Often malware infects the USB disks in such a way that the capacity of the USB disks is reduced. For example, a 8GB USB flash key may show up only as a 500kb USB key in Windows. Even after you remove the malware or format such a disk, the capacity does not change and you are pretty much stuck. But thanks to a tiny software called BootIce, you can now format such a USB disk and restore them back to their original full capacity.
BootIce is freeware for Windows. The download is in form of an portable EXE file. BootIce is a standalone Windows program so it does not require installation.
Insert the affected USB flash key in your computer and then run the BootIce software by double-clicking on the BootIce.exe. Because BootIce needs formatting permissions, so you may see the User Account Control window pop-up in Windows Vista/7. Just give the administrator permissions and BootIce window would open. If you are running Windows XP, then you need to log in with an administrator level account.
Select the destination drive in the BootIce window. Make sure it is the affected USB key that you have inserted. Then click on the Parts Manage button as shown in the picture :
A new window will be opened, showing you the different partitions on the selected USB drive. Here you can different parameters for different partitions on the selected USB disk like the drive letter assigned by Windows and the partition sizes. Click on the button labeled ReFormat USB Disk as shown :
In the Repartition and Format window, select USB-HDD Mode (Single Partition) option from the list of options given. Leave the Partition Alignment to the default (Align to cylinder). Then click on the Next button.
A tiny window showing you to choose the formatting options would pop-up. You should choose either FAT32 or FAT16 as target file system. Most of the USB disks originally come with FAT16 formattting, so you may want to choose FAT16. You can choose any name of your like as the volume label. Click OK to proceed.
You would be shown a confirmation dialog. Make sure you have backed up all the files from the target USB disk. Then choose OK to proceed for repartitioning and reformatting the selected USB flash disk.
If everything goes right, then you should see a congratulations message after a few seconds. Now you can check the USB disk capacity in the Windows Explorer. It should be restrored back to the original full capacity. It is now ready for your use. You can format it again using Windows inbuilt formatting function or just start using it right away.
You can download the BootIce software from http://bootice.narod.ru/.