USB flash stick formating?

[kenshin-dono]

so i got a 16gb centon datastick pro for my 360. The 360 requires you to format the dumb thing for it to work with it (really MS? it cant be plug and play like the friggin PS3? YOUR the computer company) I formatted the whole thing for it and got a message saying i may have performance issues. I wanted to try formating only about 8 or 10 gigs of the stick to use some for my computer, and see if a smaller size will work better, but im not sure the best way to wipe it.

I noticed after the xbox format when i put it on my pc it no longer says the brand like it used to when you look at it in the window. It just shows a regular drive. Should i format it on my computer for fat32? will that cause any problems with it repartitioning on my 360 again, or any problems with the actual stick? Im not too familiar with usb flash sticks so im not sure if a regular fat32 format will screw anything up with them, i was wondering if anyone was more familiar with them

i was planning on just doing a fat 32 quick format on the computer, is that the best bet and will it cause any problems?

[ant900]

you have to get a XBox proprietary usb to use it with the XBox.  Microsoft wants you to waste $50 on their 16gb usbs cuz Microsoft is Microsoft.  In other words, no you won't be able to get it to work on both your PC and XBOX

[DaggerLite]

Most USB sticks come with custom software. Cruzers have some U3 thingy for instance, supposed to boost performance. You've probably lost these, so that's why it's just a "regular external drive" now. You can just rename it though. I guess you'll find them here if you want them.

Why do you want to format it again (what will that do...)?

I'm taking a wild guess that the 360 had to format it either because it was formatted with NTFS, or perhaps it adds some kind of "key" specific to your Xbox so you can transfer account-specific data. I'm holding a button for the first answer, but a PSP does for instance format SD cards to bind them.

[fohfoh]

I've had no issues with PSP formatted MSPD being used on a computer. I've also connected flash drives and EXHDDs to it with no problem.

No idea why the xbox360 would be like this... Force you to upgrade your HDD?

[Hiero]

you have to get a XBox proprietary usb to use it with the XBox.  Microsoft wants you to waste $50 on their 16gb usbs cuz Microsoft is Microsoft.  In other words, no you won't be able to get it to work on both your PC and XBOX

Pretty much, and if you want the usb to go back and forth between your computer and 360 quick formatting works fine, (I did that when I was doing a Red Dead Redemption mod  ) and it didn't mess up my flash drive.

[Natheria]

Most USB sticks come with custom software. Cruzers have some U3 thingy for instance, supposed to boost performance.

I would love if U3 was JUST software. I've reformatted Sansa's stupid flash drives before and the damn software won't go away!