How to Restore a USB Drive to Its Full Capacity [100% Working]

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Linda 

Written by

Linda 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

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Overview of USB Flash Drive Showing Less Than Full Capacity

Sometimes, users may find that their USB flash drive doesn't show the full capacity. For instance, you have a 16GB USB flash drive, but Windows shows only 3GB. The same problem may also occur on other storage devices like hard drives, flash drives, memory cards, Micro SD cards, and so on. So, how can you recover the lost space and restore your USB flash drive to full capacity or original size when encountering such an issue? Don't worry. Even if you don't have a reliable solution in mind. After introducing how to restore SD card to full capacity in the last article, we'll continue to discuss the reasons and solutions for the USB not showing full capacity problem on this page.

Using the formatting feature in AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, Windows users can easily restore their USB drives to full capacity. Just follow this guide and give it a try.

Mac users can also successfully resolve this issue using the simple feature available in Disk Utility.

How do I restore my USB drive to its maximum capacity?

Depending on the reason that might cause a USB drive to lose some of its disk space, the solution to recover the USB drive to its full capacity varies across different operating systems. In the following content, you will learn a comprehensive guide on how to restore the full storage size of a USB flash drive on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Format USB to Full Size on Windows 10/8/7

Corrupted sectors or issues might also lead to a USB flash drive, memory card, or external hard drive not showing its original size. Hence, using CMD to repair the damaged USB flash drive might help.

To restore the full capacity of a USB drive, pen drive, or flash drive, you can use a third-party USB formatting tool to reformat the flash drive. tools Partition Master lets you format USB flash drives, hard drives, pen drives, memory cards, and Micro SD cards, and recover lost disk space or unallocated space when the disk size shows incorrectly in Windows.

Step 1: Select the USB drive you want to format.

Plug in your USB drive or pen drive to the computer. Download and open a partition tool software. Right-click on the USB drive you want to format and select "Format."

Step 2: Assign a drive letter to the USB drive and choose a file system.

Enter a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT) and cluster size for the selected partition, then click “OK”.

Step 3. Confirm formatting the USB: Select “Yes.”

If a warning message appears, click Yes. Back up any important data beforehand if you stored any.

Step 4: Apply the changes

Click “Execute 1 Task(s)” first, and then click “Apply” to format the USB drive.

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To recover data from a USB drive, pen drive, or flash drive, follow these steps:

If you're not comfortable using the Command Prompt, you can use a command-line alternative like CleanGenius. It lets you fix file system errors on your hard drive with a single button.

Step 1: Download CleanGenius for free on your computer.

Step 2: Run the program. Click on "Optimize" on the left, then choose "File Display".

Step 3: Go to "Select Drive" and choose the drive with the file system error. Check the option to "Check and fix file system errors," then click "Execute."

Step 4: Wait for CleanGenius to finish the repair process. When it's done, click “Here” to view the results.

Format USB as full size on Mac OS X or macOS

Step 1. Connect the mismatched USB flash drive to your Mac.

Step 2. Go to Applications > Utilities, and then double-click Disk Utility.

Step 3: Select your USB drive in the sidebar, then choose Erase.

Step 4: Rename the USB drive, set the "Format" to MS-DOS (FAT), set "Scheme" to MBR, then click Erase.

On Linux

Step 1: Delete all partitions

Enter the following commands in your terminal: 1. Type `sudo su`. 2. Input `fdisk -l` and note the letter assigned to your USB drive. 3. Type `fdisk /dev/sdx` (replace 'x' with the letter of your drive). 4. Type `d` to proceed with deleting partitions. 5. Input `1` to select the first partition and press Enter. 6. Type `d` again to delete the second partition (fdisk should automatically select it).

Step 2: Create a new partition.

• Type n to create a new partition.
• Type p to set it as a "Primary Partition" and press Enter.
• Type 1 to make it the first partition, then press Enter.
• Press Enter to accept the default starting cylinder.
• Press Enter again to accept the default ending cylinder.
• Type w to write the new partition information to the USB drive.
• Type mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdx1, replacing 'x' with your USB device letter.

If you find these methods helpful to restore your USB drive to full capacity, feel free to share the article with those in need!

Why is the capacity of my USB flash drive not correct?

When your USB flash drive or other removable disk doesn't show its original size, you may wonder how this happens or where the lost capacity has gone. Generally, there can be multiple reasons for a flash drive or external disk to display incorrect disk space. For instance:

• It's made bootable with a portable Windows OS as a bootable USB disk.
• There're more than one partitions on the flash drive. Windows only recognizes the first one.
• A hidden recovery partition or unallocated space exists and doesn't show up on the PC.
• A 64GB or 128GB USB flash drive is formatted with the incorrect file system (FAT32) in Windows.
• Some viruses corrupt the removable disk, or the card reader/host device isn't compatible with certain types of storage cards.

Please refer to the following instructional video on how to format a USB flash drive using CMD: