Sandisk clip 4GB won't completely format or empty :(

silly question but ill ask anyway, no hidden files or system files?

tried blitzing the partition and recreating it? (mini partition tool for example)

tried bit wiping the drive and formatting again?

just a few thoughts off the top of my head

 

sorry i cant post links, mini partition tool is basically an application that can modify partitions on hdd's and usb drives. you will have to make up the link yourself http tinyurl com bnzfaa9 is a link to the download, usage is pretty self explanatory, find your usb stick, right click the partition and click delete. click apply, wait for it to finish, then right click create a new partition. click apply, see if it works.

or http tinyurl com cp66kuk which is drive wipe for USB, run the application, point it at your USB stick and tell it to zero wipe the drive.

a google for any of the above apps will being up instructions.

ive never known a format miss out files, but windows thinks there is something on the drive, wouldnt hurt to check.

 

i didnt know sandisk clips were mp3 players, ive had usb based mp3 players before that have never taken up space of the actual memory

 

i was going to ask you to open a cmd prompt to check for hidden files, but i think tito is correct, unlike a typical usb stick it doesnt have a usb drive associated with it so there will be files that are protected by the device itself, other usb drives ive used actually assign a drive letter to it, E: for example, which is separate from the system files.

as tito also suggested changing the usb mode, it it is already mtp mode, maybe there is another mode that will actually add it as a usb device instead... like ive said, i dont have one, never used one, working off best knowledge im afraid

 

if you read this post

http forums sandisk com/t5/Sansa-Clip-Sansa-Clip/Formatting-Sansa-Clip-Plus/td-p/205724

even with 2gb drives it mentions that the 200mb is used for firmware etc, im guessing you just want to use the device as a flash drive?

 

from the sansa forums the only thing i can gather is that the 200mb space is used for rebuilding databases, why it doesnt get cleared after use i dont know

 

I have the Sansa 4gb clip, and 201mb is always tied up.

 

i think theres a way to do the sansa updater to reflash it from brick