Hi guys!
Can someone help me with my problem.
I bought an 8gb generic USB flash drive called "MY FLASH" on ebay.
It was working fine until I couldn't erase the folders in it.
I had the brilliant idea to format it, worst decision of my life.
I couldn't get on it anymore or format it again until the guy who sold it to me , send me a format software, it worked but, now it's only a 32mb drive.
I've tried at least 4 softwares but still the same.
FAT, FAT32 or NTFS will only change a few available mb but it's stuck on 32mb.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Oldjazz.
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NEVER buy a drive off of e-bay unless you know it is a trusted seller. As for formatting, i'm not sure what to tell you.
Maybe try booting up a Linux live cd that includes GParted and attempt to format the flash drive using that.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Hmmm, does it say anywhere on the drive that it is 8gb?
sounds like someone sold you a hacked 32mb drive, made to appear to be 8gb.
until you try to use it.
just an idea, you might try utilities like SiSoft Sandra to see what they say the size of the drive is.
"Because they stand on a wall and say, 'Nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.'" (A Few Good Men)
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous.(Albert Einstein)
Yes, there's a sticker on it saying 8gb, I could read 8,536,324,144 before the formating and it was working fine until I tried to erase folders, it wouldn't just erased them, all the files inside the folders were gone but not the folder.
Which software do you suggest me to try, so I can maybe get my 8gb back?
If you want to see it, I just find there site and here is the exactly the same :
http://www.adata.com.tw/adata_fr/product_show.php?ProductNo=AP01ZZZSV
I bought two 4GB drives and both turned out to be 'only' 2GB. The problems you describe are one of the symptoms. From now on IF you ever buy one again on ebay, test it real good before leaving (positive) feedback.
The only solution that would restore the flash drive to its REAL capacity would be a low level format. I found 2 tools that would help. IF your flash drive is larger than 32 MB you might recover it, but it will NOT get you 8GB if the drive is NOT a 8GB drive.
I am being told almost ALL 8GB drives sold on ebay are 'fakes'. If you use a tool that will 'restore' your drive back to 8GB and it's not a real 8GB you will loose all data after you have reached the original capacity.
Best thing to do is send it back with registered mail and request a new one (which should be tested right away by a low level format) and you have 90 days buyer protection if you bought the item using paypal.
tbh. I kinda lost my faith in buying flash drives from certain parts of the world and you probably would have been better of buying the drive in a local shop.
Just remember IF you use a tool where you can choose the desired capacity you most likely NOT have the flash's real size.
From an earlier post where I noticed the drive reported a larger capacity than it actually was, I actually formatted it to get the real size so it was at least usable as a normal drive with less change of corrupt data from copying more than it can hold:
I found a reference to an application that FORMATS the USB Flash Drive and restores the USB stick to it's ORIGINAL size!! I managed to restore one of the two drives back to the actual 2GB size. I didn't get the other 'fixed' yet, but at least this is the real size.
http://cid-21f12bb61b822dfa.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Utilities...
I found another tool that was able to (low level?) format the other USB disk. It now also displays about 2GB storage size. Somehow the name of the tool reminds of "on Ebay"; it's called onbelay.
http://www.compuapps.com/download/Onbelay/onbelay.htm
WARNING: The reported size will be the (REAL) size of your USB Flash Drive!
Use at your own risk!
It says that it can't be formated but I can with the windows utility.
I'll try with the fdisk as said on the next comment.
Thanks anyway.
Thanks but for the OnBelay Ver 2.0, that's the only software that I could find to start it up again but only for 32mb.
If onebelay low level formats it to 32MB it might be the case that the flash is actually just a 32MB fake.
You're not the only one...
You could try all other suggestions but I'm 99% sure your drive is one of the many fakes sold on ebay.
Good reading:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ebay+fake+flash+drive
Here it is, the exactly the same as the one I've got :
http://www.adata.com.tw/adata_fr/product_show.php?ProductNo=AP01ZZZSV
You already gave us a link to this...why post it again?
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Because Logan post a long post and I want to be sure that the link would be seen.
