I did something dumb, have I screwed up my USB key / flash drive??

October 20, 2007 12:27 AM

I did something dumb, have I screwed up my USB key / flash drive??

I bought a 4 gig USB key not long ago, and it cost me $50 so I'd rather not throw it in the bin if I can help it, but recently I did something rather stupid... I'd set a password for the key using the in-built password protection software, and then I went and deleted the password program when it wouldn't run on another computer.

So now of course when I load up the drive it tells me it's only a 10Mb disk (the amount of un-passworded space), and a complete format just results in the same 10Mb.

I've googled and searched on Metafilter (only relevant post I could find was this one which didn't really give an answer) and I'm completely stumped! Does anyone know how I can get my 4 gig of space back, most likely by finding some way to do a complete format of the entire usb key? It doesn't matter if I lose the data as I can replace it from my hard-drive.

A huge thank you in advance for any help you can give!! I'm at my wits end with this one.

posted by katala to computers & internet (9 answers total)

The make and model of the flash drive would be good to know, as would the name of the software, as there are several different ways that a flash drive can be password protected. Is it, perhaps, a SanDisk drive with that U3 mojo?
posted by mumkin at 12:49 AM on October 20, 2007

If you still know the password it shouldn't be a problem to locate the manufacturer's homepage and look for a download link. Maybe you can contact them by mail or phone. Rest assured you're most certainly not the first one to delete the password protection software, so they will probably offer a download somewhere.
posted by Nightwind at 1:23 AM on October 20, 2007

Hp makes a format tool that wipes the crap (ie the partition tables I think) out of your usb drive and restores it to its original (pre-software state).

You can grab it here. When you run the application, you have the choice to make your USB drive bootable, set it to your liking.
posted by phyrewerx at 2:11 AM on October 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

Assuming you don't actually care about the data or the password feature, you can just repartition and wipe it out. You do that in Disk Management after plugging the USB key in. But that will erase any data on it. (right click My Computer, choose Manage, go to Disk Management.)

If you want the data back, or the ability to use encrypted data, you'll probably have to download the software again. If you just repartition/reformat it, it will become a normal, 4gb memory stick with no extra features.
posted by Malor at 3:00 AM on October 20, 2007

Yeah, just reformat.
posted by rhizome at 10:26 AM on October 20, 2007

Malor's suggestion will definitely work. Just be extra careful you're repartitioning the correct drive. It's surprisingly easy for the clumsy among us to accidentally wipe out the partitions on our C: drive, for example.
posted by zixyer at 10:30 AM on October 20, 2007

Format through the GUI (right-click on drive and select format). If that doesnt do it I think this will work:

format /FS:FAT32 DRIVELETTER

obviously replace DRIVELETTER with the drive letter of your flashdrive. Double-check this letter before you attempt this.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:47 PM on October 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Err, do what Malor says. Didnt think of partitions.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:47 PM on October 20, 2007

I got it working, thank you thank you thank you all very much!!! :)

First I tried Nightwind's suggestion of re-installing the password protection software - why didn't I think of that?!? I was able to unlock the drive then with my password. Then to be safe I also repartitioned the drive using Malor's suggestion. Now it's working perfectly and I'm copying my files back onto it.

I'm very stoked to have my USB key back, thank you once again :)!
posted by katala at 10:10 PM on October 20, 2007