359Mb used on empty 1Gb jump drive

[godai73]

I have been using a 1 Gb Scan disk jump drive for about a year now and had no problem with it. Today, I plug it into my computer and it shows that 359Mb is used even though there is nothing on it. I made sure hidden files are shown on my computer, but can not find anything on it. I plugged it into my work laptop and it shows the same thing. I do not want to format it because I do not know how that would affect the jump drive. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[poorman]

A format shouldn't do any harm to it unless directions say not to. I think it is just file fragments from deletes.

 

[sPlAtOiD]

Hey

Yes format it.You should format it every once in a while.

 

[Apokalipse]

just do a quick format, not a full format

 

[shdwsclan]

You could have hidden files turned off in your operating system....
In windows, its under folder option.
In mac, there is a terminal command, but tinkertool is better...
I use kde, so i dont know much about how to make it show in gnome....i suggest using ls -laf....

If that is not the case, then there is currrupt data on your memory device. There is high probablility that your memory device uses substandard korean memory chips, as in the case of XD cards.

If you want to recover that data, there is some software that will allow you to recover the damaged files.

Otherwise, just format it.
The problem is that this could be cascade failure, and this may not be the first time your gonna get this error....

 

[Jorsoft]

This happens to my thumb drives after a while, I believe it's just fragments or maybe hidden files, etc. Just do the Quick Format and you'll be fine in about 5 seconds. Formatting with FAT (rather than FAT32 or NTFS) for thumdrives seems to makes this kind of thing occur much less frequently, I've found.