Why is the size of my external hard disc drive difference from what i bought when i plug into my laptop?

Question

I bought a 320gb external hard disk drive and when i check in my laptop it says that its 298gb, is this normal?

Answer 1

MARKETING

Check this link.....it is all you need to know about "GB" and actual GB

http://compreviews.about.com/od/storage/...

Answer 2

That's just how it goes. The companies advertise it as 320 because they measure it in a different way than it actually is to make it seem more I guess. 298 sounds about right for a 320GB, it's a shame they do that though. Very misleading.

Answer 3

It's normal that it is a bit less than what you bought. Your external hard drive needs something called a driver in order to run on your computer. It may also come with extra software like automatic backup, etc. This software takes up just a little bit of space, but it shouldn't take up so much that it's noticeably less space. You should check to see what comes with it - it shouldn't take up a full 22 GB.

Answer 4

It is normal but not usually to that extent, it shouldn't be more than a GB or two off. Maybe it came with some security software pre-installed on it??

Answer 5

Preloaded software maybe?  

Answer 6

They are fundamentally the same value. Let's call it "the new math."

The difference is the HD marketing and sales staff decided to ignore the computer industry standard for a "K" (which is 2 raised to the 10th power, or 1024) and instead choose to use the metric system concept of "K" (a.k.a. "kilo") which is 1000. Isn't it interesting how doing so just happens to make HDs look bigger. Clearly this is coincidence. :)

You can confirm you got what you paid for by doing the math. If you convert 320GB (as metric K) into computer K you'll find it turns into 298GB.

(320 * 1000 * 1000 * 1000 / 1024 / 1024 / 1024) = 298.023

Answer 7

Yes, the drive lost some size due to formatting.

Answer 8

If you'd like buy a hard disk drive, you can take a look here.

http://reviews-buy.com/category/hard-dis...

Answer 9

This is perfectly normal. When an external drive is plugged in, drivers format the drive to work for your computer. These drivers take up space, so having it drop by 20GB, although a lot, is still fine. Happy storing!