At least an 8GB stick, you won't need the full thing. Easier to get large thumbdrives then small ones these days. Answer from logicearth on reddit.com
Lenovo Support
support.lenovo.com › us › en › solutions › ht117511-how-to-create-a-usb-recovery-drive-and-use-drive-to-recover-windows-10
How to create a USB recovery drive and use the drive to recover Windows 10, 11 - Lenovo Support US
This article shows you how to Create a USB Recovery Drive and Use to Recover Windows 10, 11
EaseUS
easeus.com › data backup questions answered › how big is a windows 11 recovery usb?
How Big Is a Windows 11 Recovery USB? - EaseUS
June 30, 2025 - According to Microsoft's official statement, at least 16 GB of space is required to create a recovery USB drive. However, the size of the USB flash drive required to create the Windows 11 recovery drive varies from 1 GB to 32 GB.
Videos
💻 How to create Windows Recovery Drive | Overview | CHKDSK command ...
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How to Create a Windows 11 Recovery USB Drive - YouTube
How to Create a USB Recovery Drive for Windows 11 - YouTube
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How to Download and Install Windows 11 from USB Flash Drive for FREE!
04:11
How to Create a Windows 11 Recovery USB - YouTube
Microsoft Community Hub
techcommunity.microsoft.com › microsoft community hub › communities › products › windows › windows 11
Creating Windows USB Recovery Drive. 32GB Requirement | Microsoft Community Hub
Went to create a recovery USB drive on windows 11. After a while I was prompted to insert a USB drive of at least 32GB which I duly did but the "next" button stayed greyed out. After checking my USB drive I can see that there is actually only 28.8Gb available.
Lenovo Support
support.lenovo.com › us › en › solutions › ht035659-how-can-i-create-recovery-media-dvd-or-usb-or-order-recovery-media-dvd-or-usb-from-lenovo
Create Recovery Media (DVD or USB), or order Recovery Media (DVD or USB) from Lenovo - Lenovo Support US
Steps and instructions for creating or ordering Recovery Media (DVD or USB) from Lenovo
ZDNET
zdnet.com › home › tech › services & software › operating systems › windows
How to create a Windows recovery drive in 4 easy steps - before it's too late | ZDNET
February 13, 2025 - After the download finishes, you can double-click the ISO file in WIndows 10 or Windows 11 to mount it as a virtual DVD drive in File Explorer. Creating a basic recovery drive requires a USB drive that's at least 512MB.
Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › devices and drivers
Recovery Drive | Windows 11 Forum
July 22, 2024 - Does that mean i can use a USB Flash Drive? I was told that the Flash drive must be 32GB! Before I couldn't find a flash drive that I inserted into my PC nor was it working using my old ones. ... You only need that much space if you tick the box to back up your system files to the recovery drive.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/windows11 › what size flash drive do i need to install windows 11 pro oem?
r/Windows11 on Reddit: What size flash drive do I need to install windows 11 Pro OEM?
February 13, 2022 -
I believe I use windows 11 media creation tool to create the install for my new PC. How much storage space would my USB flash drive need to store the install data?
Top answer 1 of 9
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At least an 8GB stick, you won't need the full thing. Easier to get large thumbdrives then small ones these days.
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8GB. I just used one a couple of days ago and it worked perfectly fine. In my case I used rufus to create the bootable Windows 11 thumb drive from ISO image.
Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › answers › questions › 5353981 › size-flash-drive-do-i-need-for-windows-11
Size Flash Drive Do I Need for Windows 11? - Microsoft Q&A
To create a bootable USB drive for Windows 11 installation, Microsoft recommends a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of storage.
Eleven Forum
elevenforum.com › windows support forums › tutorials
Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Installation Media | Windows 11 Forum
July 27, 2021 - The installation USB can also be used as a recovery drive to boot to WinRE (aka: advanced startup). You must be signed in as an administrator to create a bootable Windows 11 installation USB. The USB flash drive needs to be at least 8 GB or larger ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/windowshelp › what size flash drive should i buy to wipe my pc and reinstall my os?
r/WindowsHelp on Reddit: What size flash drive should i buy to wipe my pc and reinstall my os?
December 16, 2024 -
Would this 256 gb drive be good or do i need more also
Also some one reccomend me a video on how to do it im completely new at this and like what i would need to do to re optmize my pc etc
Like absolutely everything dont leave anything out i dont want to mess up on this
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You only need like an 8gb flash drive. I just buy a cheap $5 like 16gb-32gb one for the Windows Installation Media. And just look on Youtube for a video, it's pretty much straight forward and will show you how to boot from a USB and then pick the drive to install Windows to and delete/format it using the installer.
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32gb is plenty
TechRepublic
techrepublic.com › home › how to create a usb recovery drive for windows 11
How to create a USB recovery drive for Windows 11 - TechRepublic
January 19, 2024 - For Windows 11, the size of the USB drive used for a recovery that includes system files should be at least 32GB.
