Why is my USB storage device lying to me??
December 17, 2006 2:33 AM Subscribe
Why is my USB storage device lying to me??
I've got a 128MB disgo USB storage device - stick/key, if you like - which I've been using for about 3 years now, on both Macs and PCs, without any problems.
However, it is telling me there is only 85MB available on the device. Even though there are no files on the stick, and it even says 'used space 39KB', it says there is only 85 meg of space. WHAAAAT?
How can I get my extra space back? I know it's not a big deal but it's annoying me because I like using the stick to transfer photos, music, etc on an (obviously) small scale, and can't now, because 85 meg is pretty pathetic.
I've got a 128MB disgo USB storage device - stick/key, if you like - which I've been using for about 3 years now, on both Macs and PCs, without any problems.
However, it is telling me there is only 85MB available on the device. Even though there are no files on the stick, and it even says 'used space 39KB', it says there is only 85 meg of space. WHAAAAT?
How can I get my extra space back? I know it's not a big deal but it's annoying me because I like using the stick to transfer photos, music, etc on an (obviously) small scale, and can't now, because 85 meg is pretty pathetic.
Did you delete any files off the USB drive lately? I've noticed that I get my filespace back when I actually empty the Recycle Bin.
posted by divabat at 3:27 AM on December 17, 2006
posted by divabat at 3:27 AM on December 17, 2006
I use an usb stick on a Mac and had the same problem - until I emptied the Trash while the usb stick was plugged into the computer. Voilà!
posted by amf at 5:11 AM on December 17, 2006
posted by amf at 5:11 AM on December 17, 2006
My SD card does this when I dump pictures off of it into Vista. Like Divabat said, it seems to be a recycle bin issue of some sort even though there is no visible file on the device. The solution is to reformat it.
posted by jtoth at 5:14 AM on December 17, 2006
posted by jtoth at 5:14 AM on December 17, 2006
Stick it in a PC and delete the .trashes folder. If you can find a way of doing it without using the PC, tell me!
posted by Lebannen at 5:36 AM on December 17, 2006
posted by Lebannen at 5:36 AM on December 17, 2006
Yeah, this is probably OS X's fault. When you delete files from the USB drive via Finder, the deleted files are stored in a Trash bin on the USB drive, though you have no way of knowing this because Finder doesn't show you a Trash bin on the drive--the files appear in the normal Trash bin on the dock. And to get that space back, you have to mount the USB drive and empty the trash via Finder, which of course empties everything in the Trash, both USB and any other disks that are mounted.
I find it horribly confusing and so downright cryptic behavior.
posted by cyclopticgaze at 6:06 AM on December 17, 2006
I find it horribly confusing and so downright cryptic behavior.
posted by cyclopticgaze at 6:06 AM on December 17, 2006
I had this problem frequently when I would move my USB drive between my Mac (at home) and a PC (at work). Even if the trash bin was empty on the Finder, I would have no space on my drive. Eventually I'd have to copy everything off it and then reformat it - I never found a better way to fix it.
posted by Lucinda at 6:46 AM on December 17, 2006
posted by Lucinda at 6:46 AM on December 17, 2006
If that doesn't work, spend $15 on a new 512MB stick.
How about $15 for a 4GB stick? Okay, so that includes a large mail in rebate, but the point still remains that these things have gotten incredibly cheap and slogging it out with a tiny 128MB model is equivalent to saying "my time is worth absolutely nothing."
posted by Rhomboid at 10:48 AM on December 17, 2006
How about $15 for a 4GB stick? Okay, so that includes a large mail in rebate, but the point still remains that these things have gotten incredibly cheap and slogging it out with a tiny 128MB model is equivalent to saying "my time is worth absolutely nothing."
posted by Rhomboid at 10:48 AM on December 17, 2006
i had the same problem- luckliy, it's easy to solve and requires no computer savvy. divabat is right....
1. put the stick in
2. delete all the files on the stick
3. *empty the trash on your computer*
4. eject the stick.
voila!
posted by twistofrhyme at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2006
1. put the stick in
2. delete all the files on the stick
3. *empty the trash on your computer*
4. eject the stick.
voila!
posted by twistofrhyme at 2:00 PM on December 17, 2006
I find it horribly confusing and so downright cryptic behavior.
You just need to remember that when you drag something to the Trash, the copy shown in the Trash is still stored on the drive it was originally on.
It's the better of two evils. The alternative is that when you delete something from the card, it instead gets copied to the hard disk, which could be slow and lead to privacy/security issues.
posted by cillit bang at 3:10 PM on December 17, 2006
You just need to remember that when you drag something to the Trash, the copy shown in the Trash is still stored on the drive it was originally on.
It's the better of two evils. The alternative is that when you delete something from the card, it instead gets copied to the hard disk, which could be slow and lead to privacy/security issues.
posted by cillit bang at 3:10 PM on December 17, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by flabdablet at 2:40 AM on December 17, 2006