120GB HD reads 114GB

You have 114 Gb space available for data - no more

 

Hi Steve!

Your problem is a concequence of manufacturers differing ideas of what a GigaByte actually is.

Your "120GB" Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 holds 240,121,728 sectors.
Each sector equals 512 bytes.

Total bytes is 122,942,324,736

122,942,324,736 / 1,024 = 120,060,864 kB
This is where Maxtor get their 120 GB from but that´s not true. Let´s keep dividing by 1,024 for each unit conversion.

120,060,864 kB / 1,024 = 117,246.94 MB

117,246.94 MB / 1,024 = 114.50 GB
This is Your formated size, I guess.

I agree that it is annoying to buy a harddrive of a size that it really isn´t.

It is beyond me why harddive manufacturers persist in misleading the buyers ...... ...... but it is probably because it sounds better to market a 120 GB harddrive than a 114.50 GB one.

It is kind of like a price set to 199.95 instead of 200.00 simply because it sounds cheaper ...... ...... !

Now, at least, You know how You were ripped off by 5.5 GB ...... ......

Christer

Added:

Why is a "k" not "1000 ", You might ask?

The binary system is based on the number 2.

2^10 = 1,024 (2 multiplied by itself ten times.)

 

Well, it could have been worse:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 holds 234,441,648 sectors which equals 120,034,123,776 bytes which is where they get their 120 GB from but it really is 111.79 GB.

Christer

 

Well, there is a standard and that is the one used by the tools that partition and format the harddrives.

That standard is unavoidable for those tools because it is a mathematical fact of the binary system that:

1 Kb = 2^10 = 1,024 bytes

1 MB = 2^20 = 1,048,576 bytes

1 GB = 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 bytes

Christer

 

Hi again, Steve!

I would believe that some people think that actual size contra advertized size is one of the not so important issues. Annoying but not important.

I have done some homework on harddrives in preparation for a purchase and if size and GB / money unit is important, then the Hitachi 7K250 drives are quite favorable. Their 120 GB translates into 115.04 RWGB (Real World Giga Bytes). They also score at the top in tests.

Hitachi, or rather IBM which it was at the time, has a history of a higher than normal failure rate. It was/is the 75GXP and to a lesser extent the 60GXP models that were/are affected. Now, those are three to four generations old and the more recent ones, 120GXP and 180GXP have better/normal (?) failure rates.

I have come across people who say "never again will I buy an IBM/Hitachi drive" but I have found out that other people avoid other brands due to repeated failures.

I, for one, wouldn´t buy a Maxtor because I don´t feel good about a company who can´t/won´t tell what kind of platters are in their drives. They claim that it doesn´t matter since performance is the same.
I´ve heard about a guy who bought two Maxtors and he thought they were identical, the same model number. Their performance differed considerably and when he put pressure to Maxtor he was told they hade different types of platters.

Seagate has a reputation of high reliability but still appear on some peoples "do-not-wish-list ". They are silent but don´t score at the top in tests.

Given these three examples only ...... ...... I would take my chances with Hitachi. Seagate would be the second option but as I said, never a Maxtor.

These are my thoughts and now I´m running for shelter because I think that I have a ton of bricks coming down on me!

Christer

 

I believe that You´re right about that!

I also don´t think that You should feel too bad about Your choise of harddrive. They are probably neither better nor worse than the others.

What I didn´t like was that from documentation available on the web, it is easy to figure out the design of most harddisks but not Maxtors.
Everyone else disclose the number of platters and the number of physical heads which indicates the type of platter used.

It can however be established through the serial number. The second position in the serial number indicate the number of physical heads.
If Your drive has a "3 ", then it´s two 80 GB platters with three of four sides used.
If Your drive has a "4 ", then it´s either two 60 GB platters with all four sides used or two 68 GB platters with all four sides used but short stroked to 60 GB capacity per platter.

Christer

By the way, my source is the StorageReview forum and what they say about the review and the harddrive itself.

If You go there, You´ll see that both platter types have their respective pros and cons!