2006-11-15 17:41:57 · 10 answers · asked by PCs hate me 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
I've read somewhere that's how HDD are sized, I don't remember reason why the industry quotes the sizes like that. My external drive is rated at 120GB, in reality it has about 105-107GB space I could use. My internal drive is documented as 100GB, in reality it is 93GB in size. With my OS and software included I have 79GB free space left.
2006-11-15 20:27:08 · answer #1 · answered by Elbert 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they aren't cheating you. With the Operating System installed, on top of the frequent critial updates, should you have updated automatically, 3-5 GBs might be taken already. As well, Disk Partitioning may play a role in this.
Also, Hard Drives don't always come with maximum disk space, as the capacity size varies between different hard drives. You'll almost never find a hard drive with the maximum estimated space that is boasted on it, for the simple fact that a lot of hard drives have allocated space for virtual paging, format, etc.
The best thing you'd need to do is do is format the hard drive, and putting it into the NTFS format, which is now the most used format for Windows 2000 and above. This will free up a majority of the lost space, but not all of it.
Try reformatting it about 2-3 times for an optimum result.
2006-11-16 02:05:02 · answer #2 · answered by Fuh Q. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, you lost some space for File Allocation Tables or something. And software takes space. the 120GB drive is it's capacity when it's empty.
2006-11-16 01:43:09 · answer #3 · answered by crage_ralius 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
probably not, the drive is probably partitioned and your system is backed up and compressed on the other part of the drive in case you crash your system. If you really want to see the full extent of you drive you would have to remove all partitions and re-format, but that would ruin your hard drive because you would erase everything that you've got saved on it. If you ever fill it up, just know you have the option of removing that partition and reformatting.
2006-11-16 01:47:54 · answer #4 · answered by yellowkayak 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yea, no, they arent, you're using 25GB on software, its not like you're losing it or anything, its just already taken up when you get the computer. that doesnt mean that the drive doesnt contain 120GB or space on it. If you were to erase everything from the HD, then you'd have 120
2006-11-16 01:44:38 · answer #5 · answered by Twon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No they're no. They're just cheating, legally. The 'missing' GB are used by the system for other purposes.
2006-11-16 01:43:35 · answer #6 · answered by CherryBam.com 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that they are, I have been installing drives for a few years and they all rob me........Sue the false advertisers!
2006-11-16 01:44:34 · answer #7 · answered by dkf2222 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well kinda. they make it 120gb when 1 GB = 1000 kilabites but 1 GB really equals 1024 kilabites so thats how they screw you over.
2006-11-16 01:44:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
each time u partition a disk u loose about 8.9% of space of the partition you create.
Its perfectly ok...
Don't worry.... u have 120GB HDD.....
no cheating here
2006-11-16 02:39:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, but there is nothing you can do about it.
2006-11-16 01:43:28 · answer #10 · answered by icantfindaname50 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