64GB flash drive shows only 32GB

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I purchased a 64GB ScanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 flash drive about 5 years ago that shows only 32GB.
I haven’t had to us it yet but I’d like to know how to get to recognize the full 64GB.

How do I do that?

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Where did you get it?

It’s possible that it is a fake 64GB, and it really is 32GB.
Otherwise, it is probably only partitioned to 32GB, with the rest unallocated or an unknown partition type.

If you enter diskmgmt.msc into the search box in the start menu, and select that, it will bring up the Disk Management dialog. If it is 64GB, you should see the unallocated or unrecognized area to the right for that drive.

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280park, cmptrgy

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The first thing to check is how your 64GB USB flash drive is formatted.

If it’s formatted as FAT or FAT32 then that’s probably the problem – neither format can create a partition larger than 32GB using Windows’ native tools. In this case Disk Management should show an ‘unallocated space’ for the remaining ‘missing’ 32GB.

Fortunately there are 3rd-party utilities that will format past the ‘nomimal’ 32GB limitation of FAT/FAT32.

If, however, it is formatted as NTFS (or exFAT) then, as @Ascaris has pointed out, time to check your flash drive for its REAL, not REPORTED, capacity. Have a look at this raymond.cc article: 5 Tools to Test and Detect Fake or Counterfeit USB Flash Drives.

Hope this helps…

Hope this helps…

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280park, cmptrgy

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Thanks, Very helpful. diskmgmt.msc found the unused space.

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Thanks! My Transcend is 64, but was saying 32. It showed unallocated space. I opened diskmgmt.msc, deleted the partition, and did a new one, and now it is 64. No unnecessary software to download. Thanks again!

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Ascaris wrote:

Where did you get it?

It’s possible that it is a fake 64GB, and it really is 32GB.
Otherwise, it is probably only partitioned to 32GB, with the rest unallocated or an unknown partition type.

If you enter diskmgmt.msc into the search box in the start menu, and select that, it will bring up the Disk Management dialog. If it is 64GB, you should see the unallocated or unrecognized area to the right for that drive.

You are correct, the remainder is unallocated.

I went to Computer Management > Run as administrator > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management. Right clicked the D partition, Extend Volume is greyed out.

According to this article
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/extend-a-basic-volume
If Extend Volume is grayed out, check the following:
“The volume is formatted with the NTFS or ReFS file system. Other file systems can’t be extended,”

Also I bought it at Amazon back then along with some 16GB flash drives.
I do remember the cost of the 64GB was lower than expected.

With those factors, I’ll just use this one as is. Thanks Ascaris.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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Rick Corbett wrote:

The first thing to check is how your 64GB USB flash drive is formatted.

If it’s formatted as FAT or FAT32 then that’s probably the problem – neither format can create a partition larger than 32GB using Windows’ native tools. In this case Disk Management should show an ‘unallocated space’ for the remaining ‘missing’ 32GB.

Fortunately there are 3rd-party utilities that will format past the ‘nomimal’ 32GB limitation of FAT/FAT32.

If, however, it is formatted as NTFS (or exFAT) then, as @Ascaris has pointed out, time to check your flash drive for its REAL, not REPORTED, capacity. Have a look at this raymond.cc article: 5 Tools to Test and Detect Fake or Counterfeit USB Flash Drives.

Hope this helps…

Hope this helps…

Hi Rick, I didn’t see your post in time.

I solved the problem
Went to https://www.partitionwizard.com/resizepartition/64gb-flash-drive-only-showing-32gb.html
Method 2. Restore the 64GB Flash Drive to Its Original Capacity and used diskpart.

Now that it is formatted as NTFS, are there differences on how to use it vs. FAT32?

Usually I use flash drives to save data for those who I help.

HP EliteBook 8540w laptop Windows 10 Pro (x64)

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FAT32 is generally used for flash drives because it is supported by more than just Windows.

cheers, Paul

p.s. Windows will format all 64GB as FAT32. You don’t need 3rd party tools.

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cmptrgy, doriel

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cmptrgy wrote:

Now that it is formatted as NTFS, are there differences on how to use it vs. FAT32?

FAT32 remains a popular choice for bootable media but Microsoft deliberately limited formatting of ‘large’ removable media in favour of NTFS for the resilience of its file structure.

For saving data from other Windows users I think NTFS will be more useful, especially if they have large media files (2GB or more each) like movies.

Hope this helps…

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cmptrgy, doriel

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Linux already supports NTFS. I remember that in the past, in order to treansfer data between Windows and Linux, I formatted my external to FAT32. And as you say, large files could not be there “in one piece”. Since it was my backup solution, it was very frustrating to split ISO and MKV files into multiple files under 4 GB. I did that with 7-zip. Later, when my GNU/Linux supported NTFS, I instantly reformatted my external drive.
Does iOS support NFTS? Seems like it does not. Or am I mistaken?

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I know this discussion is about a flash drive but I think a relevant comment is that some devices, like a Garmin zumoXT GPS, require the an added SD card be formatted FAT32.  This wasn’t well documented so I made the mistake of purchasing a 64GB card that was exFAT formatted.  Reformatting it to FAT32 with Win10 resulted in 32GB of space.  As previously mentioned, a 3rd party utility was needed to get the full 64GB.  I used AOMEI Partition Assistant.

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Hi guys,

Refer to the post Flash Drives 101 in the hardware section of this forum.

You can format the drive to FAT32 and use all 64GB without 3rd party software.  It can be done in the Command Prompt or in Powershell.

The main reason to format a drive over 32 GB in FAT32 is for the device is will be used on.   Gamers put their PlayStation 3 games on large (250 – 500 GB) flash drives in FAT32 because the device can’t read other formats.  Microsoft replacement for FAT32 for large drives is exFAT (also called FAT64).  ExFAT is read and written to by both Windows and macOS.

If the drive was formatted using Windows File Explorer or Disk management, it would have formatted only 32 GB of the drive.

You can get the whole drive back by formatting with Windows in exFAT format that Windows, macOS, and Linux will use.

HTH, Dana:))

HTH, Dana:))

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doriel wrote:

Linux already supports NTFS

macOS also can read data from NTFS formatted drives.

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doriel

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