Question:

How can I restore the full capacity of my Buffalo SSD-PUT 1TB thumb drive after using it to install Windows on a new PC?

I bought this thumb drive on a good sale and used it to download Windows from my laptop and transfer it to my newly built PC. However, after the installation, the thumb drive only shows about 32GB of storage instead of 1TB. Did I damage the thumb drive or is there a way to fix this issue?

Answer:

How to Restore the Full Capacity of Your Buffalo SSD-PUT 1TB Thumb Drive After Using It to Install Windows on a New PC

If you have recently used your Buffalo SSD-PUT 1TB thumb drive to install Windows on a new PC, you might have noticed that the thumb drive now shows only about 32GB of storage instead of 1TB. This is because the Windows installation process creates a bootable partition on the thumb drive, which occupies most of the space. The good news is that you did not damage the thumb drive, and there is a way to fix this issue and restore the full capacity of your thumb drive. In this article, we will show you how to do that using two methods: using Disk Management and using Command Prompt.

Disk Management is a built-in tool in Windows that allows you to manage your disks and partitions. You can use it to delete the bootable partition on your thumb drive and create a new one that uses the full capacity. Here are the steps to do that:

• Connect your thumb drive to your PC and open Disk Management. You can do this by pressing Windows + R to open the Run window, typing diskmgmt.msc and pressing Enter.
• In Disk Management, you will see a list of all the disks and partitions on your PC. Find your thumb drive and right-click on the bootable partition (the one that has a blue bar on top and says “Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)”). Select “Delete Volume” from the menu and confirm the action.
• After deleting the bootable partition, you will see a black bar on top of your thumb drive that says “Unallocated”. This means that the space is free and ready to be used. Right-click on the unallocated space and select “New Simple Volume” from the menu.
• A wizard will guide you through the process of creating a new partition on your thumb drive. You can accept the default settings and click “Next” until you reach the “Format Partition” screen. Here, you can choose a file system (NTFS is recommended for general use), a volume label, and whether to perform a quick format or not. We suggest you uncheck the “Perform a quick format” box, as this will ensure that the thumb drive is formatted properly and any errors are fixed. Click “Next” and then “Finish” to complete the process.
• Once the formatting is done, you will see a green bar on top of your thumb drive that says “Healthy (Primary Partition)”. This means that your thumb drive has been restored to its full capacity and is ready to use.

Method 2: Using Command Prompt

Command Prompt is another built-in tool in Windows that allows you to execute commands and perform various tasks. You can use it to clean your thumb drive and create a new partition that uses the full capacity. Here are the steps to do that:

• Connect your thumb drive to your PC and open Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by pressing Windows + X and selecting “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu.
• In Command Prompt, type diskpart and press Enter. This will launch a separate command-line tool called DiskPart, which is used to manage disks and partitions.
• In DiskPart, type list disk and press Enter. This will show you a list of all the disks on your PC. Find your thumb drive and note its disk number (for example, Disk 1).
• Type select disk X and press Enter, where X is the disk number of your thumb drive. This will select your thumb drive and make it the active disk for the next commands.
• Type clean and press Enter. This will erase all the data and partitions on your thumb drive, leaving it as a blank disk.
• Type create partition primary and press Enter. This will create a new primary partition on your thumb drive that uses the full capacity.
• Type format fs=ntfs label=”Your Label” quick and press Enter. This will format the new partition on your thumb drive with the NTFS file system, give it a label of your choice, and perform a quick format. You can replace “Your Label” with any name you want for your thumb drive.
• Type exit and press Enter to exit DiskPart. Then type exit and press Enter again to exit Command Prompt.

After following these steps, your thumb drive should be restored to its full capacity and ready to use.

Conclusion

We

hope this article helped you to restore the full capacity of your Buffalo SSD-PUT 1TB thumb drive after using it to install Windows on a new PC. As you can see, it is not a difficult task and you can do it using either Disk Management or Command Prompt. However, before you do that, make sure you have backed up any important data on your thumb drive, as the process will erase everything on it. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below.