Unable to format USB stick to full capacity

I have a 4GB USB Lexar stick that I haven't been able to format to the full capacity. It only shows 2GB when I look at the properties. I've formatted it both as FAT32 and NTFS and nothing has worked. When I do format, the drop down menu only shows 2GB.

However, when I open up disk management, I do see the other 2GB as unallocated space (so I'm not crazy). It won't let me add a new partition or even delete the existing available partition so I can format the entire 4GB as one drive. Lexar has no helpful faq articles nor do they have any utilities. I did find a possible solution of switching the USB drive to 'optimize for performance' in the properties, but no luck there either.

I'm on XP, but have also tried a Vista machine.

Any ideas?

your pen drive may be damaged.
check it on another computer and if so replace it[repairs are expensive,if any and are of no use,since pen drives today are very cheap]
you can also return it to the company to do whatever they want if it in warranty

you may be fooled too if its a local company or it may have lost its flash capacity
i had a 512 mb mp3 player long back ago[a local one] which changed into 256 one and then to 128mb in a total of 1 week untill it lost all its capacity

Lexar did release a utility that may be able to help your situation:

http://www.pendriveapps.com/bootit-lexar-u...media-bit-tool/

" BootIt is a tool offered by Lexar that enables a user to format a USB flash drive, set a
volume label, set a (bootable) active partition and most importantly, flip the "Removable
Media Bit" (RMB) on the USB device to allow windows to see the USB device as a fixed disk,
rather than removable media. Flipping the Removable Media Bit on a USB flashdrive will allow
a user to setup, see and use multiple partitions on the USB flashdrive from Windows."

Even though you have no need to make the flash drive bootable, the utility may allow you to manipulate the drive size back to the full capacity, if the capacity reduction has not been caused by a fault in the flash media.

If you can't get the full capacity of your USB drive back with the Lexar tool (I couldn't with a Patriot Memory X-Mini 8GB), you can use DISKPART from Vista/Win7 to do so. Warning: DISKPART is dangerous - do not use if you don't feel comfortable with it! Insert your USB disk, make sure it is recognized by Windows (with the lower capacity), and then do the following:

1) Type "DISKPART" from the Command Prompt (accessible by clicking on Start and then typing "cmd" into the open field); you will then see the following prompt: DISKPART>
2) Type "LIST DISK" to see what number your USB drive is listed as.
3) Type "SELECT DISK 2" (if your USB is disk 2; replace # with your disk #); Diskpart will confirm that "Disk 2 is now the select disk."
4) Type "SELECT PARTITION 1" (this command selects what should be the only partition on your USB drive, the small one that you want to delete to get back the larger, full partition size). Diskpart will confirm with "Partition 1 is now the selected partition."
5) Type "DELETE PARTITION". This will delete the old partition. There are no warning prompts if you have existing data - make sure you have copied everything off before doing this!
6) Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY" to create a new, full-size partition. Diskpart will confirm with message of "Diskpart succeeded in creating the specified partition." You can type in "LIST PARTITION" to confirm the new, full-size.
7) Type "EXIT" to leave Diskpart. You can now format your USB drive by using the standard Windows formatting process.

If you can't get the full capacity of your USB drive back with the Lexar tool (I couldn't with a Patriot Memory X-Mini 8GB), you can use DISKPART from Vista/Win7 to do so. Warning: DISKPART is dangerous - do not use if you don't feel comfortable with it! Insert your USB disk, make sure it is recognized by Windows (with the lower capacity), and then do the following:

1) Type "DISKPART" from the Command Prompt (accessible by clicking on Start and then typing "cmd" into the open field); you will then see the following prompt: DISKPART>
2) Type "LIST DISK" to see what number your USB drive is listed as.
3) Type "SELECT DISK 2" (if your USB is disk 2; replace # with your disk #); Diskpart will confirm that "Disk 2 is now the select disk."
4) Type "SELECT PARTITION 1" (this command selects what should be the only partition on your USB drive, the small one that you want to delete to get back the larger, full partition size). Diskpart will confirm with "Partition 1 is now the selected partition."
5) Type "DELETE PARTITION". This will delete the old partition. There are no warning prompts if you have existing data - make sure you have copied everything off before doing this!
6) Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY" to create a new, full-size partition. Diskpart will confirm with message of "Diskpart succeeded in creating the specified partition." You can type in "LIST PARTITION" to confirm the new, full-size.
7) Type "EXIT" to leave Diskpart. You can now format your USB drive by using the standard Windows formatting process.

