128GB Flash Drive Showing Only 32GB | Why It’s Only Showing 32GB?

Is your Memory Card the incorrect size, or is your flash drive using up less space on the computer? There’s nothing to worry about. First, format this same SD card to its maximum capacity to recover the missing volume and correct the SD card which is displaying the wrong size fault. Then, only when you failed to build a backup of your data before formatting the SD card, use an expert Recovery Tool such as Remo SD Card Recovery software to retrieve the data again from configured SD card.

Why 128GB Flash Drive Only Shows 32GB and How to Get Back the Rest Storage?

There are several reasons for your SD card is displaying the incorrect size. It could be caused by –

1. Technical faults on your SD card and otherwise USB drive,
2. Faulty sectors,
3. Computer viruses,
4. Damaged partitions in your device,
5. The SD card is faulty.

Many people have complained that their SD card or Flash drive doesn’t even have the amount of storage space that they had expected there to be. So, if it’s the issue, it simply implies that you have taken the incorrect SD card with you. Below are the most typical reasons for your SD card does not have enough space to save all of your data and shows up your 128 Gb flash drive is only 32 Gb.

Three major factors are usually responsible for this occurrence: 

• Infection with a virus 
• SD card that is too cheap or unreliable 
• Card reader and SD card are incompatible with one other.

1. High-Capacity Flash Drive

Commonly, this mistake occurs in high-capacity flash drives, including SDHC or SDXC cards, in which the storage of SD cards may exceed well over 250 gigabytes. Because the hosting device will produce a smaller segment if both the memory card and the host system cannot support such large capacities, then the host system will produce a smaller division. 

2. Supported Storage Capacity is Limited

Simply said, a camcorder or a smartphone may only be capable of supporting a storage capacity of up to 32 GB. For example, when you put an SD card with a storage of 128 gigabytes into a host device, this same host device will produce a sector of 32 gigabytes by default, and thus the extra space will then be designated as unassigned.

In such instances, the storage capacity on your SD card or another type of flash drive would be reduced. 

3. Limited Flash Memory Storage

There are a few more possibilities for why flash memory storage might be limited, including bad sectors. Broken sectors are memory sectors that have been damaged and therefore do not respond to read data commands. Alternatively, a common virus assault could corrupt the Master boot record (MBR) of such a USB drive (the MBR is similar to the indexing of the file system in which all the information of the system is preserved), resulting in a reduction in the capability of the card.

How Do Fix 128 GB Flash Drive Showing Only 32 GB

Method 1. To Restore the Maximum Capability of an SD Card, Run the Diskpart Cmd Command

Step 1: First, you have to get the SD card that is attached to your PC.

Step 2: Then, you have to right-click on the Start option and there, you have to select the Command Prompt (Admin) from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Now, once you are there, you have to sign in there as administrator and you have to type the following: 

diskpart to bring up DiskPart

list disk and press Enter

select disk 1 (Replace 1 with both the disk amount of your SD card then press the Enter key to continue)

clean and press Enter

Step 4: To make a primary partition here on disinfected SD card, you have to type create partition primary into the command line and press ENTER.

Step 5: Again, you have to type the following:

format fs=ntfs or format fs=exfat and press ENTER for formatting the SSD drive with NTFS or exFAT

assign letter=drive letter (Give the drive a character name.)

exit and press Enter

Another thing to remember is that while the DiskPart CMD command will assist you in cleaning the entire SD card, then you will have to develop a new sector in addition to making the SD card used for storing files once more. Consequently, you may utilize the Disk Management system in Windows 10 or any other Mac Computer to make a new segment on your hard drive.

When establishing a new sector on an SD card, take care not to overwrite existing partitions. Even just a small amount of misinformation can cause damage to the SD card’s partitioning map, which can result in significant loss of data in the long run. For those who find themselves unable to make a new division or edit a partition map on their SD card.

Method 2: To Reformat and Recover the SD Card to Its Original Capacity, Use the Disk Management Program

The following steps should be followed to completely reformat the SD card & recover its entire capacity:

Step 1: First, you have to right-click on This PC or My Computer option on your desktop and navigate to the Manage.

Step 2: Then, you have to select the Disk Management option. You will find it under the Device Manager.

Step 3: Once you find it, you have to right-click on the SD card, and then, you have to select the Format Volume from the drop-down menu.

Step 4: Finally, follow the on-screen steps to perform the format procedure. You have to rename and then, reset the storage device of the SD card to NTFS or FAT32, depending on your requirements.

You can choose the approach you want to use to restore your SD card ready for work properly at a later time. Remember, though, that you must first retrieve the information from the sd card. Even though you will restore the entire capacity of the Memory card and will be ready to use that for saving and storing information once more, resetting your SD card may lose data if you’ve not already backed up the contents on your computer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Restore My USB Flash Drive to Full Size?

To restore the USB flash drive to full capacity, connect the USB drive to your computer and select it. Then, right-click it, and select format. Finally, set the drive letter and file system on USB, and click “Yes” to confirm formatting the USB.

What is the Minimum Space to Get from 128 GB?

The space available on a 128 GB UBS storage should be at least 119 GB. It is because 128 GB comes to 128000000000 bytes and on reverse conversion, it should be 128000000000/(1024*1024*1024) GB = 119 GB.

Why 128 GB is Not 128gb?

128 GB and 128gb aren’t the same because the computer measures storage capacity in GiB, instead of measuring in GB. 128 GB is equal to 128 billion bytes. But it is measured in the multiplication of 1024 megabytes where 1 megabyte = 1024 kilobytes and 1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes. 

Conclusion

Here are the fixing methods that you can apply when your 128 Gb flash drive shows only 32 Gb. You have to follow the steps properly to use the full storage of your flash drive.