HOW TO: Restore USB Drive Back to Full Capacity

In this video, I'll show you how to restore the missing space on your USB Drive or SD Card.

[@coollary1]

Never have I ever been so glad to see a tutorial help me in my first try.

[@filiplakicevic9715]

AGREE!!!! THNX!!!!

[@Arkaneraven1]

Agreed, simple and to the point. Good tutorial

[@missellenmartin4152]

For those who can't find their disks anymore, or it says disk isn't initialised, I did the following steps and now it works fully. What I did in run (typed) List disk disk 1 create partition primary Then I needed to initialise my drive, and went to my folder > right click on ''this pc'' and selected ''manage'' went to disk management tab, and saw my drive that wasn't initialised, right clicked on the second block (next to the , in my case ' Disk 1' block). Selected Change drive letter and paths > selected D (for me, but choose any free letter) Then went back to ''this PC'' and finally saw my USB-stick and formatted it like in the video Your welcome Give extra love and cuddles to your nearest dog today

[@slickfire1579]

Thanks 🙏🏻

[@lonskyne]

Thanks mate!

[@Dante1255]

Jesus Christ thanks

[@TheMonsterReapz]

Thank you 🤗

[@sapkotanischal1054]

oh wow always looking in the comment is a life saving :( thank you

[@ryanseazon]

This was an incredible help. 7 years have passed and you're still a hero. Thank you!

[@ChuckBrewsterDOTcom]

This video from 2012 saved me so much trouble plenty of times. In the comments you can see i'm not alone in saying that. This video is the very first video I ever hit the like button on youtube just so I can make sure I can easily find it for when, not if, I need it again. Thank you for creating and sharing this video with all of us.

[@yuval6508]

..."One thing to say "Not All Heroes Wear Caps

[@vigneshwarp3462]

True that!

[@uhjohnny_6066]

Yuval G it’s edited and still wrong

[@AnirudhSoni]

thats perfectly true

[@alexanderakerhjelm170]

Or even capes! how crazy is that

[@lucutes2936]

@@uhjohnny_6066 did what fool

[@thanhizon3582]

7 years ago he said have a nice day, Now 2019 because of this I had a fucking nice day thanks man

[@rara4]

hahaha nice! same thing happened to me too :p

[@victorwainaina2584]

Straight to the point. No frills. Just straight up instructions that work.

[@TheyCallMeMagz]

I came here 7 years after this was initially posted, but it still saved my hide. Thanks, man.

[@rahulnarayan1983]

Was able to recover my usb drive. Instructions were precise and excellent. Thank you so much for this awesome video

[@chosenideahandle]

It's insane this problem has never been properly addressed in all these years (command lines to fix a problem that's as old as thumb drives themselves). Thanks for the vid PK.

[@ambrosia7924]

They added it years ago, check out disk management, much easier

[@loriharrington542]

This is perfect. I don't know how I have never found this tutorial before. Always wondered why this happened and if it could be fixed. You just brought many of my storage devices back to life, thank you.

[@Bosonator2]

I love a video that is quick, clear, and makes the problem go "bye-bye", just like this one. Thanks bud!

[@jamalwedderburn9591]

This was a very helpful video. Fixed my issue right away. Thanks!

[@huzaifarashid1999]

You ARE A LIFESAVER !!! I thought my USB was dead but it showed the unallocated space and this helped me recover the lost space THANKS A BUNCH!!

[@AlanD96]

Sir I realize that you published this over 8 years ago but you are a KING! Every other explanation for my problem said it was with my operating system. You defined the problem on my 256 GB USB drive which was only giving me 32 GB. and brought it all back to me. THANKS!!!!

[@primar5422]

Step by step instructions that are easy to follow. My USB's now work. Your a God sent, thank you.

[@Polinize]

Thank you sooooooo much, I've had a flash drive that i couldnt use for about a year. Now I can use it again. Thankssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[@jcguo123]

2019 you saved me from throwing 50 bucks, and spend another 50 bucks, here is my like for you

[@fishpaleryder393]

It's now 2018 (6 years apart) and your video worked like a charm on my Windows 10. Cheers mate!

[@XanderLovecraft]

6 year old video, and it STILL helped me fix my issue. Thank you!!!!

[@datagrizzly1027]

This helped me in 2019! Thank you!

