My 8GB USB flash drive now shows only 1GB after formatting

R

relztrah

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Mar 25, 2019
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The title says it all. Here's my supposedly 8GB SanDisk flash drive.

blade.JPG

But I'm only showing 1GB after I formatted it.

SanDisk flash drive.jpg

Any ideas?
 
Did you re-format it after choosing FAT32? I'm only asking this so I fully understand. Choose Fat32, then re-format. If it still says 1GB it could have gone bad.
 
I have had the odd USB flash/thumb drive that shows a greatly decreased capacity that I could not fix.

But, then, I discovered PassMark, the folks that make MemTest86, also make a great little utility called ImageUSB, that can be used to restore USB thumb/flash drives to their original configurations.

Have a look at the article: Recover disk space on a flash drive
 
You can often resolve this problem by doing the following ...

Please note that this will remove any and all files on the USB drive.

  • Connect the drive to your computer
  • Right Click Start > Run to open a Run window
  • In the Open: field type diskpart then click OK
  • Allow any prompt
  • A diskpart window will open
  • Type list disk then hit return to list the drives connected to your computer
  • From the list, note the number associated with your USB drive
  • type select disk plus the number of your USB drive then hit return ..... for example select disk 3
  • Type clean then hit return to remove all data on the drive
  • Type create partition primary then hit return and diskpart will create a partition
  • Wait for it to finish.
  • Exit the diskpart window.

Now re-format your USB drive, and you should find that it has regained its true capacity.
 
Gary R said:
You can often resolve this problem by doing the following ... Please note that this will remove any and all files on the USB drive.
  • Connect the drive to your computer
  • Right Click Start > Run to open a Run window
  • In the Open: field type diskpart then click OK
  • Allow any prompt
  • A diskpart window will open
  • Type list disk then hit return to list the drives connected to your computer
  • From the list, note the number associated with your USB drive
  • type select disk plus the number of your USB drive then hit return ..... for example select disk 3
  • Type clean then hit return to remove all data on the drive
  • Type create partition primary then hit return and diskpart will create a partition
  • Wait for it to finish.
  • Exit the diskpart window.
Now re-format your USB drive,and you should find that it has regained its true capacit
Click to expand...


Thanks for this suggestion but now I'm getting this message:


SanDisk flash drive.jpg

Fortunately I have other flash drives that I can use. This one wasn't expensive and I'm not going to spend any more time trying to fix it. I appreciate the help.
 
I don't use Windows tool to format the few times I've had to format a flash drive. I always use this tool
Code: 
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/hp-usb-disk-storage-format-tool/
If the stick is damaged (user error on my part), I do a quick format first with the above tool then I follow that up with the long format.

If you saved the receipt, SanDisk does have a warranty on USB sticks.
Warranty Table
 
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