SD Card went from 2gig to 1gig after format

[tsolosmi]

I figured I would try this here because of the vast amount of knowledge. I can assure you that I don't use Windows though , it is a question coming from my boss.

Jack decided to format his 2Gb SD-Card for a handheld device. He read the manual which told him specifically NOT to use FAT32. He could either format it using the device itself or using Windows (linux?). He formatted it like so:

1.)Using the device
2.)Using Windows (FAT32)
3.)Using Windows (FAT)

So a total of three times. He noticed that his card went from 2Gb to 1Gb (saying it at least) after formatting on Windows for the first time. He asked me why it would do that and also what is FAT.

Besides FAT being a Windows file system I explained the 12-bit, 16-bit, and 32. The thing I could not answer is why it took 1Gb of memory away from his SD Card. I hope someone can explain it. I did a search on Google but not much did come up. I have read a bit on the file systems on Wiki-pedia with only a gain of knowledge.

Can you enlighten me ?

[Dark_Stang]

I had a similar problem once. Windows, for one reason or another, partitioned the stick in half and only formatted one part of it. I just loaded qtparted and made it one big partition again.