8gb pen drive - "hack" formatted

Halifax_sux

i have just bought an 8gb pen drive off ebay. however, when you copy data to it, only 4gb of it is really there. the remaining data is totally corrupted - even the filenames and directory structure! i have reformatted the drive using windows - no change.
i've booted a couple of live linux distro's but they don't even see the pen drive. neither does partition magic vers 8.0. the windows format also seemed to "hesitate" at the end, although it seemed to end successfully. plus i was unable to re-partition the drive.
the seller has offered me a partial refund or return under warranty. the cost of returning the drive would probably make a partial refund a better option - provided i could
re-partition and re-format the drive correctly.
any ideas how i might be able to re-partition and re-format this drive please?

deklan99

Try the HP USB Format Tool http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197
Phantom memory quite common with mp3 players/flash drives off ebay - see here and here

Lakeuk

I think you're more likely to have bought a fake, there are alot of them on ebay

b33r

I'd agree with the fake theory, guy at work got caught out on ebay twice with fake 8 gigs showing as 4. It's just not worth the risk on ebay.

bookduck

b33r wrote: »

I'd agree with the fake theory, guy at work got caught out on ebay twice with fake 8 gigs showing as 4. It's just not worth the risk on ebay.

I got caught out 3 times by 3 different suppliers on ebay. They were 2 Gb chips configured to look like 16Gb

Ended up buying a 160GB usb hdd

alanwjones

Perhaps a Goods not as described report threat will get you a better offer on refund.

Paul_Herring

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&q=ebay+usb+fake+size

Halifax_sux

cheers guys. that hp util that deklan posted the link for is great, however, it does only format the drive. fat32 format works fine. ntfs format fails.
what i'd like to do is re-partition it. any ideas on this front before i decide about returning, partial refund, etc, please?

bookduck

On removal mine came apart in my hands, so had a look inside. So after looking up the chip no, was sure it was fraud.

If this is the case, I'd ask for a full refund including P&P and the cost of sending the item back too, as the goods were significantly not as described, and fraudulent. I also took pictures

there is toolhouse.org and also if your an ebay regular an FF plugin that you right click on the account and takes you to the toolhouse page.

People just copy a small file to it and it looks ok and the seller walks off with the cash - one born every minute. Think yours it the same and has a 2 gb chip (16G bit) and that is probably why it formats to 2GB

isofa

I'd advocate never buying a USB memory stick from eBay, I purchased one, which was a branded one a few years ago, advertised as "new & sealed", it was full of soft !!!!!!, personal documents and photos. Not impressed at all. They are so cheap nowadays, that always worth buying brand new from a proper retailer, I like https://www.mymemory.com very much.

Halifax_sux

i've bought other cheap stuff on ebay, including bargain mp3 players
(one for 99p!) so lets not all dismiss ebay completely.
bookduck: i can't see any tools @ toolhouse.org that might help my current situation.
am i missing something?