USB memory stick gone from 4GB to 1.3GB!?

[adramshaw]

hi there.

A month or two ago i used my USB mem. stick to copy across ubuntu onto an ASUS eeepc.

I remember doing certain formatting things, etc. with the program to allow me to copy it all across, and i think the OS was about 2.7GB.

It all went fine, and i could use ubuntu booting off the USB stick. Since then, i've sold it and left the stick with me.

Now, i'd like to use the mem stick for something else, but it says its total capacity is 1.3gb. I thought this would be due to partitioning or formatting or something, yet when i right click to format, it just says the max size is 1.3gb!!

Is there anything i can do to restore it to a 4GB size!? I dont have the eeepc anymore, so can't try formatting on that.

[dahlarbear]

If you have access to a Windows XP system you might try solution III from BEFORE posting flash drive problems.

Or How do you format a USB flash drive under Windows XP?.

Basically they are both suggesting you use Disk Manager utility of Windows XP to repartition and format the USB flash drive.  All data currently on the flash drive will probably be lost if you do this.  You should give some thought as to which file system you want to use, FAT (aka FAT16), FAT32, or NTFS.  If you want different file system for use with other operating systems, I guess you'll have to format it somewhere else.