Why does my 30G iPod only hae 27.G of free space yet i have put nothing on it?

Answer 1

Mine lists a total capacity of 27.8GB when I check the device properties through My Computer. The thing is, computer storage capacities are a bit hard to nail down, because everything is counted in binary. A bit is one character of binary data (0 or 1). A byte is 8 bits. A kilobyte is 1024 bytes, a megabyte is 1024 kilobytes, and a gigabyte is 1024 megabytes. Officially, at least. There's a certain amount of fudging, some of which occurs because it's always simpler to round a really odd number to a nice presentable one (like 97 to 100), but what it usually comes down to is that when listing GB capacities, it's usually done in terms of 1GB=1,000,000,000 (let's call that a metric gigabyte, because that definition was basically concocted to metricize the pre-existing binary computer terms, while new terms that noone actually uses were created to refer to the original measurements) bytes while your computer interprets it in terms of 1GB=1,073,741,824 bytes. If you recheck the properties on your iPod, you should, like me, find that it actually lists at 29,865,164,800 bytes, which falls pretty close to 30 metric gigabytes. The Windows operating system, on the other hand, measures in binary gigabytes (the whole 1024 thing), just like computers did when they were first invented (well, except for the fact that when computers were invented the very idea of something as unattainable as a gigabyte probably would have sent computer scientists into fits of uncontrollable laughter), so the larger the capacity is, the more out of whack it seems when you compare the device's Properties to the number listed on the box.

Just out of curiosity, I check both my laptop and desktop PC, and the same situation applied. In a straight conversion, my laptop's 100GB hard-drive clocked in at a bit over 93GB, while my desktop's 320GB hard-drive clocked in at a mere 298GB! And that was after adding the C: and D: partitions together.

Answer 2

I just got an 80G and It said that I only have like 74G to use before I put anything on it! But I think the 80G are awsome.....because i have but a music video, 136 songs, 1 full TV episode and 10 pictures and ive barely used anything!

Answer 3

They give you about 30,000,000,000 bytes instead of real 30GB.

30000000000/(1024*1024*1024) is 27.9GB. Some space gets used up by formating and possibly by internal programs leaving you with about 27GB to use.

Answer 4

Its normal. The rest is used for the resident programmes to make it function

Answer 5

it's completely normal i have had 3 different 30gb ipods and all have sed that