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    Why does my external HD have only 931 gb available?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by shinakuma9, Dec 30, 2009.

  1. shinakuma9

    shinakuma9 Notebook Deity

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    I bought a new LaCiE Neil Poulson 1 TB external today, after i connected it to my computer it only shows that its capacity is 931 gb instead of the 1000 gb it should be. Why is it 69 gb short?
     
    shinakuma9, Dec 30, 2009
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  2. ntheo

    ntheo Notebook Consultant

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    Most manufacturers define 1 gigabyte as 1000000000bytes. If you look really closely at the fine print you'll see this.
    It's a base ten but computers operate in the base two power so it about 1073741824bytes.

    Take the rated Gb rating and multiply by .931 to get the actual amount seen by the computer.
     
    ntheo, Dec 31, 2009
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  3. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac 404

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    As the previous poster explained, it is because of the whole Gigabyte (GB) and Gibibyte (GiB).

    Search up Gigabyte vs Gibibyte and there should be a whole load of websites that explain it in more depth.

    It is because of this that:

    1TB = 931GiB
    320GB = 298GiB
    200GB = 187GiB
    etc.

    GiB is basically a "Windows Gigabyte".
     
    Amnesiac, Dec 31, 2009
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  4. shinakuma9

    shinakuma9 Notebook Deity

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    ohhh alright thanks
     
    shinakuma9, Dec 31, 2009
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