BTW I went on the site to get there software and I get this message when I run it:
Device not found, even if I run it directly on the flash drive.
Mayahps this will help.
http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?s=bcbe64237733bc5dfde76...
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
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Okay, maybe not quite that big
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
Try the GParted LiveCD
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Can't find how this one is working?
I've downloaded the .iso and burned it un compress with nero.
Than what?
No .bat or .exe on it.
This is actually a linux distro that is designed to do one thing, and one thing well. To use it, boot your computer from it. If your machine's BIOS is not configured to read from the CD or DVD drive automatically, you may need to do this manually. On my Dell laptop, the boot menu can be accessed during startup by the F12 key; It may be different on your equipment. Look for a 'boot menu' prompt on startup or check your equipment's manual.
Once you boot into Gparted (GNU Partition Editor), the editor will examine any hard drives attached to your system. They will not have Windows style identifiers like C:, D:, or E:; drives in linux are identified as 'hdax' or 'sdax' where the x is a number. Internal hard drives are usually of the 'hda' type; often, USB drives will appear as 'sda' types. SELECT the RIGHT DRIVE or you can destroy your system! A usb drive will usually the highest number 'sda' drive, but not always. Check the reported drive size to make sure. Your regular hard drives will usually be much larger than the usb drive. Once you select the proper drive, you can resize, erase, and create partitions on the drive. Be aware that, except for U3 drives (weird stuff there!), Windows can only see one partition on a usb drive.
Hopefully, the above will get you started.
When it start I can read this:
Gnome partition editor
GParted-liveCD 3.4.4.10-Beta (Auto-configuration)
GParted-liveCD (Do X Configuration = mkxf86 config)
GParted-liveCD (auto-Configuration - nocaching = noejection)
GParted-liveCD (auto-Configuration - noapic - acpi=off)
GParted-liveCD (auto-Configuration and framebuffer)
GParted-liveCD (Boot off External - usb - cd:/dev/sr0)
GParted-liveCD macbook potion
GParted-liveCD force VESA driver
GParted-liveCD force I740 driver
GParted-liveCD force I810 driver
GParted-liveCD HP laptop (pci=config1)
GParted-liveCD HP laptop (pci=config2)
GParted-liveCD HP laptop (pci=config3)
Boot MBR on first hard drive
Boot Partition #1 on first hard drive
Boot Partition #2 on first hard drive
Boot Partition #3 on first hard drive
Boot Partition #4 on first hard drive
Boot MBR on second hard drive
Boot Partition #1 on the second hard drive
So as you can see I can't find any of the HDA or SDA.
got any clues?
Ebay guide on fake flash drives
This is one thing I would NEVER buy on eBay.
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan
It was not a fake, it worked for his 8gb until I've formated it.
which means it very well could have been fake. People are capable of hacking drives to make them appear larger than they really are. Then when you formatted the stick, their hack was removed, so you are now seeing the REAL size.
Taken directly from the article that you must not have read:
More than 95% of all 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB USB Flash Drives listed on eBay are counterfeit items and have fake & overstated capacities. All 32GB USB Flash Drives are mostly FAKE.
- They were reprogrammed from much smaller cousins 512MB, 1GB, 2GB capacity drives for quick profit!
- Don't be foolish thinking you got a "CHEAP 4GB / 8GB / 16GB" deal, in fact you were paying for a "VERY EXPENSIVE 1GB / 2GB" hacked sticks. The sellers are laughing their way to the bank!
- Most of the well-known branded counterfeits even have brand new packaging, serial numbers like a real mccoy.
Simply stated, just because it looked official, does not mean it is. There are some people out there with malicious intent, that will do anything just to make profit for themselves. I'm sorry that you seem to have found one of them.
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Did you read the article?
There is no way your drive could have been a 8Gb and then all of the sudden only have 32Mb capacity on it. The drive would not fail simply because you formatted it, if it was genuine.
I am sorry you got duped, I really am. If you want a good value on flash drives online, I would try buy.com or newegg.com.
Life is about the journey not the destination!
The Kazoo Spartan