flash drives not emptying

[Jo-Anne]

Using WinXP. I wanted to back up some files to a 4GB flash drive. I
deleted all the files on it, but Properties shows it's completely full.
I tried another 4GB flash drive; and, emptied, Properties shows it half
full. Any idea what's wrong?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

 

[VanguardLH]

Using WinXP. I wanted to back up some files to a 4GB flash drive. I
deleted all the files on it, but Properties shows it's completely full.
I tried another 4GB flash drive; and, emptied, Properties shows it half
full. Any idea what's wrong?

NT-based versions of Windows normally does not create a Recycle Bin on a
removable flash drive; however, some users have added a Recycle Bin by
using iBin (there may be others but I only know of this one). It has
been a l-o-n-g time since I last used 9x-based versions of Windows but
recall those add a Recycle Bin for every drive except for the A: and B:
drives (floppies). I've read (never used it) that iBin deletes the
hidden Recycle Bin folder to then use its own deleted files store. I'm
using Windows 7 and, I believe, from Vista onward this folder was named
$Recycle.Bin; however, back in XP it was called Recycler.

"Hidden" only means that it is not normally visiable. In Windows
Explorer, you have to disable the "Hide protected operating system
files" option to see the Recycler folder. That's in Win7. Back in
WinXP, you may only have a "Show hidden files" option. I don't have an
XP host to check. In a command shell (aka DOS prompt), you could run
"dir <drive>:\ /adh" on the root folder of a drive to see the
directories (folders) with the hidden attribute enabled on them.

Some malware, like Conficker/DownAndUp, would create the hidden-flagged
recycle bin and also use a hidden-flagged autorun.inf to spread via
removable drives (i.e., USB flash drives). Tis one of the reasons why
you should disable AutoRun on all removable drive types (not AutoPlay
but AutoRun) in Windows on your desktop/laptop.

iBin
http://www.autohotkey.net/~FirstToyLab/
no longer exists but its Sourceforge site is still alive at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ibin/

You could delete the hidden-flagged folder by opening a command shell
(with elevated privileges on Vista, and later) to run:

rd /s <drive>:\Recycler

Add the /q parameter if you don't want to be prompted to allow the
deletion. Windows recreates the folder when it next wants to save
deleted files. Nirsoft lets you also empty the Recycle Bin from the
command line using "nircmd.exe emptybin". That empties the recycle
folder on all drives. http://ss64.net/westlake/xp/index.html has more
options, like listing the contents and supposedly showing before and
after statuses (but I never used that one). Emptying the Recycle Bin
using Windows Explorer (either in the file manager GUI or using the
desktop icon) may not empty out all files from that folder.

While you're at it in a command shell, and after deleting everything,
run "dir /ah" and "dir /adh" on the root folder of the flash drive to
see if there are other hidden-flagged files or folders you missed.

If you, at some point for the flash drive, don't have any files on the
flash drive that you want to keep or, in your case, you have deleted
them all, what does the flash drive's properties report after doing a
quick format of it?

 

[Paul]

Using WinXP. I wanted to back up some files to a 4GB flash drive. I
deleted all the files on it, but Properties shows it's completely full.
I tried another 4GB flash drive; and, emptied, Properties shows it half
full. Any idea what's wrong?

Thank you,

Jo-Anne

Fastest solution is Format-Quick.

Cleanest examination environment is Linux.

Closest utility to something which can list files
properly is TestDisk, but the interface is far from
pleasant. There is a List Files option that works. It
can even look inside System Volume Information and
list the files there. The reason it can do this, is
it's more likely to look at raw information, rather
than call the file system for help. I expect it
still needs administrator rights, to achieve block level
access to the drive, but at least it doesn't seem to let
permissions get in the way. And like every utility, I
can't guarantee it works with any storage device possible.
It worked with my RAMDisk, as an example of quirky devices,
but it moaned about a few things along the way. I was still
able to list the device when it eventually got there.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/mw/images/List_files.gif

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Once you can see what is on there, that might make it easier
to guess at what the problem is.

Paul

 

[Jo-Anne]

Fastest solution is Format-Quick.

Cleanest examination environment is Linux.

