What Is the Storage Capacity of a Flash Drive?

You should always peek if your flash drive has enough space to hold every file you want to transfer.

It’s easy to know the storage capacity of a flash drive from File Explorer.

Flash drive prompt on Windows 11 highlighted

Plug the flash drive into a USB port.

An autoplay notification can pop up on the right prompting you to take action on the flash drive.

Ignore it and move to the next step.

Windows File Explorer with This PC highlighted

PressWin+Eto open File Explorer.

you might also open File Explorer by clicking its folder icon on the Windows taskbar.

SelectThis PCin the left sidebar.

Flash drive under Devices and drives in File Explorer

The USB flash drive icon is displayed on the right window under theDevices and drivessection.

The storage capacity of the flash drive is indicated below the icon.

Right-tap the USB flash drive icon and selectPropertieson the menu.

Flash drive right-click menu with Properties highlighted

Ensure theGeneraltab of the Properties dialog is visible.

The number of bytes next toFree spaceis the amount of free storage on your USB drive.

The total size of the drive is next toCapacity.

Flash drive capacity highlighted

A pie chart displays the ratio of free space to used space.

How Do I Free Up Space on a Flash Drive?

Flash drivesare inexpensive backup devices.

Show any hidden items in File Explorer

But that doesn’t mean you should hoard them with files you don’t need.

Go toFile Explorer>This PC>Devices and drives.

Insert your flash drive into a free USB port.

Flash drive context menu with Format highlighted

Double-click or go for the flash drive to open it.

From the File Explorer menu bar, selectView>Show>Hidden itemsto reveal any hidden files and folders.

go for the files you want to delete and press theDeletekey on your keyboard.

Quick Format option highlighted in drive properties

it’s possible for you to’t undo this action.

Right-tap on the flash drive to pop swing open the context menu.

SelectQuick Formatto erase the flash drive quickly.

Leave that box unchecked if you want it to wipe the drive and also check for any bad sectors.

For a full format, choose betweenexFAT or NTFS.

SelectStartto format the flash drive and remove all contents.

FAQ

Flash drives arent a one-size-fits-all technology.

you could find USB flash drives with capacities of less than 1 GB to more than 1 TB.

How much data you want to store is the deciding factor whenselecting a flash drive.

A hard drive is a data storage machine used to expand a computer’s memory.

It has platters on which data is written.

Unlike a hard drive or optical drive, a flash drive doesn’t have moving parts.