memory stick

[mrspirite]

i'm a bit confused as to why my 16gb memory stick has nothing on it,according to properties,i only have 11.9gb of space,and 3.03gb is in use.how can this be when the stick appears empty..please help.

[RATTER15]

I think your stick will have software preinstalled so your PC will recognise it, however 3.03 does sound like a lot of space has been taken up!

[mrspirite]

it has been fine up till last few times ive used it,then it is gradually getting less and less space on it.it seems like last 3 times ive used it,it has lost 1gb of space each time.

[ChuckFickens]

Format it if you are sure there is nothing you need on it, you may have some hidden files left on it.

[mrspirite]

im a bit thick when it comes to computers,how do i format it.dont even know what it means.

[ChuckFickens]

Plug it in, goto my computer (or computer if vista/windows7) right click on the memory stick and select format, click OK

(Be very very sure you are right clicking on the memory stick, and not any other drive in your computer)

[VHG]

Does the Windows recycle bin also include files on the memory stick?

In other words when you delete a file off a memory stick does Windows "hide" it so it appears in the normal recycle bin?

This is a genuine question, I dont know if it does or not.

[ChuckFickens]

Normally a USB memory stick would not have a recycle bin and files deleted from it are instantly deleted straight away. (Though USB hard drives normally do have a recycle bin)

the difference is that most (pretty much all) USB memory sticks have a "removable media bit" set in the device descriptor on the controller whereas external hard drives are seen local drives.

You can easily check, plug a USB memory stick in, then right click on the recycle bin and select properties and if the drive has the removable media bit set on it then it will not show as an extra tap on the recycle bin properties. Plug an external hard drive in and most will show as an extra tab in the properties.

[ChuckFickens]

I obviously meant "extra tab" not an "extra tap"

[beso]

The descrepancy is due to a difference in the measurement units.

Drives are measured in Gigabytes which is 10^9 bytes.
Windows measures in Gibibytes which is 2^30 which is a significantly larger number.

Consequently Windows only reports about 93 percent of the capacity rated in Gigabytes. A 16GB drive shows in Windows as 14.9 GB which is almost exactly what you see.

[beso]

The reason for the difference in units is historical.

When computers started out memory was very small. It reached 2^10 which was 1028. Some bright spark thought of calling it a kilobyte because it was close to 10^3. The error was less than three percent. However taken to 10^30 for the giga scale this error compounded and people begin to notice the big difference.

The SI unit has been misued and the boffins in charge have decreed it as such. They offered kibibyte, mibibyte, gibibyte etc as alternatives. Windows should call their unit gibibytes. They use the GB abbreviation in sizing drives but the correct abbreviation is GiB. In some views you can see the bytes and will notice the difference.

However the old usage, particularly as it is supported by Windows still prevails except in drives where they manufacturer want to use the biggest number they can.

[beso]

Typo above:

2^10 is 1024

[ChuckFickens]

Doesn't really explain the 3.03gb being used though.

[mrspirite]

thank you all.just formatted it,and whatever it was has gone.back to 15gb space.thanx again.

[beso]

Flash memory does wear out with multiple cycles. Good drives manage the use and ensure it is spread out over the entire hardware. Others continually rewrite the same place and lead to premature loss of storage capacity.

Flash drives will wear out faster if you work on files stored on them because of the multiple saves. Always copy your work to the hard drive and then back to the flash drive when finished.

[AlBags]

Doesn't solve the problem tho, does it?

It must have been filling up for some reason.
There are viruses and malware that can affect plug-in drives, and will install something on root of the drive.
Anther reason is back-ups of some kind set to store on that drive ...
or data for a program installed.
Best to look at the content, really to establish what it is first!