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    My SATA harddrives are not 160 GB

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by LiveStrong///M3, Aug 28, 2007.

  1. LiveStrong///M3

    LiveStrong///M3 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I recently purchased a hp dv9543cl laptop from costco with dual 160 GB SATA hard drives. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc...1225966&ec=BC-EC877-CatHome&pos=15&lang=en-US

    When I check their sizes though the intel matrix storage console it says 149 GB each. Is this a mistake? :confused:

    Also 1 of them is has a 9 GB partition for windows recovery. I made recovery disks and deleted the recovery off the computer but I am unable to unpartion the drive. Any advice on this?

    Thanks
     
    LiveStrong///M3, Aug 28, 2007
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  2. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    No, 1megabyte = 1024kb, when you add it all up, 160gb = 149gb.

    8 bits in a byte. 1 Kilobyte has 1024 bytes. 1 Megabyte has 1024 Kilobytes. 1 Gigabyte has 1024 Megabytes.
     
    coriolis, Aug 28, 2007
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  3. LiveStrong///M3

    LiveStrong///M3 Notebook Enthusiast

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    lol thanks, is there any way to get rid of the recovery partition easily?
     
    LiveStrong///M3, Aug 28, 2007
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  4. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Partition Magic is a starting place, but it can be pricey for a program.

    GParted is a free open source partition program.
     
    coriolis, Aug 28, 2007
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  5. Flavius

    Flavius Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, to be more accurate, your computer measures "mebibytes" or mega-binary-bytes which are 2^20 bytes. Hard drive sellers sell in medebytes, comonly just megabytes which are mega-decimal-bytes or 10^6 bytes (or giga-, kilo-, tera-, etc.). But yeah, what he said. =)

    In addition, some of that 160 gb is taken up with your registry. That's the part of the HDD that says "Oh? You want xyz.doc? That's in aisle 3B." Think of it as the card catalog for your HDD. =)
     
    Flavius, Aug 28, 2007
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  6. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    That isn't the registry...that is the FAT (File Allocation Table), but it isn't that large...
     
    Greg, Aug 28, 2007
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  7. larry2duo

    larry2duo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Unfortunately, the hard disk manufacturers have done absolutely nothing wrong. Giga/Mega/Kilo are technically metric prefixes, and thus, by definition, increase at base 10, not base 2. If you want to blame anyone for feeling cheated, it should be OS manufacturers like Microsoft for reporting a technically incorrect "gigabyte" value.

    I, however, look forward to the day when some n00b buys a manufacturer-rated 800 yottabyte drive as an "upgrade" to his existing OS-rated 700 yottabyte drive, only to realize that he has, in fact, subjected himself to a significant storage DECREASE.
     
    larry2duo, Aug 29, 2007
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  8. LiveStrong///M3

    LiveStrong///M3 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks, just unpartitioned the allocated recovery disk space. :D
     
    LiveStrong///M3, Aug 29, 2007
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  9. rhino.software

    rhino.software Notebook Consultant

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    just in case anyone doesnt know partition magic isnt and never will be compatible with vista as they had announced about 3-4 months ago that they wouldnt be making any more versions so a good alternative would be paragon partition manager which is nearly identical in use and looks :)

    just thought id mention it in case someone has vista and buys p/magic :eek:
     
    rhino.software, Aug 29, 2007
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