How do you Format a RAW USB Flash Drive under WinXP

hi. i also have the same problem.mine is a sony vaio 1GB usb flash. the problem with my device is that the files gets corrupted everytime. When I go to computer management, there is a 1GB partition and a unallocated 127GB! I guess that's the root of the problem since the device is recognized as having 128GB in total. Then I deleted the 1GB partition...and as a result, I have an unallocated 128GB. I can't partition and format it anymore. When I tried killdisk and other software, I figured that the firmware might be busted. If you look at the image, the version is %z!Y. Where can I download a flash utility that will udpate the firmware for my sony vaio 1gb usb flash? Thanks! I really need help with this. thanks!

i have an LG flashdrive, and whenever i plug it in, it says "please insert a disk into drive F". the first time i used on my pc, it was working fine, and after my friend returned it to me, it was giving this message, although it detects the usb but when i try to open it from my computer, this is what happens.
i tried the method which you mentioned but it doesnt work, after pressing F10 and enter, it doesnt give me any instructions, but i went to the administrative tools, and then disk management, on right clicking, it has no format option
what to do? please tell me and in an easy way

nooooooo there isnt!!!
what am I supposed to do?

that's what stickies are for!

what to do????? if there is no option of partition :S????????

if you have read and followed everything the sticky says, then your usb is junk. Toss it.

Flash Memory with half memory space after formatted

I accidentally formatted my Mp3(1gb) player in Windows Xp. And now it have just 512mb of memory available, I have no idea how the disk space diminished, I would like to know where is the other 512mb and how can I recover that. Thanks a lot.

yup, but I still don't want to lose hope. I strongly believe that a firmware update will fix the version and thus the actual size of the unpartitioned space. All we have to do is find the firmware update.

welp - if you're successfull - let everyone know, so we can add it to the sticky.

plz post any such drivers for kingston...

have kingston 128 mb usb 2 flash data traveler. once formatted on xp and the capacity reduced to 120 mb and then to 119 mb.
tried all things to regain the lost capacity. nothing works out.
tried active killdisk, diskeeper lite, disk management, format, partitioning utilities, u name it.
just havent got the "drivers" to regain my lost drive capcity from kingston.
if anyone has such a driver, can u plsz post it here for download or email me...
any reply appreciated,
thanks.

also had emailed kingston customer services, havnt got their email...

i forgot to mention that my 128 mb kingston worked fine in 98 se with full 128 mb. On xp, all hell broke loose... xp said- it cant read any data and format it. So, formatted it. then it all went like 128 -> 120 -> 119 mb. Now i have stopped formatting as i am tired of formatting and it stays the same 119 mb (thank god, no reductions now...)
IS THERE ANY RELATION THAT 98 SOLVES THE PROBLEM AND XP CREATES SUCH A PROBLEM ON USB DRIVES ??? will soon try on 98 machine again at my computer class. If it solves the problemm, i will post it here.

Man you rock

I run on this forum while tyring to find solution for my USB 128mb. I accidentaly forgot it in a PC and turned it off!!

When i wanted to acces it again all my data was lost and i couldnt format it.

I managed to recover my data using this tool http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm It is awesome very user friendly and it works perfect. After trying ****loads of data recovery tools and dos programs it helped me in no time.

After that i wanted to use my USb again and you ppl kicked in to help


Thank you very much

Regards

Thank you thank you it worked great I now have my flash drive back.....

Fixing USB disks using Linux Bootabl CDs

I've had these same problems in the past. I figured out a way to fix most of them using some simple tools found on most free Linux bootable disks. I wrote up the steps on my blog at http://linuxactivist.blogspot.com/2006/08/linux-tip-resurrecting-broken-usb.html

Be aware that using killdisk will most likely lead to deleting system files on the device you are formatting. Many of these system files may not be recovered since killdisk (depending on version) will erase write-protected clusters and if not will skip clusters until it has done its job. The device is then a RAW system which can be formatted on XP under disk management. I would not recommend using killdisk unless the drive cannot be formatted by partitions using windows disk management formatting.

Depending on the device too, you will be able to find it's system files online incase you have deleted them completely. This is completely different procedure.

My Solution

Ok, So I pulled out my flash drive after I was working on it and the program I was using locked up and would not close after clicking "end now" various times..

When I reinserted the drive it was detected, mounted and given a drive letter G:

However, When I went to open it, it would say Incorrect Function. So I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled, tried to format, would always say format failed, the disk may be bad/whatever...

Tried most of the utilities, nothing could find my drive, tried the disk manager thing and the delete partition option was greyed out, Tried everything that I saw mentioned in the first 2 pages.

What worked for me, CHKDSK !!!

If you dont know how to run this, here is a quick rundown..

Start > Run > CMD (press enter or click ok)
In the emulated dos window now type
chkdsk e: /f

Assuming your disk is e, Change this accordingly to what your flash drive letter is..

Chkdsk does a scan for Lost Chains, essentially corrupt crap..

worked for me, hopefully it will work for you

I have an mp3 player with 2G I have formated it with Win XP and now I can only see 128M of memory available. When I open it in the XP Disk Manager I can format it but I can't remove the partition nor do I see another partition there. The 128M works fine but I really want back my 2G, any ideas ?
I saw some suggestions to use KillDisk, I tried it but it won't recognize my disk.
Any other suggestions ?

This worked for me

Ok here we go.

1. Reboot with your xp cd.

2. Delete all partitions on your flash drive (do not delete the ones on you normal harddrives ).

3. Create a new partition with the exact number of mbs your flash drive can handle (eg. 2gb is 2048mb) it will say its unable to format just ignore that.

4. Then exit and reboot to XP.

5. Use the diskmanagement tool in administrative tools to format your flash drive (I used FAT32).

Hope this works for you

Thx everyone else here on the board for your tips