I'm not sure if this helps anyone...but I was able to follow the instruction until 4 then I received the message, "DISKPART CANNOT DELETE VOLUMES ON REMOVABLE MEDIA".....then I used the command CLEAN instead of whats stated in number 5 above...my USB seems to be back to its 4GB capacity...

Hello!
I just wanted to say thank you for helping to fix my thumbdrive. I follwed the diskpart directions and rescued my drive. I had an HP 4 gig thumbdrive that was only showing 250MB of capactity. Windows partitioning would not erase or do anything with the unallocated space even though it showed as being there. The 250mb partition could not be deleted either. I tried all sorts of tools from various companies including hp but nothing worked. ..most just crashed.

i followed the diskpart directions and got back the full capacity of my drive. ..I signed up just to let others know that this can work.
thanks.

Here is what happen to me:

1) Type "DISKPART" from the Command Prompt (accessible by clicking on Start and then typing "cmd" into the open field); you will then see the following prompt: DISKPART>
2) Type "LIST DISK" to see what number your USB drive is listed as.
3) Type "SELECT DISK 2" (if your USB is disk 2; replace # with your disk #); Diskpart will confirm that "Disk 2 is now the select disk."
4) Type "SELECT PARTITION 1" (this command selects what should be the only partition on your USB drive, the small one that you want to delete to get back the larger, full partition size). Diskpart will confirm with "Partition 1 is now the selected partition."
5) Type "DELETE PARTITION". This will delete the old partition. There are no warning prompts if you have existing data - make sure you have copied everything off before doing this!
6) Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY" to create a new, full-size partition. Diskpart will confirm with message of "Diskpart succeeded in creating the specified partition." You can type in "LIST PARTITION" to confirm the new, full-size.
Wouldn't CREATE for me, so i used the CLEAN option, then Retried #6 and it worked like magic.

7) Type "EXIT" to leave Diskpart. You can now format your USB drive by using the standard Windows formatting process.

After exit i just right clicked and did a default format, which means i didn't make any changes to the option, i just hit format.
Got my 4 gigs back
This is my only post, but wanted to make it easier if someone else has the problem.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

If you can't get the full capacity of your USB drive back with the Lexar tool (I couldn't with a Patriot Memory X-Mini 8GB), you can use DISKPART from Vista/Win7 to do so. Warning: DISKPART is dangerous - do not use if you don't feel comfortable with it! Insert your USB disk, make sure it is recognized by Windows (with the lower capacity), and then do the following:

1) Type "DISKPART" from the Command Prompt (accessible by clicking on Start and then typing "cmd" into the open field); you will then see the following prompt: DISKPART>
2) Type "LIST DISK" to see what number your USB drive is listed as.
3) Type "SELECT DISK 2" (if your USB is disk 2; replace # with your disk #); Diskpart will confirm that "Disk 2 is now the select disk."
4) Type "SELECT PARTITION 1" (this command selects what should be the only partition on your USB drive, the small one that you want to delete to get back the larger, full partition size). Diskpart will confirm with "Partition 1 is now the selected partition."
5) Type "DELETE PARTITION". This will delete the old partition. There are no warning prompts if you have existing data - make sure you have copied everything off before doing this!
6) Type "CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY" to create a new, full-size partition. Diskpart will confirm with message of "Diskpart succeeded in creating the specified partition." You can type in "LIST PARTITION" to confirm the new, full-size.
7) Type "EXIT" to leave Diskpart. You can now format your USB drive by using the standard Windows formatting process.

You are awesome Mr.

I only signed up to thank you and totally recommend this. Been looking for a couple hours, and some suggested downloading this and that, but this is the best solution!

Hello,

If this helps, I put on the web the MBR for few devices/sizes, here :

http://www.jstic.com/Newsgroup/FakeFlashDiskFix/

I fixed with BootIce.exe a fake 32 Gb Flash Disk that was in fact 8 Gb only, using a 8 Gb MBR bin from another one I had,

This could be a clean way to do it, if it helps,

Jan