| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Big discrepancy in specified and actual capacity of a USB stick Thread poster: Astrid Elke Witte
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| Do you need a driver for that stick? | Nov 19, 2008 |
Astrid, you did not say what OS you are using on your computer, but isn't it possible that you have an older OS that is not compatible with the stick by default? Or, the other way around, your OS is newer than what the software supplied on the stick can handle?
Did the USD stick come with a driver? If yes, did you install it?
It looks like the stick has two partitions and one (the larger one, meant for storing YOUR data) is not even visible to you at this point.
You only... See more Astrid, you did not say what OS you are using on your computer, but isn't it possible that you have an older OS that is not compatible with the stick by default? Or, the other way around, your OS is newer than what the software supplied on the stick can handle?
Did the USD stick come with a driver? If yes, did you install it?
It looks like the stick has two partitions and one (the larger one, meant for storing YOUR data) is not even visible to you at this point.
You only see the smaller partition, and since it shows up as a "CD", that suggests it is a "read-only" area, so you cannot write anything there.
Was there anything else in the box, besides the stick?
A CD, a brochure, an insert with system requirements and/or installation instructions?
Or is it possible that you are using a Macintosh and the stick (or the storage partition) is formatted for Windows? (The file system may be different: FAT32 vs. NTFS.)
You may want to check out the following links.
From this, it seems that you need an upgrade, if you are working with Vista or a non-English OS, the upgrade can only be downloaded, they don't ship it with the product.
Even after that, you may need to go through a few steps to be bale to start saving files on the stick.
It has to show up as TWO devices, one as a "CD", and another under a different drive name, for example E:\. Until you see two different drives, you can't save your files.
http://u3user.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/u3user.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=166
http://u3user.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/u3user.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
[Edited at 2008-11-19 17:16 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte 
Germany
Local time: 23:43
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | My operating system is Vista | Nov 19, 2008 |
Hello Katalin,
I specially bought one that was not supposed to need a driver installed.
Thanks for the information that a CD symbol means that the drive concerned is read-only. I did not know that.
There is suddenly a whole list of drives on my screen, that I never knew I had before. This one with the CD symbol is called "J", and now I have read some information on the SanDisk web site, as Michele suggested, and discovered that the space for putting my file... See more Hello Katalin,
I specially bought one that was not supposed to need a driver installed.
Thanks for the information that a CD symbol means that the drive concerned is read-only. I did not know that.
There is suddenly a whole list of drives on my screen, that I never knew I had before. This one with the CD symbol is called "J", and now I have read some information on the SanDisk web site, as Michele suggested, and discovered that the space for putting my files onto is called the "I" drive, and that the method of putting them there is simply to copy them over from one window to the other. And it now says "7.37 GB free space" after already putting onto it two termbases and the accounts file, so that finally sounds more like it.
There were no instructions with the stick, nor a CD. The only thing that came with it was a little case for keeping it in to carry it around.
Astrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I am glad you finally figured it out | Nov 19, 2008 |
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
...discovered that the space for putting my files onto is called the "I" drive, and that the method of putting them there is simply to copy them over from one window to the other. And it now says "7.37 GB free space" after already putting onto it two termbases and the accounts file, so that finally sounds more like it.
So, it was there all along... 
Good news.
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If you don't need the software provided on the separate J partition, just format the damn thing to get rid of the stuff the manufacturer gave you.
I'm guessing it's some automatic backup software but if you're not going to use it then you might as well get rid of it. Then you will end up with just one drive letter and you can reclaim the space the J partition is taking up now (not much).
If you end up formatting it all data will be lost so make sure there's nothing on it that ... See more If you don't need the software provided on the separate J partition, just format the damn thing to get rid of the stuff the manufacturer gave you.
I'm guessing it's some automatic backup software but if you're not going to use it then you might as well get rid of it. Then you will end up with just one drive letter and you can reclaim the space the J partition is taking up now (not much).
If you end up formatting it all data will be lost so make sure there's nothing on it that you don't have on your hard drive.
Format it to NTFS if you won't need macs to be able to read it. ▲ Collapse
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Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 23:43
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | What the J drive has on it | Nov 19, 2008 |
Einführung in LaunchPad
Skype
CruzerSync U3 Edition
McAfee VirusScan USB
SignupShield Passwords
Mahjong Towers Eternity
Big Fish Games Sudoku
I really have not a clue what most of that consists of, except that the Einführung in LaunchPad turned out to be some instructions on how to use it.
