Updated on October 23rd, 2020
This article you can find methods to restore USB drive back to full capacity so that you can make use of lost or unallocated disk space of USB drives. USB drive not showing correct capacity is one of the common issues that may happen to USB disks, if you are facing same problem, then you are at the right place. Keep reading and you can find step-by-step solutions to restore USB drive.
Insert your USB flash drive into your computer and launch Disk Cleaner Free. You’ll find a list of hard disks in your computer, including the USB flash drive that is connected. Check it for cleaning. Steps to Safely Cleanup and Remove old USB Mass Storage Drivers on your PC Shut down your computer. Unplug your USB storage devices: USB Disks, flash, cams, CD/DVD, etc. As well as your USB hubs. If we are talking about USB flash drive far as i know USB flash drive cannot be converted as a GPT disk partition format. Disk Management console can delete partition same way if you were to execute Clean command but Clean All command will delete all partitions and writes zero to entire drive but it takes too much time. Click in a blank area inside the flash drive window and press 'Ctrl-A' to select all the files. Press the 'Delete' key and wait for the files to delete. Step 5 Right-click the 'Recycle Bin' and choose 'Empty Recycle Bin.'
It’s really annoying to be unable to use all USB drive’s storage, but this issue just happens due to various reasons. Thus we should get a rough idea about this issue at least. USB storage devices such as external HDD, USB flash drive, pen drive, memory card, etc, play important role in daily lives. Likewise hard drive, USB disks come with different size, ranging 215 MB to 1TB. We can store large amount of data on SD card or flash drive so that we can take them to anywhere without difficulty. It’s possible that a 64GB flash drive shows as 54MB only. That does not necessarily mean you have to buy a new one, as the capacity can be restored in many cases.
Let’s take a close look at a real cause about this issue:
“Lately I made a bootable USB drive on a USB flash drive for crashed laptop. I fixed the system problem successfully but a new problem arose in the flash drive. The problem is that the USB’s capacity shrank. The flash drive used to have 16GB storages, but it is 2.19MB in Windows Explorer only after it is made as a bootable drive. There is large free space on the flash disk when I checked it in Disk Management. But I can’t do anything to unallocated space. The size does not change even though I format the partition. Do you have any idea to restore capacity? Thanks!”
USB flash drive / SD card/ pen drive not showing full capacity can happen for several reasons. Let’s see some common reasons together:
- The USB drive is made to bootable disk. For instance, you burn a portable operating system on your removable drive, and you may find that the disk loses capacity. Some system changes the partition of removable disk when writing booting data.
- The USB drive is divided into two or more partition. Unlike hard drives, USB flash drive or SD card usually have only one partition, because Windows cannot recognize and access data stored on the second or other partitions. If there are multiple partitions on a flash disk, you can only see the first volume in File Explorer. Thus the capacity you can use is the first partition.
- There is unallocated space. We all know that unallocated disk space cannot be used if there is not partition created on it. The result is that you can make use of allocated space only. Therefore we can fix the problem by adding unallocated space to existing partition.
- Card reader or host devices are not well suited with the larger memory card. If you are using a card reader which is compatible with 32GB card at most, but your memory card is 64GB. It might turn or repartition the memory card to 32GB and the rest capacity won’t show in Windows.
- The disk is physically damaged. If storage device is physically damaged, the capacity might change. The entire disk size in Disk Management shrinks or increases largely, or the USB drive shows 0 bytes if you check its properties. Physical damages cannot be repaired by solutions in this guide.
This part provides three solutions to restore USB drive backup to original capacity. The first method recovers capacity with the help of command DiskPart. If you feel this approach is difficult to you, you can try the second and third solutions which utilize a free third-part tool. Connect the USB drive or SD card to computer and you can try these resolutions.
Caution: The first two solutions will completely wipe the entire USB drive in question, please backup any important files before proceeding. Besides, please be very careful to select correct before formatting or cleaning operations, or you might wipe wrong disk by mistake.
Solution 1: Restore USB flash disk back to full capacity with DiskPart
Step 1: Run Command Prompt as Administrator. On Windows 8.1 or 10, you can launch it easily by clicking the Start button and selecting option Command Prompt (Admin). If you are using Windows 7, you should click the Start button and enter cmd in the search box; then right-click cmd.exe to select Run as Administrator
Step 2: Type the following command in the Command Prompt windows and hit Enter key.
