5gb usb dongle which is really 8gb

[Detector]

I recently bought a photography magazine which had 2 free usb 5gb memory sticks with it, but on closer inspection on the back of them it says 8gb. now when I plug them into my pc, a 5gb partition comes up and then a new cd drive pops up with some educational vids which I'm guessing is the other 3gb

any idea how I can re partition these back to 8gb and get rid of the autorunning drive that's been set up in the other partition (hidden).

ive tried a few things but I cannot get these to format back to 8gb and get rid of the other hidden drive partition in the process
any help appreciated

[MHP]

Have you tried this http://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk...-10974082.html

I used this to re format some USB sticks that had Linux on them for an 02 Joggler.

If that fails then formatting them in Linux may be the answer.

This also may help http://www.pendrivelinux.com/restori...key-partition/

[Detector]

yes mate first thing I tried, I'm currently tinkering with diskpart, I can see the cdrom partition/volume in diskpart but it will not remove a volume from removeable media.

[Detector]

nope still same, the partition is hidden

[MHP]

If none of those work then I'm afraid it sounds like the virtual CD drive partition is embedded within the firmware of the drive...

[Detector]

but I can see the cd part as a volume in diskpart but it wont allow removing volumes on removable media.
something has happened because the volume is now raw and moved to volume 1

[MHP]

So the hidden partition is now raw but the partition still exists?

[Detector]

its not actually a partition which I thought it was, ive used Linux to check and it sees the other 3gb with the cdrom files within but I cannot format it as it says its read only.
in diskpart I cannot delete the volume as it will not allow volume deletion on removable devices so I'm guessing I'm stuck with them at 5gb

diskpart loaded up and now it says raw at the side of the cdrom volume, but the cdrom still works when I plug the drive back into my pc. a cddrive pops up and also the 5gb usb drive so I'm not sure what to try next

[Mule]

Is it really worth all the effort? Those things are basically free apart from postage.

[Mickey]

cant you use a low lvl format program to sector wipe the usb


ill research it over the weekend

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-...l-Format-Tool/

quick google

ive used similar utils which have done what I needed but for reverse logic as they were spoofed drives with higher capacities claimed

[JonEp]

Try this Det.

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

[Detector]

tried that jon

[Detector]

@ mule, yeah when you got 2 sat around doing nowt

cheers mickey will try

[MHP]

If you can find out the controller chip inside (try pulling the casing off) then these may help. http://www.flashdrive-repair.com/

[mitchb]

Ive used mini partition wizard to do similar on a SD card, worth a shot.

http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Pa...-10962200.html

[andmor]

This thread looks like someone with a similar problem.. software mentioned that may be able to read the chip info of the usb, which is then used to determine the right software to format it

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/i...?topic=38097.0

[piggzy]

Seem like sooooo much trouble for a five quid dongle !!!!

[MHP]

Seem like sooooo much trouble for a five quid dongle !!!!

That's not the point matey. Its to see if it can be done or not done. Either way we all learn and the journey can be enlightening.

[doughboy]

That's not the point matey. Its to see if it can be done or not done. Either way we all learn and the journey can be enlightening.

Indeed, name the photo mag please.

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire2 using Tapatalk

[Detector]

Digital photo mag November 2015 edition, little rubber usb pen free gift with it. on the back of the pen it states 8gb so the pen was at one time 8gb, it has since been set us with either a virtual drive or partition, but all the software ive tried tells me that there are neither