[@RBTheMechanic]

GOOD VIDEO I HAD 32 GB SHOWING ME IT ONLY HAD 200MB I TRIED IT ALL THIS WORKED THANKS!!!

[@assnxjs241]

Wow this was so simple and loved how he got to the point not like other vids where people just want to hear themselves talk. Just subscribed. Thanks

[@londontaxijim9526]

Followed your step by step advice and my memory stick has now returned to its original 32G. You, Sir, are a star.

[@Repented008]

....my _God_ you're a lifesaver. Thanks bro!

[@BenJones]

Thanks a lot for this! That was super easy and saved me from taking a hammer to the flash drive!

[@liamsfinest]

We need more people like this person. Thank you!

[@liamstacey2666]

can confirm that 8 whole years on this still works. and you my sir are a legend.

[@sandiebeauty2067]

Thank you very much, perfect.

[@harudo_]

You are a life saver thankyou.

[@ivanfils4193]

12 years later it's still work, thanks 🙏🏽

[@rangersmith4652]

Brilliant! Clear, concise, and effective instructions.

[@JMRVRGS]

Thanks bro! And for the KZbin Algorithm!

[@forgodandcountry6554]

Worked pretty good. Flash drive was reading 32 GB when it's a 64gb flash drive. Followed your instructions, ended up with 6 59.5 GB. Would be nice if you slow down for us newbies.

[@wastedboy23]

ahahahah

[@treeyanart]

My USB got back to full capacity! Thanks for uploaded this video. Its really useful!

[@SW33wNecie]

Saved my ass after failing to install RemixOS! Thanks!

[@karanchampaneri1690]

+Hyperion HQ Automated Informator same thing happen to me lol

[@diyaquarist2480]

+Hyperion HQ Automated Informator same happened to me

[@TheSparkZone]

+Hyperion HQ Automated Informator Same here Buddy, tried to install RemixOS!

[@alyamanmaasarani7832]

+Hyperion HQ Automated Informator the same thing with me Remix OS is not working properly I could lose must of my brother's flash disk and buy another hahaha thanks!!

[@ppprrriiinnnccceee]

+Hyperion HQ Automated Informator i also had to watch this vid coz i failed to install remix os properly

[@Mrsherryvlogs]

thanks buddy

[@dirtyunclehubert]

dude. what can i say. youre a real hero and a real human being.

[@AnimeExplorer365]

This video from 2012 and saved me a lot of time! THANKS

[@ZoltanHubert]

Darktron is right. Only need to select disk and clean. Run Command Prompt as admin is not necessary either. Commands to get through it quickly running Command Prompt: Press Windows button type cmd diskpart Choose Yes (Opens new window, however if I run cmd as admin it does not.) list disk select disk n clean create partition primary format fs=ntfs label=MyPenDrive quick exit exit

[@marceloantonio3009]

Thank you very much!

[@vanshbatra7640]

thanx this really work thanx a lot

[@woshiq2]

Zoltan Hubert u rock dude

[@solja221]

HOLY shit you are a god! thank you so much!!! that is waaaay beter :D thanks

[@dfshjb44]

awesome thanks so much

[@itailevin]

THX WORKS IN WINDOWS 10

[@olivertv6175]

Short and to the point, thanks!

[@matthewhodge4215]

One of the most useful videos on this site

[@MeepMeep88]

I'm here because Chrome Recovery felt like being an ass to my flash drive -_-)

[@Darktron]

you can just select the disk then Clean then make the new partition way faster :)

[@Darktron]

No need to select the partition just clean the hole disk then make the new partition and format :)

[@59thbridge]

Way better!

[@ilijaxxx]

Same here, thanks Darktron and PKVsChannel for this video

[@Darktron]

all credits to the creator of this video im just a user trying to help :)

[@johnneumann1425]

You're amazing and the creator of the video too!

[@truelovemaking9270]

Thank you! I truly appreciate you making an easy step by step video on how to recover space from most detachable devices. Btw, I watched other videos on this topic but noticed that they were geared to techies. But, I had no trouble understanding your instructions and was able to recover 94.8% memory! FYI, I use this newly restored usb device to record the many (5-10 sec) video clips from various security cameras. Again thank you!🙏🏼

[@rarespetrusamartean5433]

omg an actually helpful tech guide on youtube from a non-professional dude awesome stuff

[@Quirky.Turtle69]

"cannot delete a protected partition without the force protected parameter set."

