On 20 Mar 2007 20:07:43 -0700, "Bob"
wrote:

I've got a LG 1gb flash drive that has corrupted files. CHKDSK says
they are unreadable. The /F option returned the message that the
volume must be dismounted.(?)

So I want to format the sucker and start fresh if possible. Is that
possible?

I assume based upon the message I got from it previously that I need
to use the /X switch with the format command. The help data on the
format command says the /X switch "forces the volume to dismount first
if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would no longer be
valid".

I don't know what that means. What is "volume to dismount" and
"handles to the volume"?


Bob


Assuming Win2k or XP, there should be an icon in the system
tray when a removable drive is detected. You can dismount
it using that. You can also go into My Computer and on it's
properties, choose eject.

However, you don't need to use command line tools, to format
the drive you can treat it like any other drive in the
system. It should not need care if it's corrupted, so long
as partition table is intact, to format a new filesystem.

If the partition table is bad, see what you can do with it
in Disk Management.