HDD's - the Advertized size vs the Actual size.

Zidane24 said:

I can't even fill 100GB

My MP3 folder is larger than that.

Airbot said:

Nice job squonksc. I thought this looked familiar.

There's another way to calculate the advertised to actual though with the ratios you might want to add to your above post.

Just multiply the advertised size with the correct ratio.

(kilobyte Example - 500.000.000.000 byte multiplied by 0.9765625 = 488.28125
488.281.250 kbyte multiplied by 0.9765625 = 476.837158203125
476.837 Mbyte multiplied by 0.9765625 = 465.6611328125)

Kilobyte - 0.9765625

Megabyte - 0.9536743

Gigabyte - 0.9313226

Terabyte - 0.9094947

Petabyte - 0.8881784

So, let's say I have an advertised HDD size of 500GB, and want to find the actual size that you'll see..

500GB multiplied by 0.9313226 = 465.6613

Thanks Airbot,

My first intention was to place the ratios you gave when I wrote the piece,
but I feel for most people, the universal divide by 1024, is much easier to understand and remember than the ever changing ratios.

With the average (noob) user in mind, I thought I'd keep it as simple as possible.

But if people here think it should be added I am willing to put it in.

Let me know.

Greetz

Airbot said:

I'd say you could just have your way as the first option, then put the ratio example as the second option, and let the user decide which way is best for them. :)

But, it's your thread, up to you.

Ok, I'll put in.

There are actually terms for the computer worlds version of Kilo and Mega...

The drive companies are using the correct term when they say 500 Gigabytes. But when your computer says it is only 465 Gigabytes, that number is wrong for the above mentioned reasons. But.. In 1998 a set of terms to use when refering to the base 2 "versions" of the standard decimal prefixes were defined but have never really been adopted.

Windows SHOULD be reporting the values as "Kibibytes", "Mebibytes", Gibibytes", "Tebibytes" and so on.

So your 500 Gigabyte drive is a 465 Gibibyte drive.

The binary terms are abbreviated such as "KiB", "MiB", "GiB" and "TiB" instead of "kB", "MB", GB" and "TB".

Airbot said:

I'd say you could just have your way as the first option, then put the ratio example as the second option, and let the user decide which way is best for them. :)

But, it's your thread, up to you.

Done.

I left the Kbyte and Mbyte ratios out since there are no HDD's that are measured in those any more.

I also left out PByte, but will add it as soon as the first PByte disk can be bought by us earthlings.

Greetz

squonksc said:

You meant it right, but you said it wrong.

The manufacturers use the wrong terms.

They should say 500 Gigibyte

Windows reports it correct with 465 Gigabyte

No I'm right.

The manufacturers are reporting true decimal Gigabytes or 500*1000^3 bytes which is the tru capacity of the drive.

Windows reports 465 Gigabytes (GB) but that is actually wrong. What Windows /should/ say is that it is 465 Gibibytes (GiB) (465 * 1024^3)

Windows and Linux and all computer filesystems are actually reporting all values in true KiB, MiB and GiB, but because no one knows what those mean they improperly use the terms kB, MB and GB.

fseal said:

squonksc said:

You meant it right, but you said it wrong.

The manufacturers use the wrong terms.

They should say 500 Gigibyte

Windows reports it correct with 465 Gigabyte

No I'm right.

The manufacturers are reporting true decimal Gigabytes or 500*1000^3 bytes which is the tru capacity of the drive.

Windows reports 465 Gigabytes (GB) but that is actually wrong. What Windows /should/ say is that it is 465 Gibibytes (GiB) (465 * 1024^3)

Windows and Linux and all computer filesystems are actually reporting all values in true KiB, MiB and GiB, but because no one knows what those mean they improperly use the terms kB, MB and GB.

Yup, you're right.

Was turning around things myself. Sorry.
(i'll delete my previous post)

But still it's a rip off by the manufacturers because every thing else in the computer world is using the Kilo, Giga and Terra.

1 Gbyte of memory = 1 Gbyte of memory.

1 Gbyte of diskspace = 0.9313226 Gbyte of diskspace

So it is very convenient for them to make this exception in their favor.