Recovering the original storage capacity of an external hard drive

[switsam]

I used my LG 1terabyte external hard drive to perform system recovery for my hp system running windows 8.1, after that my 1TB external hard drive storage capacity changed to 30gig. Please how do I recover the original size of the hard disk 1TB?

 

[Matt Dobe]

Right click and format in my computer. Do a full one and it should tell you its 1tb.

 

[_Tiki_]

Be aware that anytime you partition/format the drive, you are essentially wiping the data from it. Therefore if you have data on the drive, ensure to back it up first. My sense is that there may be unallocated space on the drive. I would recommend you access Disk Management and verify how the drive appears there. If needed, you can format the drive from there and ensure to make one whole partition.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there switsam,

In case you don't need the data, you can just reformat the drive as the other guys have already suggested.
In case you need the data though, you will need to use some kind of partition recovery software. Just keep in mind that some of the data could be overwritten. Check this out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/298544-32-accidentally-turned-external-hard-drive-recovery-disk

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD