Problems with using Flash drives

Comments

• Reply 1 of 8

  sequitur Posts: 1,910member

  November 29, 2007 6:33PM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by lirand
  
  
  Hey,
  
  
  
  I'm a new Mac user and I'm experiencing some weird behavior when working with flash drives on the Mac OS.
  
  
  
  Whenever I plug a Flash drive into the USB slot, erase it and try to copy some new files into it - I get a "no free space available" error message.
  
  
  
  After using the disk utility to format the drive (using "Dos - FAT") - It works fine.
  
  
  
  It happened to me several times with several different times.
  
  
  
  Why do I have to format the drive? Will I need to reformat it whenever I try copying new files?
  
  
  
  I've also got a flash drive that you can stuck a SD card into. The behavior was the same. If I format it using the disk utility - won't it stop working with my camera?
  
  
  
  Thanks.
  

  
  

  
  
  After you delete the files on the flash drive, empty the trash. Then check the flash drive. Let me know if that works. An AI member suggested that to me when I had the same problem, and it WORKED for me.
• Reply 2 of 8

  dontlookleft Posts: 158member

  November 29, 2007 7:19PM

  I'm pretty sure that until you delete the files, the flash drive still has them, or at least thinks it has them. i agree with the person above me...trying emptying the trash. i've had no such errors yet and i use my flash drive (and friend's as well) all the time.
• Reply 3 of 8

  lirand Posts: 174member

  December 12, 2007 3:37PM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by sequitur
  
  
  After you delete the files on the flash drive, empty the trash. Then check the flash drive. Let me know if that works. An AI member suggested that to me when I had the same problem, and it WORKED for me.
  

  
  

  
  
  It's WORKING! Great That's a weird behavior for a Windows user, but a cool one none the least
• Reply 4 of 8

  mamaflo Posts: 1member

  December 30, 2007 8:40PM

  This same thing happened with me just today and this thread helped me solve the issue.
  
  Thanks!!
• Reply 5 of 8

  dave k. Posts: 1,306member

  December 30, 2007 9:53PM

  I wish that was an option for the Finder (especially for flash drives) to delete files automatically without "Emptying the Trash" command.
  
  
  
  Dave
• Reply 6 of 8

  leviticus Posts: 18member

  January 1, 2008 9:48AM

  I had a similar problem with my 1 gig flash drive. I could transfer all files and erase all files, but I would have to reboot in Windows or use a PC to get rid of the files truly. The thing was that it had this .trash folder that would keep all of the files that has been deleted and it was hidden in the flash drive's directory so I was unable to access it. I fixed that by what you said and I went ahead and formatted in in FAT format and that also erased the sofware that came on the drive.
  
  
  
  The software that came on it was somesort of download helper and you could download certain programs and they would reside on the drive. It was stupid and all it did was take up valuable space that I could be using for something much better, like text files about nothing.
  
  
  
  Goodbye U3 software. Hello to space and the ability to TRULY delete files and anything else. Instead of being some sort of user assisting device, it became a typical flash drive.
• Reply 7 of 8

  teedoff087 Posts: 348member

  January 1, 2008 3:04PM

  Not to mention that the password utility was useless on a Mac. It was Windows-only. I'm glad I got rid of U3 on my flash drive.