Step 3: Type list disk command so that diskpart lists all disks connected to your computer, and the command should be followed by pressing Enter.
Step 4: Execute following command to select the USB disk you want to restore capacity.
Be very careful here! # is the disk number of your USB drive, You should replace # with the correct disk number. Be sure you select the correct drive, as all the rest actions will be performed on the selected disk, such as format the disk. If you select the wrong disk, you’ll lose all data stored on that disk.
Step 5: Type the follow command and press Enter
Step 6: Create a new partition on the USB drive after DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.
Step 7: The following command formats the newly created partition to FAT32 file system.
Now you can open Windows Explorer to check if the USB drive is restored to full capacity.
Solution 2: Restore USB drive back to full capacity with free partition manager
This solution will repartition the USB drive into one partition using free partition management software PartitionGuru Free. The partition process is simple and fast.
Step 1: Install and launch PartitionGuru on your computer to get the main interface.
Step 2: Connect the USB drive to computer and it’ll be displayed in the software. All disks, partitions, files and disk parameters on the computer can be read on the main interface.
Step 3: Select the USB drive you want to restore capacity and click Quick Partition button from the toolbar.
Step 4: On the “Partition Count” section, you should select Custom option and choose “1” so that there will be only one partition on the USB drive; As to the Advanced Options, you can choose file system format for the USB disk. Click OK button and PartitionGuru start repartition the USB drive.
Step 5: PartitionGuru will ask confirmation for the action which will wipe everything on the disk while repartitioning process. Click “Yes”, wait for a couple of seconds, and the partition will complete.
The USB flash drive will show its full capacity in Windows Explorer after it is repartitioned to single volume. Another way to recover capacity is deleting all partitions on the UDB disk and then creating a new partition on it.
Solution 3: Reuse Unallocated Space
If your USB drive contains unallocated / free space, its size will be smaller than original capacity. In this situation, you can recover USB capacity by adding unallocated space to partition. It’s recommended to use PartitionGuru here again, as this software is able to add unallocated space to any existing partition on same disk without data loss.
Step 1: Launch PartitionGuru again and connect the problematic USB drive to computer.
Step 2: Right click the partition on the USB flash disk and select “Extend Partition” from the context menu.
Step 3: Move mouse to the partition bar and drag it to include the free disk space. Click “Start” button and PartitionGuru starts move unallocated disk space to the partition.
Step 4: Click “Complete” button when the process finishes. Then you can check whether the capacity is restored.
Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions
Erasing USB drive data is a sensible decision. If you want to delete some private information, or to regain full storage capacity to store more information, erasing the memory stick is an ideal solution for you. In this article, we will be talking about the common reasons, and how to completely erase a usb flash drive, along with the practical solution to recover data from erased usb drive.
Part 1: Why Do You Need to Erase Memory Stick?
The memory stick is like an SD card. It is a product that offers you the chance to store data of any format. It is available in different sizes, which ranges to as high as 2TB(terabyte). Given the portable nature of the storage device, there may come some scenarios where you want to erase all the data inside. Here are some of the circumstances which may force you to take the drastic step and wipe memory stick.
- Virus infection:
The whole point of making storage devices such as a memory stick smaller in size was to enable the portability factor. And to allow the user to use it anywhere they like and on whatever device they want. But such a type of convenience brings its own set of problems. It is highly likely that your memory stick may get infected when you use to store a malice file on it. It will cause the memory stick to get corrupt, and sometimes the infection is so severe that you may have to erase flash drive to recover.
How To Clear Flash Drive Memory
- Memory stick turned RAW:
A storage disk usually becomes raw due to excessive or casual use. If you pull out the memory stick during shifting the files from one place to another, while it is at play, then complications may occur, and the file format of the stick may turn RAW. The only solution to that problem is to format USB drive and erase memory stick.
How To Use Flash Drives For Dummies
- Partition Failure:
Sometimes we fail to assign the relevant letter or space to our storage device during the partition creation through Disk Management. If that is the case, the PC or any other equipment such as a camera will not be able to read the memory stick thoroughly, and you would have to erase it altogether.
Part 2: How to Completely Erase USB Flash Drive
In this section we will introduce two different ways to completely wipe USB drive: formatting with Windows file explorer, and erase with professional data erasing software.
