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Hard Drive Sizes

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by paulbristow, 2005/04/25.

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  1. 2005/04/25
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    I have 2 internal drives and 1 USB external drive using Windows XP (SP2)

    My question is where does the missing GB go?

    C: D: Primary Drive 2 partions = 200GB (Actual 182GB)
    USB External = 80GB (Actual 76.6GB)
    V: Slave Drive = 80GB (Actual 74.5GB)

    Total Volumes = 360GB
    Total Lost = 26.9GB

    Where do the missing "Milliions" go I asume it is lost in system files and formating?

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
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  2. 2005/04/25
    Hotaru

    Hotaru Well-Known Member

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    A little is taken for the file system, but not all that much.

    Hard drive manufacturers quote sizes differently from the rest of the world. They consider 1 megabyte to be 1 000 000 bytes rather than 1 048 576 bytes, and 1 gigabyte to be 1 000 000 000 bytes rather than 1 073 741 824 bytes.

    Your 200 gig hard drive's actual capacity is two hundred billion (USA) or two hundred thousand million (UK) bytes. Either way that is 200 000 000 000. Divide that by the 1 073 741 824 that we consider a gig to be and you get 186.2645149 which is more in line with the capacity you find.

    The remaining difference can be accounted for in the drive geometry and how the partition table is set up, the file system, etc.
     
    Hotaru,
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  4. 2005/04/25
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    A GB isn't always the same size ...... :eek: ...... depending on if You ask a harddisk manufacturer or a software writer:

    According to harddisk manufacturers, a GB is 1000,000,000 bytes

    According to software writers, who use the binary definition of a GB (2^30), a GB is 1,073,741,824 bytes.

    Your 200 GB divided by 1.073741824 equals approximately 186 GB. The missing 4 GB are probably accounted for by partitioning and formating "overhead ".

    Christer

    Edited: Beaten on the finish line ...... :D ...... !
     
    Christer,
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  5. 2005/04/25
    paulbristow

    paulbristow Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Thanks for the information very concise.

    Paul
     
    paulbristow,
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  6. 2005/04/26
    jaylach

    jaylach Inactive

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    Actually I've only seen one drive manufacturer that comes close to stateing a gig as a gig and that is Maxtor. My 120gig drive shows a capacity of around 122,000,000.
     
    jaylach,
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  7. 2005/04/26
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    Well, the capacity of my 120 GB Hitachi 7K250 (HDS722512VLAT80) is 123,522,416,640 bytes. Three partitions formated NTFS and 123,518,922,752 bytes useable. I did a market survey when I bought the first of those harddisks and confined to that generation, Hitachi was the best and Seagate the worst.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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