Disk size different than reported on explorer

[renriquez]

Hi,

Why my 40GB disk looks different in windows explorer, showing only 37.2 GB? What's the conversion formula?

REnriquez

[Pianorak]

Hi Renriquez and Welcome to the PC Guide -

Read this (http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/pctech/content/solutions/uu1701c.htm) for a good explanation.
Hope this answers your question.


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The PC Guide ueber alles – with Google a close second.

[mjc]

Actually there is a much more simple explaination...........the defifiniton of a gigabyte.


As defined by certain manufacturers a gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes (decimal) not 1,073,741,824 bytes (a binary GB or 2 to the 30th power) as reported by certain programs.....


So using that info above a 40GB (decimal) drive comes out to be 37.25 GB (binary)...

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[kayofcircles]

Thanks, mjc. We replaced a hard drive a couple of weeks ago, and had the same displayed size (as above). We couldn't figure out why, and guy needed his puter back. Good to know we didn't do anything wrong.

[Flick]

Thanks again mjc! After I recently replaced my hard drive, the BIOS was showing it as 60.02 GB but Windows ME said it was 55.8 GB. I was going to ask the question but I decided to search the Windows site to see if I could find the answer. I couldn't! So, I came back to The PC Guide. I just thought that the answer to the question was here, so I used the search function to find the answer and BINGO, you helped me again! Frankly I would have been embarrassed to ask the question without first looking into the wonderful knowledge base that is already here. Thanks again! I'm learning.