rade Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hi all, and thanks in advance for any replies. I have spent ages searching through forums (this one included) but can't find any suggestions... STORY... So I was given a Flash Voyager (64GB) a few months ago and have been very happy with it. I believe it was formatted as FAT32. The other day I mounted an ubuntu live distro to my device - an .img using the "Linux USB Image Writer" to install on my netbook. (install subsequently failed with gfx errors, but that's another issue...) Anyway, having given up on the idea of linux, i wanted my 64GB usb back... PROBLEM: Windows will not format my drive... the format disk utility recognises the drive name, but no option can be selected in the file system drop down, thus the drive cannot be formatted. I have since used the HP "Drive Key" utility to format the drive but only using the NTFS file system can I produce a working 64GB drive. If (using the same utility) I try to format as FAT32 (my preferred choice for compatibility), I can only get 32 Gigs out of it, whereas originally I had 64 as FAT32... Does anyone know a way of formatting the drive as FAT32 with 64GB? I have read the windows utility may have its limitations with regard to this sort of thing, but it at least worked before. And yes I have removed the drive/rebooted several times. Again, thanks in advance for any replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted May 20, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted May 20, 2009 Please use the Fat32format Utility found here and it should bring the drive back to its original state then you can change the properties in device manager to non-removable and format the drive to NTFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rade Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Thanks for the reply, this site seems to be the answer to my problem, but I can't seem to do what it says... I open the disk management utility as instructed, but (now feeling utterly stupid) can't follow the next step "right-click unallocated space and select new partition". I have checked the relevant MS support page and it says to do the same thing. When i right click anywhere on any of the disks there is no option to create a new partition (I am the only user on this PC and have administrator privileges). I have attached a screenshot so you can see what I see. I know the instructions you gave me were straightforward, so I know it sounds dumb to say "I don't know where to click" but its true! Again, thanks for the reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Buxton Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hi, Most likely there are two partitions (as Linux will probably have added a Swap partition). Since you have a netbook I assume there is no CD/DVD drive? If you have access to a computer with Linux, or if you can otherwise run Gparted, then if my assumption is correct; you can delete the Swap partition and then either expand the remaining partition or reformat the whole drive as FAT 32. Other partitioning programs will do just as well as Gparted - I looked at your image but I'm not familiar with that program so have no idea about its facilities. Let us know how you get on? My regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted May 20, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted May 20, 2009 And with flash drives they will sometimes reserve a small portion of the drive but if you run that utility it should allow you to do a full format of the drive in Fat32 and bring it back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rade Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hi Guys, So I have managed to get my flash voyager up to 64GB under FAT32, but it was a bit of a mission... So having used HP's Drive Key utility to format the drive as 64GB NTFS, I ended up downloading a program called Paragon Partition Manager 9.0, which was only able to format about 4GB of the drive as FAT32, leaving the rest as un-partitioned space (go figure...). Then, using the same utility I was able to "redistribute free space" which essentially merged the 4(ish)GB partition with the remaining empty space, ultimately resulting in a 64GB FAT32 partition. Mission! I haven't had a chance to test the speed, but I'm guessing it'll be the same. Must say I'm disappointed by the lack of even the most basic corsair utility - I guess they make hardware, not software but still... I mean I had to use a HP program initially! As always, thanks for the replies, and Mike I hope I have provided useful info. If anyone has had a similar prob I'll be glad to help. All the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Buxton Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Hi, I'm sure we're all delighted you won and your experience may help others. My regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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