If you want to format a USB stick, you choose to completely empty the USB stick and format it in a specific file system, for example FAT32, NTFS or exFAT. You can then use the USB stick again with new data.
There is a possibility that the USB stick will not format completely empty. By this I mean that the total capacity of the USB stick is, for example, 16GB, but that when formatting Windows indicates that the USB stick can be formatted up to 14GB.
There will then be 2GB of space left on the USB stick that you cannot use. The total capacity of the USB stick is not used.
To resolve this issue, please use the instructions below. What you will do is restore the USB drive to its original full capacity in Windows 10 or Windows 11. You can also use these instructions to format the USB device normally.
Completely format USB stick in Windows 11 or Windows 10
You can also perform these instructions with an external hard drive.
Right-click on the Start button. In the menu click on Run. In the run window type: cmd.exe and press the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER. You will now run the Command Prompt as an Administrator.
Now insert the USB stick into the computer and Make sure the USB stick is recognized by Windows.
Is there any data on the USB or external drive that you need? Secure this now by copying the data to a safe folder on your PC.
You are now going to execute a number of commands. Enter these commands and confirm with the enter key. Read step 3 carefully and make the right choice.
- diskpart
- list disk
- select diskX
Replace X with the number indicated in the result “list disk” for the USB stick. Here you will see “Disk 0”, “Disk 1”, “Disk 2” etc. in a column. You enter the number of the disk that the USB stick has been assigned. You can use the “Size” column to determine which disk number the USB stick is. Make sure you select the correct disk number! No idea? To difficult? Then close. - clean
- create partition primary
Now close the Command Prompt window. Open Windows Explorer. First click on “This PC” on the left and right-click on the drive letter that has been assigned to the USB stick. In the menu click on “Format”.
You are now going to format the USB with the maximum capacity. You can see the maximum capacity in “Capacity”.
I recommend using the USB format in the exFAT file system. You can use this file system on a Windows PC as well as a Mac computer. Linux is also possible, with some adjustments.
Cluster size depends on the total capacity of the USB stick or external hard drive. If your USB or drive does not exceed 32GB maximum capacity, select “32 kilobytes”. If the capacity is greater than 32GB, select “128KB”.
| 7MB–256MB | 4 KB |
| 256MB–32GB | 32 kilobytes |
| 32GB–256TB | 128 kilobytes |
| >256TB | Not supported by exFAT |
Note: Clicking Start will erase all data on the USB or external hard drive. This should be clear by now.
I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!
Good Morning,
I thought this would be useful to use the full capacity of my new Seagate expansion 5TB drive.
Unfortunately, after step 5 create partition primary (which ended as indicated above), the disk was NO longer visible in the explorer.
So I could no longer perform the next steps (formatting).
What to do now?
Hello, open Disk Management and check if the disk is visible there. Assign a new drive letter or format the drive using Disk Management with automatic cluster sizing. Good luck!