Maybe I will format it once I have found out what those programs are.
Astrid
| | | | | experience.... | Nov 19, 2008 |
An IT-newbie believes 1 kB is 1000 bites,
while a full-fledged IT-expert is confident that 1 km is 1024 m.
[Редактировалось 2008-11-19 20:51 GMT]
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 17:43
Spanish to English
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| Pre-loaded software | Nov 19, 2008 |
Sometimes the cheaper USB sticks will come with pre-loaded software (hence the capacity difference) that is not indicated on the external packaging. I have also seen cases where this software is automatically loaded onto your computer when you plug the stick in. Perhaps the reason why they can sell them cheaper is because they get paid by the manufacturers of the software.
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 23:43
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | These sticks seem more complex than they look | Nov 19, 2008 |
I really thought I was buying something that would be very simple and convenient. There appear to be quite a number of different unpredictable situations with these sticks. Last month I felt so silly, because I also thought it should be easy to buy a new mouse and instal it, but the mouse well and truly broke my computer, and so it was a very expensive mouse, after I had to get a computer man in to fix all the problems.
Astrid
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Shai Navé
Israel
Local time: 00:43
English to Hebrew
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| U3 and how to remove it | Nov 20, 2008 |
Hi Astrid,
First let me start by saying that you never get the marketed amount of space on any storage device. In short and as many stated before me, the reason for that is a difference between in the way in which people and machine treat the units.
People are marketing 1GB as equal to 1000MB, whereas the computer treat 1GB as equal to 1024MB. Of course the computer is the one who set the tone and the nice round numbers of 8, 13, 250, 320, etc. are just used for marketing purp... See more Hi Astrid,
First let me start by saying that you never get the marketed amount of space on any storage device. In short and as many stated before me, the reason for that is a difference between in the way in which people and machine treat the units.
People are marketing 1GB as equal to 1000MB, whereas the computer treat 1GB as equal to 1024MB. Of course the computer is the one who set the tone and the nice round numbers of 8, 13, 250, 320, etc. are just used for marketing purposes.
They do sound more "appealing" than 7.2, 232, etc.
This is the reason why your 8GB stick will never be actually 8GB. It has a true capacity of approx. 7.4-7.6GB. (Exactly as a hard drive which is marketed as having 250GB capacity has actually around 232GB capacity.)
Now to the second part. The U3 part and all the installed softwares.
In short U3 is an operating system the was developed by SanDisk (in cooperation with other companies as well) with the purpose to enhance portable productivity> meaning that you can take your information with you on the stick, plug it in to any other computer and work as in you are sitting in front of your own. As a reference here is a shor summarized read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3.
Personally I don't like it, and I don't even know anyone who actually needs it.
Also with the growing movement of portable apps (almost every open source software has a portable e version today), which means that you can just copy the folder with the software to your stick, plug it in to any computer and work with the software(s) (but this is the topic for another discussion).
I bought a 1GB Sandisk cruzer a few years ago (I like its design) and the first thing I did was to remove this unnecessary U3 bundle of softwares from the stick.
As I mentioned I don't have any use for it and it just take too much space (not to mention that the drive load slower).
The decision whether to keep it or remove it is yours, for the purpose that you had described I don't think that you need to keep it. There is a very easy way to remove it but please keep the following in mind:
1) all of your data will be erased (as in format) so please backup the files if you don't already have another copy.
2) Once you remove the U3 you can't reinstall it later.
This last clause sometimes because people to hesitate sicnce they don't want to "ruin" something they bought tor to feel like erasing something that they paid for. If you want my advice just think about your needs and not about something else. If you never heard of it before, didn't buy the stick for his portability functions, than you probably doesn't need it.
For me it freed up about 150MB of space, for you it might free even more since you might have new versions (and bigger) of the softwares and might also have more softwares. I don't know how much space it will free so I can't make a guarantee.
To remove it please go to http://www.u3.com/uninstall/final.aspx and download the uninstall application.
I hope it will help. ▲ Collapse
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Einführung in LaunchPad
Skype - I'm sure you know Skype. This version can run from the USB stick without installation. You can download a similar version free from the net.
CruzerSync U3 Edition - described by fellow poster
McAfee VirusScan USB - virus scanner, obviously
SignupShield Passwords - obviously to save your passwords for when you use a different computer from your own. I'd not use it.
Mahjong Towers Eternity - game
Big Fish Games Sudoku - game
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