[@Quirky.Turtle69]

if anyone gets this issue, use the command DELETE PARTITION OVERRIDE to bypass it

[@Sequeira]

Thanks man you save my life

[@davinci6429]

I got the same problem , you just follow the steps that he has done

[@jonathanbrumbelow5659]

Thanks man

[@jamesbuckie1]

you are the man

[@legenderyx572]

In my case 8 gb sd card is shown as 512kb and whenbi tried to select partition 1 it say s no partition selected

[@one-stopkilling2236]

Go into diskpart type "list disk" (without quotes) then select the one that your trying to fix then type "clean" then type "create partition primary" (all of that with out quotes of course) then format it

[@bhupendrapaliwal518]

one-stop killing I did but it says no usable free extent could be found

[@Dave52732]

Thanks PKV, this instruction was just what I needed for a 16gb thumbdrive that had been used as an installer, and then I could not recover the drive back to full capacity.

[@zGameFreakz]

Thanks! This was just what I needed! Also thank you for the quick, no extra garbage explanation.

[@user-qi3lv5og4v]

it says The disk is not initialized. wat to do sir help??

[@shakeuwakeu1480]

just keep going do what he says and ignore the error messages. Iit worked for me and others at the end... :-)

[@CoolDudeClem]

It doesnt work, I followed this up to "select parttion 1", but when I type that in is says "The selected partition is not valid". WTF does that even mean? I'm trying to restore the capacity of an 8GB Memory Stick that somehow is now only 1.something GB.

[@danielperez08]

it worked for me. got my 8gb usb drive restored to original capacity.

[@ArturGrigio]

You're supposed to select the partition that corresponds to your device (in my case it was "disk 4")

[@T.Cuklic]

Artur Grigio soo you typed select partition 4? or select partition 1 like he did?

[@CoolDudeClem]

Tim Čuklič I can't even remember now, after all that I just decided to look for some software that would do it easily without all that faffing around DOS.

[@Fabulos1]

CoolDudeClem create partition primary,because if there is something wrong you won't have a partition

[@saoirsestark3903]

Thank you so much! Your video has been saving flashdrives since 2012! I used this now and I will continue to use this if ever needed. Thanks, man! :D

[@LuciferBalor]

Thank you, sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar.

[@kingofme2481]

THX my 32 gb got reduced to only 3 gb .-.

[@BBMempire]

KING OF ME lmao same

[@St3amPunk]

My drive completely disappeared and it wont reappear even if i take it out and put it back in. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

[@rachitgoel1508]

same happened with me, do find any solution?

[@St3amPunk]

Rachit Goel not yet

[@missellenmartin4152]

@quantumlithium and @rachitgoel I had the same problem, check out my comment, I fixed it

[@rachitgoel1508]

@@missellenmartin4152 Thanks

[@slickfire1579]

MissEllenMartin where can i gind your comment?

[@AttosGarcia]

Excellent. Just what I was looking form. Also, explained very clearly. Thanks for posting.

[@martynkilroy5125]

Absolutely brilliant. Very easy to follow for a know nothing about pc's. Thank you.

[@roqperi94]

what if it says "The specified partition is not valid. Please select a valid partition.There is no partition selected."what the hell do I do from here?

[@Evertb1]

Just give the "clean" command and see what happen

[@joesipes9145]

welp its been a year but you gotta go to command Prompt type "diskpart" then in diskpart you do "list disk" then select your usb drive and than say "clean" then say "create primary partition" then it will probs give you an error just ignore it then say "exit" now you can format the drive

[@Matori001]

doesnt work :,(

[@henryl.bryant5814]

This Instructional Video Is Very Comprehensive With A No Nonsense Basic Analytical Approach. I Solved The USB Drive Size Error On The First Attempt At Resolution. Thank You Stone Designs.

[@PjotrGiling]

Dude!!! The 'Clean' option was my lifesaver. My USB disk only had 8MB of the original 8GB it should have. Tried DISKPART many times, but the CLEAN option did it! Thanks!

[@wolfik244]

10 years old and still very good video! Thx for help ❤

[@ryzzkyle2386]

Very nice solution ...it worked for me .My 8GB Pen drive was reduced to 3GB and now I have recovered the full space .Thankyou so much sir.

