Mp3 flash memory reduced capacity

November 20, 2005 5:21 PM

deleting files from an mp3 flash player has not returned the used memory, so the player now has less total memory, as if the files are still there but hidden. Anyone else experienced this and managed to repair it? Happened twice on different players, reformatting does not work!!
posted by ugrndhg to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

You should mention which brand the mp3 player is and which filesystem you're using, and also how old the flash cards are. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say the flash had developed defects and the on-card controller had disabled those areas, leaving you with less (but non-faulty, at least for the time being) memory.
posted by fvw at 5:54 PM on November 20, 2005

Can you plug it/them in and run a disk repair utility on it/them?
posted by misterbrandt at 5:58 PM on November 20, 2005

Dumb question: Did you delete it from within Windows while it was plugged into your USB port? If you did, empty the Recycle Bin and check again. (Yes, I speak from experience.)
posted by pmurray63 at 6:21 PM on November 20, 2005

I second the recycle bin. Especially if you switch between mac and windows. You can show hidden files and then empty the specific recycler on the card itself. (yes, also speaking from experience...)
posted by maelanchai at 10:37 PM on November 20, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks or the ideas, although not luck yet.
One of the mp3 layer is a Jens ibead, the other is just cheap, but both picked up the fault when deleting the files through windows explorer from a hp8220 laptop.
I've tried showing hidden files, emptying out the recycle bin and running windows disk repair utility to no effect. The properties of the drive shows the capacity as much less than it used to be. Maybe i need to find a utility that could reset the on card controller??
posted by ugrndhg at 4:46 AM on November 21, 2005