I can't get my USB drive back to full capacity, it wont let me format?


  1. Posts : 36
    PC: Windows 7 / Laptop: Windows 10
       #1

    I can't get my USB drive back to full capacity, it wont let me format?


    I did a clean install of Windows 10 on my laptop. So I downloaded the Windows Creation Tool and it put Windows 10 on my USB drive. The USB drive was 128GB, it was formatted to 32GB for Windows.


    I followed this guide and now the USB drive won't even work. Every time I put it into my PC is asks to reformat. I clicked YES but nothing happens. Every time I insert it is just asks me to reformat again, over and over. How can I get it back to 128GB? Under Capacity it just says Unknown.


    Screenshots below...
    https://i.imgur.com/yXmXqO7.png
    https://i.imgur.com/r8qKul1.png
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,452
    windows 10 Pro ver 21H2 build 19044.1348
       #2

    Open This PC > insert the USB > right click at it > click Format > at Fat(Default), click the pointer and select Fat32 > click Start

    I can't get my USB drive back to full capacity, it wont let me format?-usb-format.jpg

    Will that work ?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 36
    PC: Windows 7 / Laptop: Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Any idea why this worked on Windows 10 and not Windows 7? When I tried doing this on Windows 7 I kept getting those errors that I posted in the previous post. However, it worked as soon I plugged it into my Laptop with Win10?

    Also, do I choose ExFAT or NTFS? Also, under Allocation unit size it says 128 kilobytes. Do I just leave everything as is?

    davidhk said:
    Open This PC > insert the USB > right click at it > click Format > at Fat(Default), click the pointer and select Fat32 > click Start

    I can't get my USB drive back to full capacity, it wont let me format?-usb-format.jpg

    Will that work ?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 13,896
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #4

    budmonster said:
    I did a clean install of Windows 10 on my laptop. So I downloaded the Windows Creation Tool and it put Windows 10 on my USB drive. The USB drive was 128GB, it was formatted to 32GB for Windows.


    I followed this guide and now the USB drive won't even work. Every time I put it into my PC is asks to reformat. I clicked YES but nothing happens. Every time I insert it is just asks me to reformat again, over and over. How can I get it back to 128GB? Under Capacity it just says Unknown.


    Screenshots below...
    https://i.imgur.com/yXmXqO7.png
    https://i.imgur.com/r8qKul1.png
    I had the same issue with a 64GB USB Thumb drive as it was all I had at hand at the time, couldn't create a partition in the remaining 32GB nor format it. I booted to a GPARTED CD and deleted the Windows-created 32GB partition then created a 64GB partition and formatted it as FAT32. I now keep 32GB Thumb drives available. The problem is the limit of Windows in creating FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 4,802
    Windows 10 ProWorkstation -- Whichever is highest build number.
       #5

    Open Windows Powershell as administrator. Assume you press ENTER after each command. Type in diskpart. List Disk. Sel Disk X. Where X is number of your 128 GB HD. Clean. Create Part Pri. Sel Part 1. Format fs=ntfs quick. (Format fs=fat32 quick for UEFI install) Assign. Active. Exit. Exit. Then mount Windows ISO, and copy all files to HD. You can then boot with this drive, and install windows.
      My Computer


 

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