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HELP! USB has less capacity than stated

Go to solution Solved by Master Disaster,

Seller is correct. 232GB for a 256GB drive is about right. The bigger the drive capacity the more space you lose.

 

FYI it has nothing to do with the drive reserving space. It is because there are actually 2 ways of defining space on a hdd.

 

https://tierradatarecovery.co.uk/why-does-my-1tb-hard-drive-offer-only-931gb-of-space

Recently I bought a 256GB SanDisk USB for $30USD(on sale) and naturally the first thing i did was to plug it into the nearest computer to verify the capacity. To my shock all i had was 232GB! 24GB lost to ...what?

Naturally, i contacted the seller and asked him wtf was going on? and he told me this

Quote

Every time we buy a hard drive, or SD card, or flash disk, all the capacity will be read on the device, less than the number printed on the packaging. 
The larger the capacity, the more capacity is reduced than the total capacity written. 
This is because the way computers read byte counts are different from our understanding.

So, you buy memory card 32GB SD Card but will read 29GB. 
Of the remaining, a little room will be used by the File System so that the SD card can control how the data is stored and read by the device.

from what i can understand the seller is saying the USB reserves a little space for itself. The 32GB memory card example makes a lot of sense except why is THERE 24 GIGS MISSING?

A USB doesn't NEED 24 GIGS right??? Then he Sent me a link to this calculator thingy that's supposed to tell you how much capacity you would ACTUALLY have http://www.endmemo.com/data/diskcapacity.php

 

Is this normal? Should i get a Refund? i would like your opinion

PC: Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB 3200mhz RAM (8GBx2), Gigabyte B550M DS3H, GTX 1050 2GB, 650W Semi-Modular PSU80+ Gold

Phone: Poco F3 8GB + 256GB

Audio: Samson SR850s

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Play 4 USB sound card

IEM: planning to get the KBEAR KS2s
Please be patient with me, I'm fatally dumb and its honestly a miracle I've made it this far

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Seller is correct. 232GB for a 256GB drive is about right. The bigger the drive capacity the more space you lose.

 

FYI it has nothing to do with the drive reserving space. It is because there are actually 2 ways of defining space on a hdd.

 

https://tierradatarecovery.co.uk/why-does-my-1tb-hard-drive-offer-only-931gb-of-space

Main Rig:-

Ryzen 7 3800X | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | 16GB Team Group Dark Pro 3600Mhz | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe Gen 4 | Sapphire 5700 XT Pulse | Corsair H115i Platinum | WD Black 1TB | WD Green 4TB | EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W | Asus TUF GT501 | Samsung C27HG70 1440p 144hz HDR FreeSync 2 | Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS |

 

Server:-

Intel NUC running Server 2019 + Synology DSM218+ with 2 x 4TB Toshiba NAS Ready HDDs (RAID0)

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256GB drive only having 232GB is normal. nothing to panic about. My 500GB 970 EVO Plus reads as 465GB. 2TB HDD reads as 1.81TB. A WD 500GB NVME drive reads as 476GB. My 64GB CF Card reads as 59.6GB

 

Formatted capacity will always lose a little, as the computer sees the storage space differently. Binary vs Decimal.

