , you can copy and paste the Snipping tool and other images right here in the reply window.

MTPW can see things even Disk Management can't , eg the Win10 16mb MSR Partition on some GPT systems (128mb on win 8), and if it was something malicious it is likely not going to be that easily seen.

USB Flash Drive Problem-2016_08_26_11_28_411.png

the HP Free USB KEY Formatter has always worked well , you could try that but I have a suspicion that the Drive is Faulty or failing.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Download

BicycleRow · 26 Aug 2016

Guess I should just throw this flash drive in the trash. I tried to format it with the HP formatter, but again it showed an error saying "Failed to format the device".

Kbird · 26 Aug 2016

try HDD Low Level Formatter 4.4 as a last resort , it's free for home use........ dont put anything valuable on it if you do use it

But yes I think it is dying , thankfully they aren't that expensive.