QUESTION: Formatted Hard Drive Space... What does it all mean???

[SCI-FI GUY]

I have a couple of questions regarding actual hard drive space once
formatted.
I have recently seen three 120GB hard drives. Why is there different
sizes once formatted?
To make it easier I will call them drive 1, 2 & 3

Drive 1 120GB Western Digital Formatted 111GB

Drive 2 120GB Maxtor External Formatted 111GB
( 2.7GB of this drive is Unallocated out of the box)

Drive 3 120GB Maxtor External Formatted 114GB
( this is the identical drive as above except it was
reformatted and this appears to have gotten rid of the
2.7GB og unallocated space.)

Why are these 3 drives different sizes once formatted?
Why isn't a 120GB drive a 120 GB drive?
Why did the Maxtor external drive have an unallocated area on the
drive?

Thanks for any help as you can see I am a newbie to this and if these
questions have been asked before I ask for patience.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Two factors come into play here:

1) The way a partition is aligned on the drive sometimes leaves a small
amount of free space.

2) The definition of a GB. While most of the computing world defines it as
1024MB (or 1,073,741,824 bytes), drive manufacturers artificially inflate
the size by calling 1GB as 1,000MB (or 1,000,000,000 bytes). Do the math.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In

Why isn't a 120GB drive a 120 GB drive?

All hard drive manufacturers, in a deceptive attempt to make
their drives seem larger than they are, define 1GB as
1,000,000,000 bytes, while the rest of the computer world,
including Windows, defines it as 1024 x 1024 x 1024
(1,073,741,824) bytes. Do the arithmetic yourself, and you'll see
that 112GB is roughly 120 billion bytes.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a couple of questions regarding actual hard drive space once
formatted.
I have recently seen three 120GB hard drives. Why is there different
sizes once formatted?
To make it easier I will call them drive 1, 2 & 3

Drive 1 120GB Western Digital Formatted 111GB

Drive 2 120GB Maxtor External Formatted 111GB
( 2.7GB of this drive is Unallocated out of the box)

Drive 3 120GB Maxtor External Formatted 114GB
( this is the identical drive as above except it was
reformatted and this appears to have gotten rid of the
2.7GB og unallocated space.)

Why are these 3 drives different sizes once formatted?
Why isn't a 120GB drive a 120 GB drive?
Why did the Maxtor external drive have an unallocated area on the
drive?

If that #2 was already formatted as it came from the box, you would have
to ask whoever did the partitioning and formatting. Drives normally
come blank.

As to the 120 vs 111 - 120 is in decimal billion (a correct use of the
prefix Giga); the 111 is a unit that is common in computer disk and
memory management (but *not* CPU speeds or communications bandwidths)
based on binary near equivalents
1K =1024
1M = 1024K
1G =1024 M (= 1.073. . . billion) so 120 billion = 111.75 - looks as if
#3 is generously sized. It *may* be that whatever formatted that has
taken over the reserved space that should be held on the disk for
automatic use in place of bad tracks.

 

[Alex Nichol]

2) The definition of a GB. While most of the computing world defines it as
1024MB (or 1,073,741,824 bytes), drive manufacturers artificially inflate
the size by calling 1GB as 1,000MB (or 1,000,000,000 bytes). Do the math.

*Please* don't use words like artificial, implying they are using an
incorrect unit (though naturally they want it seen in best light). G
is an international standard prefix for a billion times, and they use
it correctly. It is in description of formatted space and memory where
the computer world has developed a local usage. Any even then, it is
not used in things like speeds of processors, data transfers and so on.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Alex,

I use "artificial" in this sense as the drive makers are not using accepted
standards in defining the true size of their drives. It is meant as a
descriptive word that is intended to imply that they use a bit of subterfuge
in their advertising. I think that the use of the word in this sense is both
apt and descriptive of their intentions.

It is NOT intended to imply that they are doing anything illegal, or that
they are technically incorrect. It IS intended to let the poster know that
this bit of deception is done intentionally.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[SCI-FI GUY]

If that #2 was already formatted as it came from the box, you would have
to ask whoever did the partitioning and formatting. Drives normally
come blank.

As to the 120 vs 111 - 120 is in decimal billion (a correct use of the
prefix Giga); the 111 is a unit that is common in computer disk and
memory management (but *not* CPU speeds or communications bandwidths)
based on binary near equivalents
1K =1024
1M = 1024K
1G =1024 M (= 1.073. . . billion) so 120 billion = 111.75 - looks as if
#3 is generously sized. It *may* be that whatever formatted that has
taken over the reserved space that should be held on the disk for
automatic use in place of bad tracks.

Thanks so much Alex. As far as who formatted #2 well that is the way
they came out of the box right from the store. We bought 2 of them to
test from different stores and the outcome was the same. 2.7 GB
unallocated. These external drives normally come already formatted and
ready to use...