If you back up less than the drive capacity, the left-over space will still be available for other backups, or for any other file storage you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2442<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT \/ QUESTION<\/strong> on THIS ITEM?<\/strong> See the<\/em> Comment box<\/strong> at bottom of this page!<\/em> Formatting and backing up are two separate things. Formatting comes first: it sets the drive up to be able to record and deliver data. Formatting uses a little of the drive\u2019s capacity for itself; what\u2019s left is the amount of data you can actually put on that drive. For example, an 8GB flash drive will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-Do","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1185,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/28\/a-reader-asks-why-does-my-drive-label-say-1tb-but-windows-reports-only-930-960gb\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: Why does my drive label say 1TB, but Windows reports only 930-960GB?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-28","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: Why do I see 1TB of storage on my hard drive label but only 930-960GB when it's plugged to my computer? (via Quora) A: The drive is sold by raw capacity; but must first be partitioned and formatted before use, and that process consumes some space. An analogy: Think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/21\/a-reader-asks-why-does-tech-support-think-that-formatting-your-hard-drive-is-the-only-solution-for-all-your-pc-problems\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?\" (via Quora) A. Holy smokes! Who told you that? If that\u2019s your experience with tech support, you really should change techs, brands, stores --- or wherever it is you\u2019re getting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1588,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/07\/a-reader-asks-how-can-you-fix-an-sd-card-which-cannot-be-formatted\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: “How can you fix an SD card which cannot be formatted?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-07","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: \"How can you fix an SD card which cannot be formatted? Every time I reformat it the files are still there.\" A: The card is probably write-protected by hardware; or by software; or is simply broken. Hardware write-protection: Examine the card for a \"lock\" or \"write protect\" slider or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/write-protect.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2045,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/15\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-sense-of-backing-up-data-on-your-hard-drive-if-it-is-lost-when-the-computer-crashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “What is the sense of backing up data on your hard drive if it is lost when the computer crashes?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-15","format":false,"excerpt":"You're right. There's absolutely no sense in that. Storing backups on the same physical hardware as the original is a terrible idea because, as you say, any major PC problem that takes out the original is also likely to take out the backup. You'd be left with nothing. True backup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2742,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/can-i-increase-my-ram-using-a-pen-drive-also-can-i-change-the-pen-drive-back-after-i-am-done\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":4},"title":"“Can I increase my RAM using a pen drive? Also, can I change the pen drive back after I am done?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-10","format":false,"excerpt":"Not exactly. But if you\u2019re using Windows, you can use a capable flash device to speed your system a different way: It\u2019s called ReadyBoost, and it\u2019s been built into the OS since the days of Vista. ReadyBoost lets your PC use a flash device as a predictive (\"prefetch\") cache, preloading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4973,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/15\/can-i-use-a-usb-2-0-flash-drive-in-a-usb-3-0-port\/","url_meta":{"origin":2442,"position":5},"title":"“Can I use a USB 2.0 flash drive in a USB 3.0 port?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2020-05-15","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Roksana Parvin Yasmin) Sure, as long as both devices and their software (e.g. drivers) were manufactured to formal USB standards, they should work fine. USB is designed to be backwards (lower-numbered) compatible, meaning that a USB 3 port will work fine with USB 3, USB 2, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/usb.jpg?fit=425%2C425&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2448,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442\/revisions\/2448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"[seperator]\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEPERATOR-short-grey.png?resize=104%2C6\")
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