Disk utility shows formatted drive as half full

[ArmanUV]

I wanted to add a partition to my 16GB USB flash drive today and I ran into a problem. Disk utility shows my just formatted drive as half full:

The "Data" volume is completely empty in Finder. I tried deleting the volume and readding it but Disk utility still shows half of the drive in blue shade. Earasing free space also didn't work.
When I try to add a new partition, it doesn't allow the original volume to shrink less than the presumed used space:

Ideas?

 

[Peace]

Are you putting Lion on it ?

If so the "data" may well be the recovery partition.

 

[gr8tfly]

I've noticed it with a USB flash drive too. It's just the blue graphic that seems off - the actual used vs. free numbers are correct.

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Are you putting Lion on it ?

If so the "data" may well be the recovery partition.

The recovery partition won't be added until after Lion is installed, and then, only if it's actually installed on the drive - vs. restoring the installer DMG to it. It would also be invisible to Disk Utility (the partition won't show up at all - it's only about 650MB at that).

 

[ubergoober]

everythings fine. your wrong, its actually half empty.

 

[ArmanUV]

I've noticed it with a USB flash drive too. It's just the blue graphic that seems off - the actual used vs. free numbers are correct.

What flash drive are you using? the fact that I couldn't find similar reports on the net means that this is not a widespread issue.

 

[gr8tfly]

What flash drive are you using? the fact that I couldn't find similar reports on the net means that this is not a widespread issue.

They are Lexar Firefly 8GB.

Sometimes, Disk Utility shows partitions and space used, out of proportion to their actual sizes. You can see this even on a HD if you have very small partitions on a large device.