STRANGE - 16 GB flash drive only holds about 5 GB of .AVI

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lily
  • Start date Start date
L

Lily

I have a 16 GB Flash Voyager Flashdrive by Corsair which works
perfectly... except that I just discovered that I can't put 16 GB of
..avi on it. I even cleaned it and reformatted (it is FAT32) but it
only seems to hold about 5+ GB. I haven't found the exact amount
because I only know it can't take about 11 GB since that is the total
of 3 files that I am trying to put on it.

I just get a message that essentially says there isn't room.

Does anyone know what this is about???

thanks
 
Lily said:
I have a 16 GB Flash Voyager Flashdrive by Corsair which works
perfectly... except that I just discovered that I can't put 16 GB of
.avi on it. I even cleaned it and reformatted (it is FAT32) but it
only seems to hold about 5+ GB. I haven't found the exact amount
because I only know it can't take about 11 GB since that is the total
of 3 files that I am trying to put on it.

I just get a message that essentially says there isn't room.

Does anyone know what this is about???

thanks
Click to expand...
FAT can only store max 4+ a bit Gb file size! Try formatting as NTFS!

Mike.
 
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt "Lily said:
I have a 16 GB Flash Voyager Flashdrive by Corsair which works
perfectly... except that I just discovered that I can't put 16 GB of
.avi on it. I even cleaned it and reformatted (it is FAT32) but it
only seems to hold about 5+ GB. I haven't found the exact amount
because I only know it can't take about 11 GB since that is the total
of 3 files that I am trying to put on it.

I just get a message that essentially says there isn't room.

Does anyone know what this is about???

thanks
Click to expand...
Try putting the biggest file on first and see how much space the file is
taking on the drive. I suspect the files take up *much* more space than
you think they actually do.

Different drive storage methods (and things like FAT tables) allow for
differing amounts of actual storage when it comes to various sized
files. Usually you run into this sort of problem on *small* files
taking up far more space than the actual file-size, but ....

Also, make *sure* you delete the old files before copying new ones over
them. That often gets people when running on limited space.

Copy the files *one at a time* not in one big XCOPY (or worse-yet,
Windows copy). After each one, make sure there aren't any temp files
left over from the previous copy.

ALSO: When you delete files from the drive, *EMPTY THE PROTECTED FILE
BIN*. When copying BIG files like that, the file-protection can't get
the old "protected" files out of the way fast enough to allow you to
store the new ones. Preferably, empty the old protected file-bin, TURN
OFF protection, delete any files on the drive, and THEN copy the new
ones over ... one at a time.
 
Try putting the biggest file on first and see how much space the file is
taking on the drive. I suspect the files take up *much* more space than
you think they actually do.
Click to expand...

I've tried that. Properties say that the files are a certain size.
Different drive storage methods (and things like FAT tables) allow for
differing amounts of actual storage
Click to expand...

I don't have any choices other than FAT32 for formating this disk drive.
But now that I think about it, I have never tested the size capability of
this flash drive.

I deleted the old files and even reformatted. How much more can I do??
Copy the files *one at a time* not in one big XCOPY (or worse-yet,
Windows copy). After each one, make sure there aren't any temp files
left over from the previous copy.
Click to expand...

I don't see any temp copies. Nothing but the files I have dragged and
dropped
onto the drive.

ALSO: When you delete files from the drive, *EMPTY THE PROTECTED FILE
BIN*.
Click to expand...

I don't see any bin. NONE. nada
Properties shows used 8,192 bytes, Free space: 16,224,452,608 bytes.
Not sure what else to look at.

When copying BIG files like that, the file-protection can't get
 
Lily said:
I've tried that. Properties say that the files are a certain size.


I don't have any choices other than FAT32 for formating this disk drive.
But now that I think about it, I have never tested the size capability of
this flash drive.

I deleted the old files and even reformatted. How much more can I do??

I don't see any temp copies. Nothing but the files I have dragged and
dropped
onto the drive.



I don't see any bin. NONE. nada
Properties shows used 8,192 bytes, Free space: 16,224,452,608 bytes.
Not sure what else to look at.

When copying BIG files like that, the file-protection can't get
Click to expand...

------------

eBay just went through a period where scammers were selling purportedly
large flash drives at great prices. It turns out that somehow they
manipulated the flash drives to show that they possessed a larger capacity
than they actually had. Lots of folks got scammed.

Ed Cregger
 
Ed Cregger said:
large flash drives at great prices. It turns out that somehow they
manipulated the flash drives to show that they possessed a larger capacity
than they actually had. Lots of folks got scammed.
Click to expand...

I bought mine from reliable vendor (NewEgg).
 
I have discovered file size is critical. Even with FAT32,
I am now up to 6.87. I'm not sure what the size limitation
is for file. I know it won't take a 4 GB file. Still experimenting.
 
I have discovered file size is critical. Even with FAT32,
I am now up to 6.87. I'm not sure what the size limitation
is for file. I know it won't take a 4 GB file. Still experimenting.
Click to expand...

Run Scandisk or whatever utility is appropriate for your OS.

Otherwise I'd take a snapshot of the critical system areas using a
disc editor. In particular I'd look at the Boot Parameter Block and,
if it is partitioned, the MBR.

If it is partitioned, I'd type the following at a DOS prompt:

fdisk /status

To dump the contents of the MBR (the first sector of the drive) I'd
use MBRtool.

DOS Debug can be used to retrieve the BPB.

Depending on your OS, Scandisk can check the integrity of your file
system. The BPB contains an entry that records the free space on the
drive. This entry needs to be updated to match the free space recorded
in the FATs. If the machine is switched off before this can be done,
then the system may think that it has less space than it really has.

- Franc Zabkar
 
Back
Top