Raspbian problems

[ThaDragunborn]

Hi i'm new to the forum and the Raspberry Pi so I could use some help. I'm trying to set up Raspbian on my Pi 3 B and i'm using a Windows PC, and a 32 GB MicroSD, but after I set up my card by getting NOOBS installed, and when I put the card into my Pi the os installs properly, but after Raspbian's installation it goes from a 32 to a 2GB card. This only happens after I put the card in the Pi though, which is the weird part. So I need to know if its something i'm doing wrong or it's the Pi's fault.

[ghans]

Windows refuses to acknowledge Linux partitions in
particular and multiple partitions on removable USB pendrives
(SD card + USB cardreader = "pendrive") in general.
You should be able to use at least 28-30 GB
from inside Raspbian.


ghans

[jahboater]

properly, but after Raspbian's installation it goes from a 32 to a 2GB card. This only happens after I put the card in the Pi though, which is the weird part. So I need to know if its something i'm doing wrong or it's the Pi's fault.

Or is it a fake card?

[ThaDragunborn]

Windows refuses to acknowledge Linux partitions in
particular and multiple partitions on removable USB pendrives
(SD card + USB cardreader = "pendrive") in general.
You should be able to use at least 28-30 GB
from inside Raspbian.


ghans

Rather then use a usb cardreader I used a microsd adapter. But with that in mind is there a way I can stop the card from being reduced to a 2GB short of using a linux computer?

[ThaDragunborn]

properly, but after Raspbian's installation it goes from a 32 to a 2GB card. This only happens after I put the card in the Pi though, which is the weird part. So I need to know if its something i'm doing wrong or it's the Pi's fault.

Or is it a fake card?

No the card is legit I got it off Amazon, and I can do just about anything else with it

[ghans]

I presume that the card space is available under Raspbian.
Did you actually confirm that by booting the card inside the Pi ?

You could use Windows Disk Managment to check the
number and size of partitions on the card. That tool does
acknowledge "alien" partitions.

ghans

[ThaDragunborn]

I presume that the card space is available under Raspbian.
Did you actually confirm that by booting the card inside the Pi ?

You could use Windows Disk Managment to check the
number and size of partitions on the card. That tool does
acknowledge "alien" partitions.

ghans

Just to clarify the card is only reduced after I put the card in the pi not when I initially install raspbian

[klricks]

........Just to clarify the card is only reduced after I put the card in the pi not when I initially install raspbian

Not clear how you are determining the size. As mentioned Windows will not show the entire card.
From the RPi do:

Code: Select all

df -h

Copy & Paste the results here...

[rpdom]

Just to clarify the card is only reduced after I put the card in the pi not when I initially install raspbian

Also, the new card layout will not be visible in Windows until you unplug the card and plug it back in again.

[procount]

To put it very simply in another way (for those who are more used to Windows...)
The CARD size is not being reduced at all.
The card is being partitioned (split) into different drives (think C: D: E: in Windows as an analogy)
C: is made as small as possible to hold the NOOBS installation files.
D: is also just big enough to hold the Raspbian boot files.
E: fills the rest of the SD card to hold the Raspbian main files, your data files and any free space.

When you view the SD card in Windows, it only shows you the first partition (Drive C:), which is now very small.
Windows will not show you drives D: or E: etc. (except in some limited sense as indicated above).
It will not even allow you to access those drives to copy files to and from them (without special driver software or programs)

Even if you imaged the SD card with a Raspbian.img file using WIn32DiskImager, you will still only see the Raspbian Boot files in the first (C:) partition in Windows, and not be able to access the other partitions on the SD card (Raspbian main files in D: etc).

So no SD card space is lost: it is still available to Raspbian, just not accessible to Windows.
This is an issue with Windows, not with NOOBS, Raspbian or Linux. It is normal behaviour, just a bit different from Windows.

If you want to copy files from Windows to your Pi, use another USB memory stick formatted as FAT32, which is readable both by the Pi and Windows. Or use file sharing techniques over the network using SAMBA or NFS.

If you want to restore the SD card to its full size for another purpose, you need to use a tool like SD formatter with the Format Size Adjustment option ON. This will reformat the whole card, destroying all your data, removing all the partitions and restoring the card to one big drive again.

(For the purists out there, I know the above is not an accurate description of partitioning, but I'm just trying to find a way to explain this partitioning in a way that is readily understandable to new Pi Users, as this question arises so many times....)

[ThaDragunborn]

To put it very simply in another way (for those who are more used to Windows...)
The CARD size is not being reduced at all.
The card is being partitioned (split) into different drives (think C: D: E: in Windows as an analogy)
C: is made as small as possible to hold the NOOBS installation files.
D: is also just big enough to hold the Raspbian boot files.
E: fills the rest of the SD card to hold the Raspbian main files, your data files and any free space.

When you view the SD card in Windows, it only shows you the first partition (Drive C:), which is now very small.
Windows will not show you drives D: or E: etc. (except in some limited sense as indicated above).
It will not even allow you to access those drives to copy files to and from them (without special driver software or programs)

Even if you imaged the SD card with a Raspbian.img file using WIn32DiskImager, you will still only see the Raspbian Boot files in the first (C:) partition in Windows, and not be able to access the other partitions on the SD card (Raspbian main files in D: etc).

So no SD card space is lost: it is still available to Raspbian, just not accessible to Windows.
This is an issue with Windows, not with NOOBS, Raspbian or Linux. It is normal behaviour, just a bit different from Windows.

If you want to copy files from Windows to your Pi, use another USB memory stick formatted as FAT32, which is readable both by the Pi and Windows. Or use file sharing techniques over the network using SAMBA or NFS.

If you want to restore the SD card to its full size for another purpose, you need to use a tool like SD formatter with the Format Size Adjustment option ON. This will reformat the whole card, destroying all your data, removing all the partitions and restoring the card to one big drive again.

(For the purists out there, I know the above is not an accurate description of partitioning, but I'm just trying to find a way to explain this partitioning in a way that is readily understandable to new Pi Users, as this question arises so many times....)

Thank you this helped a lot and thank you for putting it in a way that was easy for someone new like me