Hy to all !
I have a question and I hope that some more experienced users can help me.
I recently purchased a Flash Drive (it's a Kingston DataTraveler @ 4 GB). The Flash works perfectly and there is no problem regarding the access or transfer time. The problem is that when I check it with Scandisk or Defrag it mentions a 4 KB (4 096 bytes) occupied space. And the free space is 99 %. This occupied space remains even after formatting.  
Do you know if this are bad blocks or is it a problem with the product I purchased ? Should I replace the drive or this is a normal thing and I should not worry ?
 
Thank you for your time.

It's normal, so don't worry.

^Yeah, it's nothing. My OCZ Rally dual channel 2GB drive has this very small bit that is always used, and it's never had any problems.

Probably the folder System Volume Information and recycler.
Nothing to worry about.

Yep, that's just the overhead of the disk, no worries. Just like if you format a 300GB drive, you may only end up with 280GB or so of usable space.

That's something else.
If you format a 300 GB drive you will have 300GB. The difference you mention is just an error in the description. If you format a 300 GB drive you get 300*10^9 = 300.000.000.000 Bytes, which are roughly 280 GiB (Gibibyte). Microsoft just failed to update to the new wording.  

Ah, I just read up on Decimal vs. Binary readings: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wd [...] _topview=1
 
Good to know, I suppose. I always though it was just required disk overhead.

Thank you all for the help.
 
I just found this review about a identical product : http://www.extremeoverclocking.com [...] ler_4.html
 
I noticed that the same 4 KB occupied space appears there too.
So, there seems to be no problem

A friend said some of the original flash drives had a program on them to help recover your files.  I don't know if the manufacturers do that now or then.