Main Rig: CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 3950X Processor (Stock, -0.1V offset)  /// Motherboard: Asus Pro WS X570-Ace /// CPU Cooler: Deepcool GamerStorm Castle 360 RGB V2 /// GPU: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ 8G /// RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V 128GB (4x32GB) 3200Mhz CL16 /// Chassis: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Blackout TG /// PSU: Corsair RM850i /// Storage: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe (boot) + 1TB WD Black SN750 NVMe (Working Drive) + 2x 1TB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD RAID0 (Game Library) + 2TB Seagate BarraCuda (Backup) /// OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Peripherals (Main Rig): Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 + Logitech G903 Lightspeed /// Keyboard: Keychron Q1 ANSI - JWK Lavender Linear Switches (TX Switch Film, Krytox 205g0), Durock V2 Stabilisers, Polycarbonate Plate, Tape Mod, GMK Blue Samurai + Keychron K4 V2 Hotswap RGB Aluminum Frame - Gateron Milky Black (Deskeys Switch Film, Krytox 205g0), Foam Mod, Tape Mod, GMK Rainy Day PBT Clones /// Tablet: Wacom Intuos M BT /// Monitor: 4x LG 27UL500-W (4K IPS Freesync) /// DAC: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 /// Speakers: Logitech Z625 /// Mic: Focusrite CM25 MkII /// Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, ATH-LS70iS IEMs /// Racing Wheel: Logitech G920 Driving Force with Shifter /// Eye Tracker: Steelseries Sentry  /// External Drives: 500GB Samsung T5 SSD (Working Drive)

 

Home Server - NASty: CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 2700x Processor /// Motherboard: Asus PRIME X470-Pro  /// CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 /// GPU: Gigabyte GeForce® GT 1030 OC 2G /// RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 64GB (4x16GB) 3200Mhz CL16 /// Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5 Window /// PSU: Corsair RM750x /// Storage: LSI SAS 9211-8i (IT Mode) + 10x 4TB Seagate Exos Enterprise Drive /// OS: UNRaid

 

Tester Rig: CPU: AMD Athlon™ 200GE Processor /// Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero WIFI  /// CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism RGB /// GPU: Palit GeForce® GTX 1050 2GB StromX /// RAM: Klevv Bolt 8GB (1x8GB) 3000Mhz CL15 /// Chassis: The AMAZING $30 "Computer Case"! /// PSU: Seasonic Focus GX-750 /// Storage: 1TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD + 240GB Transcend SSD220S 2.5" SATA SSD /// OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Laptop (Asus UX430UN): CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8550U Processor  /// GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 /// RAM: 16GB 2133Mhz /// Storage: 512GB SanDisk SD8SN8U512G1002 (boot) /// OS: Windows 10 Home

 

Other Tech: Console: Xbox One S 1TB, Apple TV 4K /// Printer: Canon imageCLASS MF635Cx /// Phone: Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB Graphite (Daily Driver)  /// Tablet: Apple iPad 9.7-inch Wi-Fi (2018) 32GB + Apple Pencil (1st Generation) /// Headphones: Apple Airpods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM3, Sony WH-1000XM3 /// Smartwatch: Apple Watch Series 6 GPS Space Grey

 

Cameras: Bodies: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV,  Sony A6000 /// Lenses: Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM, Canon EF 16-35mm F/2.8L II USM, Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS II USM, Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (Canon), Sony SEL-P1650 E 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 PZ OSS /// Lighting: 2x Godox SL60-W Continuous LED, 2x Canon Speedlite 580EXII /// Tripods: Leofoto LS-324C Carbon Fiber Tripod + Leofoto LH-40 Ballhead, Leofoto MC-80 Multipurpose Clamp, Triopo DG-3 Gimbal Head /// Yes, I am a Canon Fanboy, deal with it

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1000Kb

1024Kb

 

This is what screws you.

Its normal, and EVERYONE of OUR drives is the same.

There is a difference to what the official spec and what the advertisers used,.. so now its all ruined lol.

Maximums - Asus Z97-K /w i5 4690 Bclk @106.9Mhz * x39 = 4.17Ghz, 8GB of 2600Mhz DDR3,.. Gigabyte GTX970 G1-Gaming @ 1550Mhz

 

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2 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Seller is correct. 232GB for a 256GB drive is about right.

*sighs in relief*

1 minute ago, berberries said:

256GB drive only having 232GB is normal. nothing to panic about. My 500GB 970 EVO Plus reads as 465GB. 2TB HDD reads as 1.81TB. A WD 500GB NVME drive reads as 476GB. My 64GB CF Card reads as 59.6GB

 

Formatted capacity will always lose a little.

