I have a 40gb hard drive, but I can only get 32 gb out of it, Why?

Question

When I fdisk, is shows I only have 32 gb to work with. are the other 8 hidden? did the manufacturer lie?

anything I can do to get the other 8gb back?

I have formatted and created partitions, but what I am saying is that when deleting all of that and starting over with new partitions and formatting, I only have total space of 32GB

I don't know why I am missing 8GB

Answer 1

No, the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacurer) did not lie. They were stating the TOTAL HDD (HarD Drive) capacity of that disk drive C:/.

What they did NOT state, that when the installed software that was included with the OS (Operating System on your C:/ drive) that came with the computer, and the Windows XP System Restore partition (on your D:/ drive perhaps) would take up the extra 8 GB even before you downloaded your first song.

What you can do is to remove the various and sundry programs (mostly junk) that came bundled with your system by going to the Add/Remove Program feature of your system and systematically clearing them out. If you decide you want them back, you can get them back by going to the Windows Install disk.

You will never gain all of a HDD's capacity as it will have to hold the OS and other files it needs to operate and to keep your files and folders loaded on. If you want more capacity, purchase a larger HDD, but make sure that you get the largest one that you can afford and that you first check the computer specs BEFORE you purchase.

Answer 2

MoonlightDancer_72 is real. even inspite of the actuality that there is a distinction in Base 2 and Base 10 calculations, in case you do the maths a 40GB stress ought to nevertheless have 37.25 GB available to the computer. because you're stuck at 32GB, you're affected by a distinct problem. There are some obstacles linked with the BIOS (2GB, 8GB, 32GB were some undemanding ones in the previous). If that's an older computer that's more beneficial than 5 years old, then that could be your problem and also you may favor to replace the BIOS if an replace exists on the producer's information superhighway website. in spite of the undeniable fact that, it is also plausible that you formatted your stress in the FAT32 format making use of the XP setup disc or from interior XP. if so, XP makes use of a 32GB project for that record equipment. instead, reformat it making use of NTFS. that could want to get you in the route of 37GB. and ultimately, one very last note about what Alias suggested earlier..... in spite of the undeniable fact that not straightforward stress manufacturers are imparting you with the "maximum superb" style of bytes making use of Base 10, there is not any doubt that that's deceptive promoting and marketing at its best. considering that computers artwork in the binary format (Base 2), all not straightforward stress sizes also should be suggested a similar way.

Answer 3

Part of your discrepancy is due to differences in defining the term "gigabyte".

the "true" definition of gigabyte is 1024 megabytes. A megabyte, in turn is 1024 kilobytes. And a kilobyte is 1024 bytes.

So a true gigabyte is 1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Drive manufacturers, on the other hand, define a gigabyte as 1,000,000,000 bytes.

So there is roughly a 7% difference between the rated capacity of your drive (by the manufacturer) and what is reported by the operating system.

That would only explain about 3gb of your observed difference. A 40gb drive (as speced by the drive manufacturer) should give you about 37gb of actual space.

The other 5gb is likely being used as a restore partition by your computer manufacturer. To reduce costs, instaed of providing restore CDs for the operating system and applications, most computer companies take a small portion of your hard drive, partition it to a seperate partition, and copy all of the factory installed software to it.

Answer 4

Sound to me you have 2 partitions. One 32gb and other 8gb.
This is normal if this HDD was from HP, Compaq, acer etc.
That hidden partition contain the restore files.

If the HDD is new from shop, go ahead to Del. all the partition and recreate it.
You should have about 37 to 38 gb of disk space after that.

Answer 5

it does not want you to fill up the entire drive because it will no longer work if it is full, and it will run VeRY slowly! i would top off at around 30, or get some flash drives, very usefull, or just an external drive of 100G for about like 40bucks i think, i just cant believe they sell computers with only 40G in it, you should take it back if you could, i think you got taken on that

Answer 6

Sounds like it's simply the amount used to Format the drive

Answer 7

there could be many reasons why it's not available to you, could be operating system requirments, but it could be that the drive was partitioned into two drives (the computer sees them as seperate entities. Look to see if you have a "D" drive under "my computer" that has the same icon as the "C" drive.

Answer 8

DO NOT FORMAT LIKE THE OTHER GUY SAID.

Windows files and preinstalled software, backup files, restore files etc take up the rest of the space - it is NORMAL.

Answer 9

The other 8 is reserved for system files and is set automatically. Sorry but there's nothing you can do to get it back.

Chuck
http://www.ebusinesswiz.com

Answer 10

i think its cause the comp already comes with preinstalled programs so it takes up space