Missing HD space?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LMO
  • Start date Start date
L

LMO

Hi all. I have a new system with a 160BG drive. Using various tools, onlt
149GB shows. Is this normal, or did I lose 11GB?
Thanks.
 
LMO said:
Hi all. I have a new system with a 160BG drive. Using various tools,
onlt 149GB shows. Is this normal, or did I lose 11GB?
Click to expand...

This is perfectly normal.

Drive manufacturers use 1000 (10^3) for a base number (1 kB = 1000 bytes, 1
MB = 1000 kB, 1 GB = 1000 MB), but most operating systems and programs use
1024 (2^10). So, your manufacturer sells your drive as a 160 GB (160 * 1000
* 1000 * 1000), but the operating system considers the disk to be 149 GB
(149 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024). So the bottom line is that your disk _is_ 160
billion bytes, but your tools only considers this to be 149 GB.

This is the way it has always been, and when we start seeing disks with TB
capacities the difference between the two sizes will differ even more.
 
LMO said:
Hi all. I have a new system with a 160BG drive. Using various tools,
onlt 149GB shows. Is this normal, or did I lose 11GB?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

HD vendors report HD capacity in decimal units (1KB = 1000) while
computers report in binary units (1KB = 1024). 1GB-decimal =
1,000,000,000 while 1GB-binary = 1024x1024x1024 = 1,073,741,824.
160GB-decimal x 1,000,.../1,073,... = 149 GB-binary. Vendors use
decimal notation because it's a bigger number.

Q
 
In
LMO said:
Hi all. I have a new system with a 160BG drive.
Click to expand...


No you don't. You have a new system with a 149GB drive. See
below.

Using various tools,
onlt 149GB shows. Is this normal, or did I lose 11GB?
Thanks.
Click to expand...


All hard drive manufacturers define 1GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes,
while the rest of the computer world, including Windows, defines
it as 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. So a 160 billion
byte drive is actually a little about 149GB.

Some people point out that the official international standard
defines the "G" of GB as one billion, not 1,073,741,824. Correct
though they are, using the binary value of GB is so well
established in the computer world that I consider using the
decimal value of a billion to be deceptive marketing.
 
Very interesting. Thanks everyone!

Ken Blake said:
In


No you don't. You have a new system with a 149GB drive. See below.




All hard drive manufacturers define 1GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes, while the
rest of the computer world, including Windows, defines it as 2 to the 30th
power (1,073,741,824) bytes. So a 160 billion byte drive is actually a
little about 149GB.

Some people point out that the official international standard defines the
"G" of GB as one billion, not 1,073,741,824. Correct though they are,
using the binary value of GB is so well established in the computer world
that I consider using the decimal value of a billion to be deceptive
marketing.
Click to expand...
 
Is this a blank hard disk or do you have programs on it?

When you say "new system" this doesn't mean nothing on it. If you have windows,
applications, data files etc, the GB are consumed pretty quickly.

If you don't have windows on the system, maybe the hidden partition (e.g. on
whatever system you have - Dell, Compaq, Gateway etc - you didn't specify this)
with the install files is taking up space - I doubt though that it would be 11 GB
of CAB files.....

That's one possiblity anyway, and would explain why there is only 149 of 160 gb
you can see as the other partition is the 11gb you're missing.
 
Back
Top