Ok i get it. So this is a normal phenomenon/thing. thanks i angery panicked a bit

 

1 minute ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

1000Kb

1024Kb

 

This is what screws you.

Its normal, and EVERYONE of OUR drives is the same.

There is a difference to what the official spec and what the advertisers used,.. so now its all ruined lol.

ikr i was so pissed

PC: Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB 3200mhz RAM (8GBx2), Gigabyte B550M DS3H, GTX 1050 2GB, 650W Semi-Modular PSU80+ Gold

Phone: Poco F3 8GB + 256GB

Audio: Samson SR850s

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Play 4 USB sound card

IEM: planning to get the KBEAR KS2s
Please be patient with me, I'm fatally dumb and its honestly a miracle I've made it this far

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1 minute ago, RAM555789 said:

Like a 1TB drive only actually has 931GB of space for "binary" information.

Understood Captain

PC: Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB 3200mhz RAM (8GBx2), Gigabyte B550M DS3H, GTX 1050 2GB, 650W Semi-Modular PSU80+ Gold

Phone: Poco F3 8GB + 256GB

Audio: Samson SR850s

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Play 4 USB sound card

IEM: planning to get the KBEAR KS2s
Please be patient with me, I'm fatally dumb and its honestly a miracle I've made it this far

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1 minute ago, RAM555789 said:

Here's more info on the topic, also it's perfectly legal to advertise drives like this.

 

https://blog.codinghorror.com/gigabyte-decimal-vs-binary/

Thats some BS i'm surprised they have the balls to do this

PC: Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB 3200mhz RAM (8GBx2), Gigabyte B550M DS3H, GTX 1050 2GB, 650W Semi-Modular PSU80+ Gold

Phone: Poco F3 8GB + 256GB

Audio: Samson SR850s

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Play 4 USB sound card

IEM: planning to get the KBEAR KS2s
Please be patient with me, I'm fatally dumb and its honestly a miracle I've made it this far

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Just now, Hassan170 said:

*sighs in relief*

Ok i get it. So this is a normal phenomenon/thing. thanks i angery panicked a bit

 

ikr i was so pissed

its not a phenomenon, it's just how computers see the storage value. we see it as GB which is 10^9 bytes. Computers see it in Binary which is GiB being 2^30 bytes. 1GiB is about 1.074GB

Main Rig: CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 3950X Processor (Stock, -0.1V offset)  /// Motherboard: Asus Pro WS X570-Ace /// CPU Cooler: Deepcool GamerStorm Castle 360 RGB V2 /// GPU: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce® RTX 2080 SUPER™ 8G /// RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V 128GB (4x32GB) 3200Mhz CL16 /// Chassis: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Blackout TG /// PSU: Corsair RM850i /// Storage: 500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe (boot) + 1TB WD Black SN750 NVMe (Working Drive) + 2x 1TB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD RAID0 (Game Library) + 2TB Seagate BarraCuda (Backup) /// OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Peripherals (Main Rig): Mouse: Logitech MX Master 3 + Logitech G903 Lightspeed /// Keyboard: Keychron Q1 ANSI - JWK Lavender Linear Switches (TX Switch Film, Krytox 205g0), Durock V2 Stabilisers, Polycarbonate Plate, Tape Mod, GMK Blue Samurai + Keychron K4 V2 Hotswap RGB Aluminum Frame - Gateron Milky Black (Deskeys Switch Film, Krytox 205g0), Foam Mod, Tape Mod, GMK Rainy Day PBT Clones /// Tablet: Wacom Intuos M BT /// Monitor: 4x LG 27UL500-W (4K IPS Freesync) /// DAC: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 /// Speakers: Logitech Z625 /// Mic: Focusrite CM25 MkII /// Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, ATH-LS70iS IEMs /// Racing Wheel: Logitech G920 Driving Force with Shifter /// Eye Tracker: Steelseries Sentry  /// External Drives: 500GB Samsung T5 SSD (Working Drive)

 

