Why does my usb have less space than it says?

When the drive is formatted or partitioned (especially during creating bootable drives) if USB have less space than it says, some space may be allocated to system partitions or hidden areas, reducing the visible usable space.

Why does USB have less space than it says? Please ensure you're selecting the correct drive, and understand that hardware issues or firmware restrictions may not be fixable with this method. If the drive continues to show less space after these steps, consider testing the drive on another computer or contacting the manufacturer for support.

There are some disadvantages and risks associated with this process, especially if your USB have less space than it says:

• The clean command erases all data, partitions, and file systems on the drive. If you haven't backed up important files, they will be permanently lost.
• Sometimes, the drive may have hidden or unallocated partitions that are not fully removed by clean, especially if the drive has hardware issues or firmware restrictions. This can cause the drive to still report less space.
• If the drive has physical problems, such as bad sectors or hardware faults, reformatting won't fix these issues and could potentially worsen them.
• If you select the wrong disk (e.g., a different drive), you could erase important data from other drives, leading to data loss.
• If the discrepancy in space is due to firmware or controller issues, Diskpart won't fix it. The drive might need replacement or specialized repair.
• Some manufacturers may void the warranty if you perform low-level formatting or modifications beyond standard use.

Here’s a straightforward, no-fuss way to use Disk Management in Windows to fix the “Why does USB have less space than it says” issue.
1. Open Disk Management  
Press Windows key + X, then select Disk Management.
Alternatively, press Windows key + R, type diskmgmt.msc, and hit Enter.

2. Find your USB drive  
Look for your USB drive in the list at the bottom.
It might be labeled as Removable and will show the current partition and size.

3. Check for unallocated space  
If you see a big chunk of "Unallocated" space on the drive (that’s the missing capacity), that’s the issue.

4. Delete existing partition(s) 
Right-click on the partition(s) of your USB drive and select Delete Volume.
Confirm when prompted.
Warning: This deletes all data on those partitions!

5. Create a new partition that uses the full drive  
After deleting, the whole drive should now show as Unallocated space equal to the full capacity.
Right-click on the Unallocated space, select New Simple Volume.
Follow the wizard:
Click Next
Set the Volume size to the maximum (default)
Assign a drive letter
Choose File System (NTFS or exFAT)
Check Perform a quick format
Click Finish

6. Wait for the formatting to complete  
Once done, your drive should now show the full capacity in Windows Explorer.

Hope the above sharing can help you solve the problem of "Why does USB have less space than it says".

Only a small portion of its total capacity is visible or usable - most likely it has a partition that is much smaller than the actual drive size. When creating a bootable Windows USB, the process usually involves deleting existing partitions and creating new ones, which can sometimes cause this discrepancy if not all partitions are properly deleted or reformatted.

Why does USB have less space than it says? You can use Diskpart (Command Line):

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator.
2. Type diskpart and press Enter.
3. Type list disk and press Enter (identify your USB drive by size).
4. Type select disk X (replace X with your USB drive letter).
5. Type clean and press Enter (this will erase all partitions and data).
6. Type create partion primary.
7. Type format fs=ntfs quick (or exFAT).
8. Type assign.
9. Type exit.

If the drive is genuinely smaller than the advertised size, or if the steps above don’t work to "Why does USB have less space than it says", it may be a fake drive or defective. In that case, consider replacing it with a verified, genuine product.

In your case, since the drive shows less space than it should, it’s probably just a partitioning issue or leftover boot info. Fixing that by repartitioning or reformatting is pretty routine and doesn’t usually harm the drive itself—unless the drive is physically damaged or counterfeit (which is rare but worth checking).

Why does USB have less space than it says? A quick warning based on real-world stuff: some cheap or fake USB drives might report a fake capacity (like 32GB when they’re actually much smaller). If that’s the case, no amount of reformatting will fix the capacity issue because the drive isn’t actually that big. You can test this with tools like H2testw — it’ll tell you if the drive is lying about its size.

If it’s just a partition problem, fixing it is pretty safe — just make sure to back up your data first. If the drive is a fake or physically messed up, then messing with partitions won’t help and could even make things worse.

Open Disk Management.

Locate your USB drive in the list. If it shows only a 32GB partition and some unallocated space Right-click each partition and select Delete Volume (this will erase all data). Once all space is unallocated, right-click it and select New Simple Volume. Format it.

You should be good to go after formatting

Can you plug in the USB and go to "Create and format Hard Disk Partition" 

And show us there how much the USB space is.