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

[relztrah]

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



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



Any ideas?

 

[xrobwx71]

Under file system, format it in FAT32 or NTFS.

 

[relztrah]

Regardless of what I select for File System, I only have the option of 1GB under Capacity.

 

[xrobwx71]

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.

 

[x BlueRobot]

Under file system, format it in FAT32 or NTFS.

I was literally about to say this; I would recommend FAT32 if you intend to use it on non-Windows systems.

 

[britechguy]

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

 

[Gary R]

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.

 

[relztrah]

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

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




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.

 

[Corday]

Either Write Protected or damaged beyond repair.

 

[plodr]

I don't use Windows tool to format the few times I've had to format a flash drive. I always use this tool

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