why do you loose space on your hard drive when you format it? - Club CDFreaks

Hornster · 06-12-2002

why do you loose space on your hard drive when you format it? i thought that it was there to erase data on it.

is there any way to reclaim all (or even some) of the data lost when formatting?

also is it possible to estimate as to how much space will be lost when the drive is formatted?

*BadReligionPR* · 06-12-2002

I'm sure this has already been answered plently of times, but rather than say "Use the search" I'll just answer.

Manufacturers sell the drive based on 1GB=1000MB, 1MB=1000kb 1KB=1000bytes, etc.

Hard drives are formatted like this: 1GB=1024MB, 1MB=1024kb, 1KB=1024bytes, etc.

So you're not really losing anything, it's just deceptive marketing. So *I think* 1GB actually equals 1073.741824MB, but I probably did the math wrong (1024(b)x1024(k)x1024(m)). So for every GB you lose ~74MB. Works out for me, I've got 2 120GB drives, using 74MB/GB "loss" I should have 8880MB less when formatted, Windows shows it as (roughly) 111GB.

*Inertia* · 06-12-2002

It's not deceptive marketing at all. Hard drive manufacturers are following the standard of the storage industry and the rest of the world.

To everyone else in the world using the metric system, kilo = 1,000, mega = 1,000,000, and giga = 1,000,000,000.

The binary based 1,024 multiple Nerdabytes capacity system is used nowhere else in the world, and is a confusing remnant of inaccurate nomenclature that has outlived its usefulness (if it ever had any).

See Storage Capacity Measurement Standards

Hornster · 06-12-2002

thanks for clearing that up for me!

06-12-2002	#1 (permalink)
Hornster CD Freaks Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 80	Formatting why do you loose space on your hard drive when you format it? i thought that it was there to erase data on it. is there any way to reclaim all (or even some) of the data lost when formatting? also is it possible to estimate as to how much space will be lost when the drive is formatted?

06-12-2002	#2 (permalink)
BadReligionPR Retired Moderator Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: CT USA Posts: 1,186	I'm sure this has already been answered plently of times, but rather than say "Use the search" I'll just answer. Manufacturers sell the drive based on 1GB=1000MB, 1MB=1000kb 1KB=1000bytes, etc. Hard drives are formatted like this: 1GB=1024MB, 1MB=1024kb, 1KB=1024bytes, etc. So you're not really losing anything, it's just deceptive marketing. So I think 1GB actually equals 1073.741824MB, but I probably did the math wrong (1024(b)x1024(k)x1024(m)). So for every GB you lose ~74MB. Works out for me, I've got 2 120GB drives, using 74MB/GB "loss" I should have 8880MB less when formatted, Windows shows it as (roughly) 111GB. __________________ BRPR Pumping Iron & Sweating Steel (for 30 years) - Joe Grushecky And The Iron City Houserockers - "Labels come and go. The music remains. Music companies are generally the enemy of the musician." Junior's Bar where the band is playing, just for me. They play real loud, they move the crowd, It's a poor boy's symphony. Junior's Bar, until they kill the neon lights, I hope I don't go home alone tonight. Iron City Sampler Free Peltier

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06-12-2002	#3 (permalink)
Inertia CDFreaks Resident Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 1,508	It's not deceptive marketing at all. Hard drive manufacturers are following the standard of the storage industry and the rest of the world. To everyone else in the world using the metric system, kilo = 1,000, mega = 1,000,000, and giga = 1,000,000,000. The binary based 1,024 multiple Nerdabytes capacity system is used nowhere else in the world, and is a confusing remnant of inaccurate nomenclature that has outlived its usefulness (if it ever had any). See Storage Capacity Measurement Standards

06-12-2002	#4 (permalink)
Hornster CD Freaks Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 80	thanks for clearing that up for me!

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