I have an USB which says it has 32GB but in my file it says 28.6GB.
@Hoang
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This is clearly a case of misrepresentation. A 32GB drive should have 29.8GiB of user addressable space.
The natural capacity of the NAND flash ICs is 32GiB. That’s 34.36 GB. This leaves 2.36GB of overprovisioned space which should include the flash table and other firmware structures.
Shouldn’t it be 1.28GB of overprovisioned space?
Hi @Hoang
The 32GB on your USB refers to its decimal capacity (1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes), while your operating system reports capacity in binary (1GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes). This difference makes the usable space appear smaller, around 29.8GiB for a 32GB drive.
Additionally, some space is reserved for overprovisioning and system management, reducing the visible capacity further. Your USB showing 28.6GB is normal due to these factors. Let me know if you have more questions!
Open This PC. Right-click your USB drive. Select Properties. This will open a window that lists the exact number of Bytes and shows you the manufacturer’s decimal count and the computer’s binary count.
Flash drive makers use a decimal system (Base 10). They calculate 1 GB as exactly 1 billion bytes. Windows computers use a binary system (Base 2). They calculate 1 GB as 1,073,741,824 bytes.
When you plug a 32,000,000,000-byte drive into a computer, Windows divides that number by 1,073,741,824.32,000,000,000 / 1,073,741,824 = 29.8 GB
Your drive is not broken or fake. The remaining drop from 29.8 GB to your visible 28.6 GB is used by the drive itself. It reserves this small space for the file system (like FAT32, exFAT or NTFS), partition table and device metadata. Read also: How to Tell a Fake SD Card and How to Fix & Recover