Winfr
winfr.org › home › usb recovery
5 Methods to Create a Windows 11 Recovery USB [2025]
June 30, 2025 - Step 1: Download Rufus from the official site at rufus.ie, and run the application (it’s portable — no installation needed). Step 2: Insert your USB flash drive (at least 8 GB), then under Boot selection, click SELECT and choose your Windows ...
Aiseesoft
aiseesoft.com › solution › lenovo-recovery.html
Proven Ways to Lenovo Recovery in Windows 11/10 [Step-by-step]
January 3, 2025 - During this time, insert a blank DVD into your Lenovo computer. Set the optical drive and then choose “OK”. Wait for a while to complete the Lenovo recovery disk creation. ... Prepare a USB drive no less than 16GB first.
Help Desk Geek
helpdeskgeek.com › home › how-to › how to create and use a windows 11 recovery usb drive
How to Create and Use a Windows 11 Recovery USB Drive
January 31, 2025 - If you want to go ahead and set up a recovery USB drive, you need an adequately-sized flash drive—16-32 GB if you want it to include system files or 1 GBif you don’t.
IT trip
en.ittrip.xyz › windows › troubleshooting
Guide to USB Drive Capacity for Creating a Windows 11 Recovery Drive | IT trip
August 23, 2024 - When creating a recovery drive for Windows 11, a USB drive with at least 16GB of capacity is required. This capacity provides enough space to store basic Windows system files and the data necessary for system repair and recovery.
Windows 10 Forums
tenforums.com › general-support › 213694-recovery-drive.html
Recovery Drive - Windows 10 Help Forums
1. Why is the Windows 11 recovery data four times of that of Windows 10? 2. I read that a Recovery USB Drive would be better formatted to FAT32 file system, especially for UEFI system. 3. After creating a Recovery Drive, is there a way to test it's integr
Lenovo Support
pcsupport.lenovo.com › us › en › products › laptops-and-netbooks › 2-in-1s-series-laptops › 2in1-11 › 81cx › solutions › ht103653-lenovo-digital-download-recovery-service-ddrs-download-the-files-needed-to-create-a-lenovo-usb-recovery-key
Lenovo Digital Download Recovery Service (DDRS) - Download the files for creating a Lenovo USB Recovery key - Lenovo Support US
This article shows you how to use Lenovo Digital Download Recovery Service (DDRS) to download the files and create a USB recovery key for your device
Reddit
reddit.com › r/windowshelp › i can't seem to make a recovery drive in win11
r/WindowsHelp on Reddit: I can't seem to make a recovery drive in Win11
November 19, 2023 -
Hello. I have Windows 11 23H2 on my laptop. I had previously purchased several 32GB SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drives. I used them on my two desktops and the laptop to make Recovery Drives for Windows 10. Windows 10 is still on my desktops, but the laptop has been upgraded to 11. I decided to update the Recovery Drive. I put in the one with the Win10 recovery for the laptop, called up screen to create a recovery drive, but Windows 11 won't accept that drive as a recovery drive.
Windows 11 sees the drive and can read and write to it, but says it's too small for a recovery drive and I need one that's at least 32 GB. It turns out that storage fully amounts to about 30GB. So I bought a 64GB USB-C flash drive. Windows accepts it and starts to create the recovery drive on it. It formats it to 32GB FAT32, starts the process, and then fails about a third of the way through saying there was an error (without specifying what the error is). Windows' Disk Management won't remove the volume. I tell it to remove it, and it accepts the command, but nothing happens. I used a 3rd-party partitioning program to wipe the drive and format it as NTFS. I tried again to create a recovery drive, but it does the same thing, formatting the drive to 32GB FAT32 and failing about 20 minutes into the process.
So I'm wondering if it's that it's a USB-C drive and I should just use a USB 2.0, or maybe the type of drive? It's a Samsung USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 1, 64GB. I hate scrapping the drive because 64GB isn't enough storage to be of use. Anyone have any experience with any of this?
Top answer 1 of 2
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Hi u/TNJDude , thanks for posting to r/WindowsHelp ! Don't worry, your post has not been removed. To let us help you better, try to include as much of the following information as possible! Posts with insufficient details might be removed at the moderator's discretion. Model of your computer - For example: "HP Spectre X360 14-EA0023DX" Your Windows and device specifications - You can find them by going to go to Settings > "System" > "About" What troubleshooting steps you have performed - Even sharing little things you tried (like rebooting) can help us find a better solution! Any error messages you have encountered - Those long error codes are not gibberish to us! Any screenshots or logs of the issue - You can upload screenshots other useful information in your post or comment, and use Pastebin for text (such as logs). You can learn how to take screenshots here . All posts must be help/support related. If everything is working without issue, then this probably is not the subreddit for you, so you should also post on a discussion focused subreddit like r/Windows . I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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Use Rufus to write the Windows 11 ISO to USB. Windows can not create a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB, while Rufus can.
Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-actual-size-of-a-Windows-recovery-drive-Do-I-really-need-a-16GB-flash-drive
What is the actual size of a Windows recovery drive? Do I really need a 16GB flash drive? - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): around 500Mb. No, you don’t need a 16 Gb flash drive. Not even for the Windows install media, which is around 5 Gb. But I doubt you will find flash drives smaller than 16 Gb.