Windows Vista How do I remove the junk Vista added to my flash drive

Yo,

So my current experience with Vista is that it adds (no joke) 200MB of super-secret system file madness to any USB flash drive that I insert into that system. This space doesn't get regained over time. I don't believe (although I could be wrong) that it's in the usual culprits like System Volume Information, etc.

What the heck is this space usage even for? Can I get it back without totally formatting the drive? I don't wish to get into a Vista-related flame war but this is one of the many things I hate about Vista... there's absolutely no reason to covertly and irreversably **** up a large amount of data on a USB drive for semmingly no reason. Sigh.

 

Wow I didn't use a curse word, I wonder what was censored above. lol

 

Possible at one time you took option (when flash drive was active on computer) to set up ReadyDrive/Readyboost. This adds available memory to computer and may improve boot times (very questionably performance). I'm not on Vista right now ... try ... connect flash drive, go to "My Computer" view. Highlight Flash Drive, right click ... on drop down list, their should / could be an entry to to remove Readyboost off of drive. May have to look under "properties" to get at option, but I know Vista provides an option to remove Readyboost..

 

Be careful that the "extra files" are not added by a program on the USB drive, which might add encryption.

If you have Vista Business or Ultimate do you have the encryption feature enabled (guessing, I don't have those).

"super-secret ", sounds a little like encryption to me.

Matt

 

I've noticed the same thing using an external USB HD I put together from an old 200 GB IDE HD I had laying around, except on the HD when I was using it to backup data files on a friends computer I was reloading Vista Ultimate 64, after I got through and deleted his info I had one 7.6 MB folder that was on the external HD that was there before, now when I look at the properties on the external HD it shows 12.1 GB space used but it doesnt show up when exploring the HD, just the 7.6 MB folder, an empty Recycle Bin, and the System Volume Information.

ReadyDrive/Readyboost isn't available on the external HD, shows it doesn't meet the requirements for it.

Looks to me like it depends on the size of the HD/Flash Drive more than anything else, encryption isn't enabled on the external HD or my friends Vista installation.

 

You can use a free drive viewer app: http://download.cnet.com/SequoiaView/3000-2248_4-10549662.html?tag=mncol to look at the files on your [any] disks. To see the free space: view menu>options>view tab>show free disk space.

This should help find out what is taking space on your drive as anything big will stand out! * when you spot something, use context menu>explore on it to find it. I use this a lot and I love it.

There are no files on an external drive crucial to the system (save for what Dennis L mentioned) other then what you put there, so feel free to delete or format (ounce you back-it up) at will.

* Thread with care when viewing a system drive as large files are usually crucial to the system.