How to fix USB flash pen drive incorrect size or 0 byte - 5 solutions

USB Flash Drive Showing Wrong Capacity

"USB flash drive 8GB is now only 1GB", flash drive 64gb only shows 32gb;
"USB pen drive 16GB is only showing 4MB";
"4GB USB reduced to 30MB"...

Here are some scenarios from users' flash drive on tomshardware.com, how to restore the USB back to full capacity?

5 Solutions:

Solution #1 - Fix usb incorrect size using diskpart

Video - how to format disk to the correct size with diskpart clean, create primary partition and format

  1. Step1. Click "Start" > "Run" > type "cmd" > type "diskpart" > type "list disk" and press "Enter"
  2. Step2. Type "select disk x (x is the disk number of the USB, e.g. select disk 0)
  3. Step3. Type "clean" and press "Enter"
  4. Step4. Type "create partition primary" and press "Enter"
  5. Step5. Type "active" and press "Enter"
  6. Step6. Type "format fs=ntfs label= label of digital device quick", or you may format by right click format

Recommend: Diskpart to format USB>>

diskpart clean and create primary partitionDiskpart clean and create primary partition

Tip:

If you want to format disk without losing data, be free to use iCare Pro Free which would help for fixing the usb drive incorrect capacity issue without losing data.

Solution #2 -Recover data from flash drive incorrect size

Step1. Download iCare Pro Free, connect your usb drive to Windows 11/10/8/7. Select 'Deep Scan Recovery'.

select recovery
Step2. Choose your flash drive to let the tool open it for you

select drive

Step3. Once the program found your data, save them onto another device.

recover files

Solution #3 - USB Flash Drive 0 Byte Fixing

Are you feared of data loss since USB drive shows 0 bytes used space and 0 bytes free space?

raw drive

1. Reason – Why pen drive has 0 bytes space

File system of pen stick is damaged/corrupted, which cannot be recognized by system. A 0 byte USB memory stick usually shows RAW file system

2. Solution – How to fix 0 bytes of pen drive

Video Guide - How to change usb raw file system to fat32

Note: Format the pen drive with any of methods recommended above.

Solution 4 - Restore USB Thumb Drive to Full Capacity Using Software

You can also restore unknown capacity pen drive back to original state using thumb drive format software – HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, a professional format utility for USB disk.

Download url:https://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool/3001-2094_4-10974082.html

hp usb format tool user guideHP usb format tool user guide

Also read: hp usb format tool download and guide and error fixes, or 8 free usb formatters download

Solution 5 - Restore Flash Drive to Original Disk Size with CMD

Another way to restore pen stick/drive to original disk size is to use command prompt.

Video Tutorial – CMD to recover pen stick back to full capacity

Unable to Format USB to Full Capacity - Fake Pen Drive/Stick Has Incorrect Size

Are you unable to format USB disk back to full capacity?

freeQuick fix -> 4 free ways to fix usb drive cannot be formatted

Reason: You probably got a fake USB pen drive that has incorrect storage size

If you got a fake USB pen stick, you can only format the pen drive back to actual size.

For example,

You bought a 16GB pen stick, but its true size is only 8GB (Some tool is able to make a less GB disk show larger than it should have been). In this situation, the pen drive would only show 8GB even after formatting it because 8GB is its actual storage size.

Last updated on Nov 28, 2023

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