Wd 160gb

[PilotinCommand]

Hi,

I just bought a WD harddisk of 160 GB. Now I tried to use fdisk (without patch) to just create 1 partition. So I just entered it had to use disk space for 100% to create the partition. All worked well till I found out that I have 150 Gig instead of 160 Gig available in Windows (NTFS format).

Is this normal? I also tried Partition Magic but also this program tells me I have 150 Gig.

Can somebody explain?

thanks,

PiC

[RJ]

160 GB is just marketing.

149 GB is what you really have. Every programm will tell you that, because every program calculates the correct space. It's just the manufacturers who do it wrong.

RJ

[Rogue9]

Yeah I'm about 2 gigs short on my 160g hd. I have mine setup for two 80g partitions and was only getting 78g on each one. What was interesting was that when I was in windows. I right clicked on the secondary drive and reformated it right in windows. I was able to get the two gigs back. I'm not worried about the main partition with the os on it. I wont miss 2g out of 160g.

You might want to split it up. I never liked running one big partition. Also it makes backing up the main partition with the OS easier that having to backup the whole drive. I also found that Dfrag works faster.

[codered6651]

Most hard drive manufacturers use DECIMAL numbers to show capacity:
(1 KB = 1,000 bytes)
(1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes)
(1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes)

Most computer (BIOS) and Operating Systems use BINARY numbers to show capacity:
(1 KB = 1024 bytes)
(1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes)
(1 GB = 1,073,741,824 bytes)

Windows uses two different numbering systems to report the size of the drive.

1. BINARY numbering system (based on the number 8)
2. DECIMAL numbering system (based on the number 10)

So in reality a 80GB HDD is expressed in BINARY is approx. = 74GB, 120GB is expressed in BINARY is approx. = 111GB, and a 160GB is expressed in BINARY is approx. = 149GB.

I know this might sound a little scientific if you're not familiar with computer math but I hope it gave you some insight as to why your hard drive only shows 149 GB.

[TwoRails]

Actually, the drive manufactures are using the terms correctly, not the computer industry in general. Kilo, Giga, etc., are Decimal terms, Not binary terms.

A Kilometer is 1000 Meters, not 1024 meters.

The IEEE doesn't even use those prefixes, and use KiB, MiB, GiB, and TiB instead.

Also, nobody complains that their NIC card is rated in Decimal. 1 Mbit/s 1,000,000 bit/s, not 1,048,576 bit/s.

Finally, even the good old floppy is Not "sized" correctly, as the 1.44MB floppy is actually 1,440 KB (the binary KB) not 1.44MB. (Abiet the difference is small).

[RJ]

The IEEE doesn't even use those prefixes, and use KiB, MiB, GiB, and TiB instead.

Only since 1998. Computers have been around long before then, and everybody knew that giga is 1000 for decimal and 1024 for binary.
Nobody really cares about the KiB, MiB, etc. thing. And if it wasn't for marketing, I'm sure the manufacturer's wouldn't use it either.

RJ

[PilotinCommand]

Thanks for the replies. It makes more sense now, I unfortunatly I didn't now this when I bought the harddisk.

RogueS: What make harddisk have you got? Also WD?

PiC

[Naja]

If Binary was to the marketers benefit--then they would use it. But it's not, so they go with decimal.

Just another way for them to sell u more and give u less........