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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: John R on January 29, 2006, 11:44:09 PM
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i'm installing a new outboard drive, a seagate 400GB. when i look at the drive, the capacity shows 372.61GB. where's the rest? no partition.
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That's all you get.
It has to do with the way the bytes are counted up. the os seed 1 meg as 1,000 bytes, but the drive makers define 1 meg as 1028 bytes. Or something like that. I can't remember the explaination exactly.
It is summed up nicely here http://www.computerhope.com/help/hdd.htm (http://www.computerhope.com/help/hdd.htm) though.
JAson
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In addition to the byte mis-calculation (1 MB = 1024 KB), there is also an overhead for the file system (NTFS or FAT32).
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thanks guys.
jr
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Manufacturers market drive capacity using base 10, whereas your computer calculates capacity using base 2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix#Binary_prefixes_using_SI_symbols_.28Non-standard_usage_but_common.29
1 GB in base 2 = 230 = 1,073,741,824 bytes
1 GB in base 10 = 103 = 1,000,000,000 bytes
IOW, whatever GB capacity you see marketed for a HD, the actual capacity will be ~93% of stated. In your case, 93% of 400 GB = 372 GB.
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thank you also, brian.
jr