Home Server - NASty: CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 2700x Processor /// Motherboard: Asus PRIME X470-Pro  /// CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 /// GPU: Gigabyte GeForce® GT 1030 OC 2G /// RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ RGB 64GB (4x16GB) 3200Mhz CL16 /// Chassis: Fractal Design Define R5 Window /// PSU: Corsair RM750x /// Storage: LSI SAS 9211-8i (IT Mode) + 10x 4TB Seagate Exos Enterprise Drive /// OS: UNRaid

 

Tester Rig: CPU: AMD Athlon™ 200GE Processor /// Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero WIFI  /// CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Prism RGB /// GPU: Palit GeForce® GTX 1050 2GB StromX /// RAM: Klevv Bolt 8GB (1x8GB) 3000Mhz CL15 /// Chassis: The AMAZING $30 "Computer Case"! /// PSU: Seasonic Focus GX-750 /// Storage: 1TB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SATA SSD + 240GB Transcend SSD220S 2.5" SATA SSD /// OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Laptop (Asus UX430UN): CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-8550U Processor  /// GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 /// RAM: 16GB 2133Mhz /// Storage: 512GB SanDisk SD8SN8U512G1002 (boot) /// OS: Windows 10 Home

 

Other Tech: Console: Xbox One S 1TB, Apple TV 4K /// Printer: Canon imageCLASS MF635Cx /// Phone: Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB Graphite (Daily Driver)  /// Tablet: Apple iPad 9.7-inch Wi-Fi (2018) 32GB + Apple Pencil (1st Generation) /// Headphones: Apple Airpods Pro, Sony WF-1000XM3, Sony WH-1000XM3 /// Smartwatch: Apple Watch Series 6 GPS Space Grey

 

Cameras: Bodies: Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, Canon EOS 5D Mark IV,  Sony A6000 /// Lenses: Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L USM, Canon EF 16-35mm F/2.8L II USM, Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8L IS II USM, Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (Canon), Sony SEL-P1650 E 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 PZ OSS /// Lighting: 2x Godox SL60-W Continuous LED, 2x Canon Speedlite 580EXII /// Tripods: Leofoto LS-324C Carbon Fiber Tripod + Leofoto LH-40 Ballhead, Leofoto MC-80 Multipurpose Clamp, Triopo DG-3 Gimbal Head /// Yes, I am a Canon Fanboy, deal with it

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9 minutes ago, Hassan170 said:

Thats some BS i'm surprised they have the balls to do this

technically, computer engineers that decided to hitchhike the KGMT system are the ones at wrong here, if you ask me

2^10 =/= 10^3, but they still decide to use the same prefix

 

also, some flash storage DO reserve some NAND flash to prolong their lifespan, because

256GB10 = 250GB2 

while you're only reading 232GB2, which is 237GB10

unless im converting something wrong here

 

so technically you did buy 250GB of memory, just that you cant use all 250GB of it at one time

-sigh- feeling like I'm being too negative lately

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Storage manufacturers use multiples of 1000 to calculate capacity ... so they say 1 KB is 1000 bytes, 1 MB is 1000 KB or 1.000.000 bytes and so on. 

 

Computers work with powers of 2, because every bit can have only two states, 0 or 1, so for a computer it's much much easier and faster to divide things by 2 or multiples of 2, instead of diving by 10.

Because of this, way back in the times of MS DOS, programmers decided to make programs use less memory and less cpu cycles by using multiples of 2 instead of 10... so they decided to go with 1024 instead of 1000, because 1024 is 210  

They kept it to this day, for backwards compatibility with everything, so when a program shows you the size, instead of dividing by 1000, it divides by 1024. 

 

So, 1 KiB is 210 Bytes = 1024 bytes,  1 MiB is 22Bytes = 1024x1024 KiB  = 1,048,576 bytes ,  1 GiB = 230 Bytes = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes 

 

So storage maker says you have 250,000,000,000 bytes  or 250 GB. 

