Where did my 10.6 GB go?

DD_NL · Apr 11, 2004

Hi,
I just noticed something weird: I have a 40 GB harddrive, but when I look in My Computer, it shows my C: drive is total size 24.4 gb and free space 5.15 gb.

If I know for sure I have a 40 GB drive (I just opened the case, unscrewed my HD and looked on the sticker) how can it say total size 24.4 GB. Could this be a windows error? Anyone know how to fix this?

Thx http://vnboards.ign.com/images/faces/happy.gif

General_Lee_Stoned · Apr 11, 2004

Ok what about some system specifications

Is this an OEM computer, some manufactors dont supply you with a windows CD they keep all the restoration files on a seperate partition, but not generally 10 gigs worth

Have you tried Scandisk, often the file table etc can get corrupted

slot.me · Apr 11, 2004

Let us know which operating system you're running dude.

Also, a 40gb HDD once formatted will drop down to a usable 38gb (ish). Looks like you've lost more like 8gb.

Do you have XP? - If so, right-click 'My Computer' and select 'Manage', then click on 'Disk Management'.
Does it show as 8gb unallocated? - If so, format it and make a new disk.

Some manufacturers make a 'Ghost' image for mass roll-out and maybe where you got yours from had a 30gb image.

dsbnh · Apr 11, 2004

I am not too well instructed when it comes to these things but doesn't XP usually substract whatever amount of GBs it takes to install the OS of the disk? I have a 120Gb hard drive but it shows it as 111.78Gbs. I was told this is something it did, maybe the person that told me was wrong, but unless you already know of this and are taking it into account then maybe that's it.

billH · Apr 11, 2004

What brand name (if any) is your puter? And is it a new or recently installed HD? Sometimes big brands (Dell, HP, Gateway) will not recognize any HD from another mfgr with a spec (like HD size) that they do not supply. Friend of mine bought a 200 gig Hd and installed it in his computer; unfortunately his HP would not recognize the extra space because: "We don't make a hard drive of that size and our computers will not recognize any HD of greater size than the ones that come with our machines."

chaslang · Apr 11, 2004

dsbnh said:

I am not too well instructed when it comes to these things but doesn't XP usually substract whatever amount of GBs it takes to install the OS of the disk? I have a 120Gb hard drive but it shows it as 111.78Gbs. I was told this is something it did, maybe the person that told me was wrong, but unless you already know of this and are taking it into account then maybe that's it.
Click to expand...

It's the way they count gigabytes in the hard drive world. It's 120,000,000,000 bytes. But when you think in powers of 2 like in how computers work you need to divide that number by 1024 (a kilobyte) three times. This will give you the 111.7 Gb reported by your OS. Thus, DD_NL's 40Gb drive should show as about 37.2 Gb by WinXp.

highly_volatile · Apr 11, 2004

endiablado said:

Hard drive manufacturers market drives in terms of decimal (base 10)

capacity. In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000

bytes, and one Gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes.

Programs such as FDISK, system BIOS, and Windows use the binary (base

2) numbering system. In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is

equal to 1,048,576 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824

bytes.

Simply put, decimal and binary translates to the same amount of storage

capacity. Lets say you wanted to measure the distance from point A to

point B. The distance from A to B is one kilometer or .621 miles. It is

the same distance, but it is reported differently due to the

measurement.

Capacity Calculation Formula

Decimal capacity / 1,048,576 = Binary MB capacity

Example:
A 40 GB hard drive is approximately 40,000,000,000 bytes (40 x

1,000,000,000).

40,000,000,000 / 1,048,576 = 38,162 megabytes

In the table below are examples of approximate numbers that the drive

may report.

Decimal Binary MB Windows Output
20 GB 19,073 MB 18.6 GB
40 GB 38,610 MB 37.3 GB
60 GB 57,220 MB 55.8 GB
80 GB 76,293 MB 74.5 GB
120 GB 114,440 MB 111.7 GB
160 GB 152,587 MB 149 GB
Click to expand...

Maxwell · Apr 11, 2004

dsbnh said:

I am not too well instructed when it comes to these things but doesn't XP usually subtract whatever amount of GBs it takes to install the OS of the disk? I have a GB hard drive but it shows it as 111.GBs. I was told this is something it did, maybe the person that told me was wrong, but unless you already know of this and are taking it into account then maybe that's it.
Click to expand...

It is not due to the OS taking space. Your observed difference is due to the difference between the advertised size of GB using 1000 for the metric multiplier between Giga-Mega-Kilo, as opposed to using 1024. For example, GB = 120,000,000,000B (advertised) and then dividing by subsequent 1024 multiples to get 111.758GB and identified by various Windows programs.

Similarly 40GB becomes 37.252GB using the same rules.

This change in units does not account for some 15 to 16 GB loss.
-------

Some earlier versions of Windows do not recognize very large disk sizes. For example using Windows 98 with a FAT32 system you hit an upper limit around 127.5 GB: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_cycz.asp

Another example, taken from the table in my hard rive manufacturers booklet, states:

"If your system BIOS is made before August 1994 it may not support drives larger that 528MB; prior to February 1996 - not larger than 2.1GB; prior to January 1998 - not larger than 8.4GB; prior to June 1999 - not larger than 32GB."

However, this is academic if using NTFS within Windows XP.

dsbnh · Apr 11, 2004

Ah, alright then, thanks for correcting me on that one.

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