I have an 8GB Sony USB memory stick and only 49 MB are being detected. I've tried on multiple USB ports and tried formatting it several times.
I checked it for errors and it said none are found. I want to use it to install Windows 8 off of but 49MB is way too small.
By the way, what's the most universally accepted name: thumbdrive, usb memory stick, jump drive, flash drive (I thought flash memory was for digital cameras)?
Best Answer
Probably you've flashed some boot USB or ISO image which have size of only ~49MB. That process clears the flash drive's MBR and replaces it with the one in the image that contains a small partition. You can verify that by opening
diskmgmt.msc
and check if there is only a single 49MB partitionIf that's correct then just delete and recreate the partition. Or use some 3rd party partitioning tools like gparted, or EaseUS® Partition Master or MiniTool® Partition Wizard Home Edition to extend/recreate the partition
Another GUI solution is Rufus
If you don't want to use GUI then there's the built-in
diskpart
that you can read about its usage in the other questionSee also