2006-11-29 22:57:16 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
Manufacturers "round" a gigabyte to 1000 megabytes where it's actually 1024 and you also lose some drive space through "overheads" such as file tables etc.
I have a 250GB drive that reads 235GB ... so the bigger the drive the greater the difference between the advertised GB's and the actual GB's
2006-11-29 23:02:01 · answer #1 · answered by deadkelly_1 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Red is more close to what's going on, but others are also partially right on what they describe as formating overhead. Example:
Whenever there is advertized drive, perhaps by Seagate, or put in names like Maxtor or Quantam there. The manufacturer is sorta cheating you by counting 1000 = 1 kilo units when in fact by computer arithmatic the accepted 1 kilo units is 1024. FYI the word kilo is latin for a thousand. This is a huge factor in getting a slightly smaller than 80 GB drive.
There is no perfect aluminum plate off assembly line; therefore there is no way for somebody to buy a drive in 80 GB to receive a product that has 80 GB in usable amount; the small number of error in the assembly is physically mapped out by the lowest possible hardware logic and transparent to you and if there such advertisement of no bad sector the guy is telling either blank-faced or bold-faced lies.
At the end; Windows put on formatting that adds additional overhead. Even the most efficient Linux file systems can't workaround this. So there are 3 points against you in buying a harddrive.
2006-11-30 07:31:43 · answer #2 · answered by Andy T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a difference between the binary and decimal world. Computers use binary and the base 2 system. Manufacturers use decimal as their main counter. What happens is, the drive will be 80 gigs in decimal and 75 in binary (bytes, bits, etc)..
It sucks, but it's a way for the companies to get more money.
ANother thing is, you could have a lot of partition gap, but i doubt thats the case.
All drives are like this. none of them are true waht they say.
2006-11-30 07:06:14 · answer #3 · answered by #Reistlehr- 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
2 things - you could have a hidden partition as a recovery tool.
also computer manufacturers call 1 million bytes a gigabyte.
the correct number is 1024 * 1024 = 1048576.
So when you divide the computer manufacturers "80 gig" = 80 million by 1048576 x 1000000 = approx 76 gig.
2006-11-30 07:02:06 · answer #4 · answered by Ruthie Baby 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
because 5 gb are reserved for systems files and such forth. If you completely reformated the drive and had absolutely nothing on there, you would have 80 GB of space.
2006-11-30 07:00:10 · answer #5 · answered by tw0cl0n3m3 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
no computer shows full space of disks even if it is blank... some space used for systems files
2006-11-30 07:05:35 · answer #6 · answered by Nishu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you would not have parted or alocated it properly. normally some space is used by the system but it will not be 5 GB. try using a part tool and solve it
2006-11-30 06:59:46 · answer #7 · answered by Trinity 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
5GB has gone for your system files. Even though it's total capacity is 80GB. When you install your software (System Files) it will occupy your Hard Drive... Hope you understood !
2006-11-30 07:00:29 · answer #8 · answered by Raju 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
do you have sp2? if you do that 5GB is going to system files
2006-11-30 07:44:09 · answer #9 · answered by Skinburn24 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