Solution 1 - File Explorer
You can easily erase memory stick data by formatting it. This process doesn't take much time and has proven to be an effective means of removing data permanently. Follow the instructions below:
- Press 'Start' button, type 'PC' to open 'This PC'.
- Find your memory stick device, right-click to see the menu.
- Click 'Format' to open the 'Format' window.
- Set the file system as 'NTFS' or 'FAT32'.
- Type the name you prefer for the memory stick in the 'Volume label.'
- Click 'Start' to begin the formatting process.
When the process is finished, you will have the USB flash drive erased. However, frequent formatting can damage the memory stick and might affect its storage capacity. So how to clear USB drive properly? We suggest using a usb wipe tool to remove USB stick data.
Solution 2 - Data Erasing Software
A Data erasing tool is capable of wiping USB drive data securely without damaging the memory stick. The Internet is full of data erasure tools but the best one among them by some distance isStellar BitRaser for File.
- User-Friendly Interface
Stellar BitRaser for File has been equipped with a user-friendly interface. The buttons and features of this software are intuitively placed and make using it an easier proposition for one and all. This is the reason why even novices can use it for erasing data from storage devices like hard drives, USB drives, and memory sticks with consummate ease. - Supports Various Data Erasure Standards
Thisdata eraser tooloffers various data erasure standards. You have a total of 17 different erasure algorithms available for erasing memory stick when using Stellar BitRaser for File. The choice of the algorithm you use is totally up to you. - Erases Multiple Types of Data
Stellar BitRaser for File is capable of erasing multiple types of data from different storage devices. You can use this data erasure tool for permanently deleting documents, photos, videos, and many other files with consummate ease. - Removes Data from Email Clients
With this data erasure tool, you can remove data from email clients as well. Email clients usually store data on the hard drives which can be easily accessed by anyone using the PC. Stellar BitRaser for File can remove this data and keep it away from the reach of others.
To entirely erase A USB flash drive with BitRaser for File, follow these 4 simple steps below:
- Download Stellar BitRaser for File on your Windows computer and connect a memory stick to PC.
- Launch Stellar eraser tool, and click the section 'Erase Now' to select your memory stick to the process.
- Click the button 'Erase Now' to delete flash drive files permanently.
- It will take a while to complete erasure.
Stellar BitRaser for File can remove USB flash drive data in just one pass. However, it might be difficult for some people to believe that the memory stick data is completely erased in a single pass. To satisfy the concerns of such people, this data erasure tool allows up to three passes to securely erase memory stick permanently, which is also the recommended way on how to erase a memory stick.
Part 3: What to Do If You Accidentally Erased Your Memory Stick - Try Recoverit Data Recovery:
After knowing how to wipe a flash drive, if you have erased the contents of the memory stick accidentally, no worries, not all hope is lost. Unless you used a data erasing software to erase the data on the flash drive, you can retrieve the files from usb flash drive erasure with the assistance ofRecoveritby Wondershare. Here are some of the features of Recoverit that will prompt you to use the application at once:
- It is available for both your Windows and macOS devices.
- It doesn't matter which format of files you erased from the memory stick. Recoverit can retrieve 1000+ file formats with ease.
- It offers across the board coverage of external devices, including a memory stick, USB, camcorder, portable hard drive, camera, and others.
- It allows you to select any folder, disk drive, or external device you want to scan and recover the erased items.
- You only need three-steps to perform the recovery procedure, once you download and install the app on your computer.
Download | WinDownload | Mac
The main rule that you should keep in mind is not to add additional data to the memory stick before the recovery procedure, which is the most important thing about how to recover flash drive data.
The steps to recover data from a formatted memory stick are as follows:
Step 1.Select a location
Plug your memory stick into the computer and launch Recoverit. Under the 'External Devices' tab, select your memory stick and press the 'Start' button for the scanning to begin.
Step 2.Scan the location
The interface of Recoverit will momentarily scan the memory stick after you hit the start button. It typically takes a few minutes to perform the scan, but the duration may vary, subject to the file size. Recoverit also provides the means for you to check the recovered files during the scan if you push the stop/pause button. Furthermore, it will notify you once the scan is complete.
Step 3.Preview and recover files
After the scan, Recoverit will prompt you to view the recovered data and check its authenticity. Select the items you want to restore and hit the 'Recover' button to save the content anywhere you want.
USB Solution
- Recover USB Drive
- Format USB Drive
- Fix/Repair USB Drive
- Know USB Drive