{"id":1185,"date":"2018-11-28T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-11-28T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2018-11-26T14:31:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T19:31:36","slug":"a-reader-asks-why-does-my-drive-label-say-1tb-but-windows-reports-only-930-960gb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/28\/a-reader-asks-why-does-my-drive-label-say-1tb-but-windows-reports-only-930-960gb\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: Why does my drive label say 1TB, but Windows reports only 930-960GB?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Why do I see 1TB of storage on my hard drive label but only 930-960GB when it’s plugged to my computer?<\/strong> (via Quora)<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

A: The drive is sold by raw capacity; but must first be partitioned and formatted before use, and that process consumes some space.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An analogy: Think of an empty filing cabinet that encloses a certain volume of space (that’s the raw capacity). But to be useful, the cabinet needs hardware — drawers, sliders, hangers, folders, etc. — and this takes up some of the internal space: You give up some of the raw capacity in order to gain usefulness.<\/p>\n

It’s the same with your drive. The label reports the raw capacity; Windows reports the net capacity after you’ve added the required data structures that will turn the drive’s raw space into something useful.<\/p>\n

There also can be other issues with some vendors reporting drive sizes in Base2 math; while others use Base10. (E.G. a megabyte is technically 1,024 bytes, but some vendors fudge it and call it an even 1,000 bytes. Scale up to gigabytes, and there can be a big difference.) But in the questioner’s case, I think the issue is simply one of formatting\/partitioning.<\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-j7<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

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Have a comment? Want to ask Fred a new question? Click here!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: Why do I see 1TB of storage on my hard drive label but only 930-960GB when it’s plugged to my computer? (via Quora) A: The drive is sold by raw capacity; but must first be partitioned and formatted before use, and that process consumes some space. An analogy: Think of an empty filing cabinet…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech","category-windows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-j7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-much-open-space-does-a-drive-really-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: How much open space does a drive really need?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Liz G asks (via the CONTACT link) how much open space a drive really needs: I know installed hard drives need 15% breathing room. How about portable external hard drives? I have 7 Western Digital drives ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB and the only thing on them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":178,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/26\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-most-hard-drive-speed-intensive-task\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: What is the most hard drive speed-intensive task?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-26","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: What is the most hard drive speed-intensive task? (Via Quora) A:\u00a0There are actually many, many tasks that can force a drive to work at full, no-holds-barred, flat-out, 100% read\/write capacity, for an extended time. So there's no one, single \"most intensive task\" --- there's actually a boatload of 'em!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/24\/a-reader-asks-why-does-android-need-more-ram-than-a-full-windows-10-pc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: Why does Android need more RAM than a full Windows 10 PC?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-24","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: Why does Android need more RAM than my full Windows 10 PC?\u00a0\u00a0(Question sent via Quora) A:\u00a0Your PC's RAM is usually just\u00a0the working memory for the CPU; a separate hard drive (solid state or magnetic) lets you store files and data outside of RAM. But in Android, the\u00a0RAM is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2828,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/21\/ive-installed-a-1tb-hard-drive-from-my-old-pc-it-has-files-but-no-operating-system-how-can-i-fully-wipe-it-to-use-its-full-storage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":3},"title":"“I’ve installed a 1TB hard drive from my old PC. It has files but no operating system. How can I wipe it to use its full storage?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-21","format":false,"excerpt":"You don't need to wipe it. Simple re-partitioning and reformatting will make the drive fully available to you. And that\u2019s a very good thing, because wiping a drive involves overwriting every spot on the disk \u2014 in your case, a trillion bytes\u2019 worth. On an average system and HDD, that\u2019d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2442,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/22\/a-reader-asks-does-backing-up-system-on-laptop-to-flash-drive-formats-the-usb-into-only-the-size-it-backed-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “Does backing up system on laptop to flash drive formats the USB into only the size it backed up?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-22","format":false,"excerpt":"Formatting and backing up are two separate things. Formatting comes first: it sets the drive up to be able to record and deliver data. Formatting uses a little of the drive\u2019s capacity for itself; what\u2019s left is the amount of data you can actually put on that drive. For example,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2841,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/28\/is-there-an-easy-way-to-upgrade-a-disk-drive-on-a-laptop\/","url_meta":{"origin":1185,"position":5},"title":"“Is there an easy way to upgrade a disk drive on a laptop?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-28","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Joshua Sneed) Sure! In fact, you may be surprised how easy drive replacement really is. Often, the hardest part is figuring out how to open the case! Once you're inside, it's a piece of cake. You can find appropriate instructions for your system by searching for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190513_140928.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1189,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}