flash memory size changed after format!!!

[romeo_8693]

i bought a flash based mp3 player of 512mb size.the 1st day i plug it in the comp shows 497mb of space and trasnfer few files.evrything is fine .i listen to songs.the next day i plug it in the usb,i cant upload any other songs.all it says is drive H not formatted,format now?yes or no?.since im not able to upload any futher file i say yes.to my utter shock the disk formetter shows the flash capacity ti be 245mb only!!!!i go on with format as i had no other choice....now the question is,how the memory size changed frm 497mb to 245mb??(the comp did show 497mb on 1st instance) secondly is there any way i can get back my memory space?? please help!!!

[h_kunte]

Even my mp3 player used to show me 497 MB at first (for about 4 months) but now has suddenly started showing me 496 MB...I tried formatting the disk but I still dont see any bad sectors...Someone please help...

HK

[mangemayur]

Hay guys, if i m not wrong then Flash drives does not have sectors...

[romeo_8693]

mangemayur Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 3:14 pm
Hay guys, if i m not wrong then Flash drives does not have sectors...

by the way even my player while formatting with a 3rd party formatter showed that there were sectors.

[mangemayur]

Romeo.. just have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory

my understanding was from this site
the sector funda comes when something is stored on a track (i.e optical Discs or Magnetic media).. and flash memory does not belong to this group hence i said "Flash drives does not have sectors"... but if u have any info other than this .. pls let all of us know abt that

[khandu]

dude if u bought that cheap chinese make.. dont worry it will keep on reducing.. they are utter nonsense..

Go for those iball/yes expandable memory ones.. hardly 3500 rs. with inbuilt 256 MB and expand upto 2 GB..

neways my friend bought 256 MB mp4 and once formatted came down to 120 MB .. lol

[romeo_8693]

khandu's is most satisfactory explaination.tnx

[Kniwor]

@mangemayur
A sector is a very general word and can be used anywhere, u have no privilage of defining a sector.
Flash memory has sectors, ald the page u provided the link to also agrees with the fact, just read carefully, if ur understanding comes from there, there sud be no doubt.


@romeo_8693
it is possible that ur memory had 2 parts each 256Mb each and now one of them has gone bad leaving only 256 Mb of space.
that might be because of what khandu said

[~Phenom~]

Hi guys. I have recently bought a kingston 1GB pen drive but it shows only 978 MB space. Is there some problem in the drive or is it normal?

[Kniwor]

Originally Posted by ~Phenom~

Hi guys. I have recently bought a kingston 1GB pen drive but it shows only 978 MB space. Is there some problem in the drive or is it normal?

it's normal

[~Phenom~]

ok thanx

[romeo_8693]

@Kniwor
so is there any way i can get that space back.repair or somethin??

[Kniwor]

Originally Posted by romeo_8693

@Kniwor
so is there any way i can get that space back.repair or somethin??

i dont think, if u had some warranty, claim it.

[Charan]

@romeo_8693 i guess u have windows 2000 installed in your computer. I had trouble once in my mp3 player. i inserted into a comp with win2000 installed, and removed the player before unmounting it! all data was lost. this doesnt happen with XP.Later i did a auto system check on my player and i recovered all the space.

PS: please give details about your player(Make/model)

[romeo_8693]

i have xp pro n xp home edition sp1.on both it shows 245mb.though before i did show 497!my mp3 make is sony(the cheap chinese one!!!!)

[khandu]

dont u guys understand..

NVER buy chinese flash players.. u will loose MBs...

[sms_solver]

I have noticed that 1 mb of space is always lost after first format.
If 1 mb is lost with each quick format, then perform normal format, the size will be restored.

Normally, USB 256MB Flash drive has around 243MB to 252MB size, and 512MB will have around 486MB to 502MB.

Buy original Kingston or SanDisk USB 2.0 High Speed Flash drive. Other cheap USB 2.0 high speed is good for transferring large files, but not good for transferring many small files.