[@GameOnePiece007]

Still use this in 2018, still works fine, thank you so much!

[@jakejames4389]

by far the best easiest way to do this and i didnt have to download any junk programs, thanks so much

[@Moukraan]

Thanks a lot, this video helped me back in 2018 and now I had the same problem so I came back to this video.

[@alexandsimba]

2020 and this old video helped me fix my flash drive. Thanks :D

[@sdkid6059]

Cool video; got me back up running in the amount of time that it took to watch; Thanks.

[@Pontie66]

Thanks for sharing this with all of us around here... I was struggling to format my pen drive Linux bootable so this tutorial came handy... I fixed my issue, and got back my full pen drive

[@mdnadimmir1464]

10 years old video solved my problem...i can't belive this...thanks a lot ...may Allah bless you....lot of love.....

[@Omer10769]

Excellent info! Just restored my USB to full capacity. Thanks bro!

[@kjuarez29]

Disk Management nor Disk Utility in the Mac fixes this issue. Its a testament to the failure in both companies! Thanks for the posting this it fixed my issue!

[@md.masudhaider551]

Man you're a USB saver. I thought my 64gb usb was gone. Thanks a lot !!!!!

[@paulogaliluyo191]

Awesome, restored both my USB drives! Thanks man

[@RockyWearsAHat]

You are a real life saver, I used a 128 GB USB that my family uses for backup, I knew it would wipe all the data, so I moved that to the family computer, the installed DBAN on the USB, after uninstalling DBAN because my friend who needed it didn't anymore, I couldn't reformat it back to storing and having its full capacity. Not all heroes wear capes.

[@nduri2]

I take that back, you are a lifesaver!!! You just won the Internet!!!

[@jeric_synergy8581]

Very helpful, even six years later. THANKS.

[@haight78]

Thanks PKV in a very straight forward manor you solved this problem for me!

[@WovenBrute]

September 5th 2019 and it still works like a charm. Thanks a bunch!

[@SumanYadav-gn6fw]

This guy is a life saver.

[@mehulshah7205]

done. and this was extremely helpful for an amateur like me. thankyou so much. my flashdrive is yet again at full capacity

[@rockeryrocket8007]

This really helps a lot! It’s 2018 but it still works as it is in 2012. So thank you so much for this tutorial and I’m giving this video a thumbs up.

[@ashrafulalam86]

Hurray I have done it. Thanks a lot. Direction are easy to follow. Keep growing man

[@cherrybataluna2058]

Thank you so much I recovered my drive and because of that I'll subscribe! God bless you.

[@GottiSnafu]

Awesome Explanation & saved another drive from the trash !!!

[@masonm5173]

yes! thank you, this is the only version of this tutorial I've found that actually works.

[@Exmute]

Thank you! Excatly what i was looking for. Usually forget the commands etc :) On point and fast as i want it!

[@bmusteen]

Still works great!!! Thanks for the simple detail. Used it on Win10 without issue and saved a great 64GB Sandisk.

[@markjames4360]

2020 and still works...thanks man!

[@Zaphodcracknut]

Brilliant and much easier than some and nice and short, worked a treat, THANK YOU!!!

[@yourside5413]

2020 much love sir , hope u guys all the joy and success :D

[@kdpjsp]

Excellent! Helped me turn a useless 117MB Micro SD card BACK into its original 8GB capacity. Thanks and a BIG THUMBS UP!

[@razvanmerce]

Very nice tutorial, still working in 2021, thank you very much

[@DavidArroyo78]

Great Vid!!! This was the only way my simpleton mind was able to correct the issue!!

[@9Speno3]

thank you so much! I was super annoyed when this happened to my usb but this guide fixed it right up!

[@fionag210]

I can't thank you enough man. I know you posted this years ago but credit where credit is due. I mucked up my usb and it went from 16 GB to absolute 0. Now got 14 GB back so i am a happy bunny. You are a lifesaver for the dumb asses like me.

[@CKent84]

Amazing video and instructions. Saved my flash drive! At times you might have a specific issue that will make you think this video won't do the job - in that case look through the comments section for input from other viewers who may have found a solution (as in my case).

[@Elb0ng0]

Old video, but still holds up. Thanks.

[@nightwolf29]

Thank you so much, I just restore my USB drive to its full capacity by watching this video :)