Closest utility to something which can list files
properly is TestDisk, but the interface is far from
pleasant. There is a List Files option that works. It
can even look inside System Volume Information and
list the files there. The reason it can do this, is
it's more likely to look at raw information, rather
than call the file system for help. I expect it
still needs administrator rights, to achieve block level
access to the drive, but at least it doesn't seem to let
permissions get in the way. And like every utility, I
can't guarantee it works with any storage device possible.
It worked with my RAMDisk, as an example of quirky devices,
but it moaned about a few things along the way. I was still
able to list the device when it eventually got there.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/mw/images/List_files.gif

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Once you can see what is on there, that might make it easier
to guess at what the problem is.

Paul

To try the easiest first, do I just right-click on the drive name and
click Format?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[Paul]

To try the easiest first, do I just right-click on the drive name and
click Format?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

If the right-click Context Menu has the word "Format" in
it, you're in the right place On mine, that word is
about half way down the menu.

Paul

 

[Jo-Anne]

NT-based versions of Windows normally does not create a Recycle Bin on a
removable flash drive; however, some users have added a Recycle Bin by
using iBin (there may be others but I only know of this one). It has
been a l-o-n-g time since I last used 9x-based versions of Windows but
recall those add a Recycle Bin for every drive except for the A: and B:
drives (floppies). I've read (never used it) that iBin deletes the
hidden Recycle Bin folder to then use its own deleted files store. I'm
using Windows 7 and, I believe, from Vista onward this folder was named
$Recycle.Bin; however, back in XP it was called Recycler.

"Hidden" only means that it is not normally visiable. In Windows
Explorer, you have to disable the "Hide protected operating system
files" option to see the Recycler folder. That's in Win7. Back in
WinXP, you may only have a "Show hidden files" option. I don't have an
XP host to check. In a command shell (aka DOS prompt), you could run
"dir <drive>:\ /adh" on the root folder of a drive to see the
directories (folders) with the hidden attribute enabled on them.

Some malware, like Conficker/DownAndUp, would create the hidden-flagged
recycle bin and also use a hidden-flagged autorun.inf to spread via
removable drives (i.e., USB flash drives). Tis one of the reasons why
you should disable AutoRun on all removable drive types (not AutoPlay
but AutoRun) in Windows on your desktop/laptop.

iBin
http://www.autohotkey.net/~FirstToyLab/
no longer exists but its Sourceforge site is still alive at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ibin/

You could delete the hidden-flagged folder by opening a command shell
(with elevated privileges on Vista, and later) to run:

rd /s <drive>:\Recycler

Add the /q parameter if you don't want to be prompted to allow the
deletion. Windows recreates the folder when it next wants to save
deleted files. Nirsoft lets you also empty the Recycle Bin from the
command line using "nircmd.exe emptybin". That empties the recycle
folder on all drives. http://ss64.net/westlake/xp/index.html has more
options, like listing the contents and supposedly showing before and
after statuses (but I never used that one). Emptying the Recycle Bin
using Windows Explorer (either in the file manager GUI or using the
desktop icon) may not empty out all files from that folder.

While you're at it in a command shell, and after deleting everything,
run "dir /ah" and "dir /adh" on the root folder of the flash drive to
see if there are other hidden-flagged files or folders you missed.

If you, at some point for the flash drive, don't have any files on the
flash drive that you want to keep or, in your case, you have deleted
them all, what does the flash drive's properties report after doing a
quick format of it?

Thank you, Vanguard. After I did a Quick Format, the drive had almost
its full 4 GB available. I copied almost 2 GB of material to it and then
deleted it after I no longer needed it. Now I'm back to almost 4 GB
again, so apparently the formatting cleared up the problem, at least for
now.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

If the right-click Context Menu has the word "Format" in
it, you're in the right place On mine, that word is
about half way down the menu.

Paul

Thank you, Paul. It worked! I got back all the appropriate unused space,
did some copying and deleting, and it still looks good, at least for now.

Jo-Anne

 

[VanguardLH]

Thank you, Vanguard. After I did a Quick Format, the drive had almost
its full 4 GB available. I copied almost 2 GB of material to it and then
deleted it after I no longer needed it. Now I'm back to almost 4 GB
again, so apparently the formatting cleared up the problem, at least for
now.

Jo-Anne

I mentioned the quick format method last because some folks want back
the hidden consumed space to add more files without losing the files
already on the flash drive (or having to copy them off, format, and copy
them back). The [quick] format is handy only if you don't care about
any existing files on the drive; else, use the other methods to delete
the recycle bin (or other hidden files) to regain space while keeping
the other existing files in place.