Another space confusion query

Let me try to clarify the situation again: 1.2 GB of space on the drive is indicated as “in use” even though the ONLY thing on the disc are systems files/US3 files. Somehow the disc thinks there is 1 GB of something on it even though there isn’t. A check of the hidden folders/files showed nothing that can account for the 1GB of missing space. I’m wondering if a system folder dealing with trash may have been deleted somehow. The drive is already formatted FAT32, but would reformatting do anything to recover the lost memory?