reduced capacity on USB flash stick

[Jongo Pak]

Hello together,

I've got a USB flash stick (Acer 128MB) on Win XP SP2 (from CD, no update).

I was using the stick, then my PC crashed, I had to reset it.

After reboot, when accessing the flash stick, I got the message
"...protocol file not found..."

I tried several reboots and reformattings of the flash stick (right
click on the drive in workspace), without solving the problem, only the
error message vanished, and the flash stick didn't even appear in the
workspace although visible in the device manager.

Then I opened "system control -> computer maintenance/adminstration ->
data storage/mass storage -> data storage administration.
In the lower right subwindow I found the stick as "uninitialized" and
"unallocated".

I initialized the flash stick and then assigned a primary partition
(right click). It worked, but I now only have 118MB capacity instead of
128 MB.

How can I get back full capacity?

thanks in advance

/JP

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Back in the Disk Management (Right click on My Computer, click Manage,
click Disk Management), right click and delete all existing partitions
for the USB Flash stick. Now right click and create a partition that
uses the entire available space. Then format the drive FAT32 and go
from there.

 

[Frank]

Flash Memory Drives _usually_ need the diagnostic tools
from the manufacturer to fix problems and reformat the stick.
Check the manufacturer's webpage, which should be located
on the packaging material.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Not completely true! You can format the USB sticks with Windows. It should
be done has FAT.

However, you will need the manufacturer's utilities for diagnosing any other
problems.

 

[Jongo Pak]

Back in the Disk Management (Right click on My Computer, click Manage,
click Disk Management), right click and delete all existing partitions
for the USB Flash stick. Now right click and create a partition that
uses the entire available space. Then format the drive FAT32 and go
from there.

Hi Nathan,

thanks for your reply. I tried out several times, it never worked.

The funny thing about it is, that sometimes, the drive doesn't even
appear neither in "my computer" nor in "My Computer/right click ->
Manage/click right -> Disk Management".

It appears when I use another USB port, but then the files/folders are
visible, but are not writable. When I then try to format (via ...-> Disk
management) the drive seems to be write protected. Anyway, the only
visible partition that can be deleted is ofm 128 MB size, not of 128 MB.
Weird.

/JP

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Disconnect the problem device and open the Registry Editor
(Start-Run-regedit). Navigate to HKLM\System\CCS\Enum\USB and look for
the folder containing information about the problematic device. Now
right click on the folder labeled Vid_Xxxx that contains the information
about the problematic device and click Permission. Allow full control
of the key, then right click on it and delete it. Now reboot and try
again.

You may also have permission problems (if you managed to format the
drive NTFS which can be done, but you would have to know what you were
doing). Don't forget to check the device itself and make sure it is not
write protected on the physical device.

 

[Jongo Pak]

Hi,

this worked so far, but the flash stick didn't cooperate: It tells me
about being write protected. The switch on the housing tells No write
protection.

So I tried some of the other advices:

I downloaded the vendors utilities for the stick and tried: under XP the
utility didn't even recognize that the device is plugged.

Under Win98 it was detected, but there was the write protection
complaint too.

So, believing this the stick is actually write protected, despite the
position of the housing switch (maybe the switch is defective? But Acer
shouldn't have such problems after 1 week NOT using the switch)

Anyway: The one time the formatting via XP disk manager worked (first or
second try), it did show only 118 of 128 MB to be available,
additionally I could only store 6 MB on it, then the "drive full" dialog
box popped up. Since then the device is "dead".

Hmph!

/JP

 

[Jongo Pak]

Not completely true! You can format the USB sticks with Windows. It should
be done has FAT.

However, you will need the manufacturer's utilities for diagnosing any other
problems.

I downloaded the vendors utilities for the stick and tried: under XP the
utility didn't even recognize that the device is plugged.

Under Win98 it was detected, but there was the write protection
complaint too.

So, I'm not sure whether the stick is actually write protected, since
the position of the housing switch tells No write protection (maybe the
switch is defective? But Acer shouldn't have such problems after 1 week
NOT using the switch)

Hmph!

/JP

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I would return it for a new one. With it being only 1 week old, there
is something seriously wrong with it. You should not be having any of
these problems.

 

[Jongo Pak]

Hi Nathan,

I'm afraid you're right. In between I tried to solve the issue on
another OS - with the same oucome.

Anyway: Thanks alot for your help: I've at least learned some more
things about Windows - It's never wrong to know more than yesterday.

/JP