The software tells you that you have  250,000,000,000  / 1024x1024x1024  = 232.83 GiB

 

A small portion is reserved by the file system to store information about files and other things, so it's perfectly normal to see a bit less than that. 

 

As a fun fact / informative fact : the SSD is actually made out of a bunch of memory chips which are traditionally made using multiples of 2, they're usually arranged in 512 KiB "pages", so your SSD most likely has 256 GiB of capacity... but the SSD manufacturer uses multiples of 1000 and hides the difference or around 20-30 GB from you. 

A part of that hidden space is used by the SSD controller to keep track of where all the data is stored and to shuffle things around to reduce wear on the flash memory chips. A small part may be used to cache writes to get better write speeds.

And last but probably most important, a small part of that is reserve - as some portions of the memory chips wear out and can no longer consistently keep data, the SSD controller moves the data to some of that hidden area and stops using that unreliable area.

This way, the SSD's life is extended and guarantees it will last for a much longer time. 

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Storage manufacturers use multiples of 1000 to calculate capacity ... so they say 1 KB is 1000 bytes, 1 MB is 1000 KB or 1.000.000 bytes and so on. 

 

Computers work with powers of 2, because every bit can have only two states, 0 or 1, so for a computer it's much much easier and faster to divide things by 2 or multiples of 2, instead of diving by 10.

Because of this, way back in the times of MS DOS, programmers decided to make programs use less memory and less cpu cycles by using multiples of 2 instead of 10... so they decided to go with 1024 instead of 1000, because 1024 is 210  

They kept it to this day, for backwards compatibility with everything, so when a program shows you the size, instead of dividing by 1000, it divides by 1024. 

 

So, 1 KiB is 210 Bytes = 1024 bytes,  1 MiB is 22Bytes = 1024x1024 KiB  = 1,048,576 bytes ,  1 GiB = 230 Bytes = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes 

 

So storage maker says you have 250,000,000,000 bytes  or 250 GB. 

The software tells you that you have  250,000,000,000  / 1024x1024x1024  = 232.83 GiB

 

A small portion is reserved by the file system to store information about files and other things, so it's perfectly normal to see a bit less than that. 

 

As a fun fact / informative fact : the SSD is actually made out of a bunch of memory chips which are traditionally made using multiples of 2, they're usually arranged in 512 KiB "pages", so your SSD most likely has 256 GiB of capacity... but the SSD manufacturer uses multiples of 1000 and hides the difference or around 20-30 GB from you. 

A part of that hidden space is used by the SSD controller to keep track of where all the data is stored and to shuffle things around to reduce wear on the flash memory chips. A small part may be used to cache writes to get better write speeds.

And last but probably most important, a small part of that is reserve - as some portions of the memory chips wear out and can no longer consistently keep data, the SSD controller moves the data to some of that hidden area and stops using that unreliable area.

This way, the SSD's life is extended and guarantees it will last for a much longer time. 

 

 

 

doesn't change the fact that im pissed I paid for 256 and cant use all of it,

But regardless of that thank you all i have learnt something that i will never forget

PC: Ryzen 5 2600, 16GB 3200mhz RAM (8GBx2), Gigabyte B550M DS3H, GTX 1050 2GB, 650W Semi-Modular PSU80+ Gold

Phone: Poco F3 8GB + 256GB

Audio: Samson SR850s

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Play 4 USB sound card

IEM: planning to get the KBEAR KS2s
Please be patient with me, I'm fatally dumb and its honestly a miracle I've made it this far

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Reserved space in only a thing using the MBR partition table, is you use GPT then there is no need for the drive to reserve space since file information is stored on the actual data partition. This is done so if anything gets corrupted the OS can actually determine exactly what data is corrupted then recover it from a backup.

 

The downside is that, if you make the drive bootable then a small partition has to be created at the beginning on the drive for the bootloader (normally 200mb for Windows) since on MBR the bootloader is stored in the reserved space and GPT has no reserved space.

 

The upside is there's no limit (technically there is but we're NO WHERE near hitting it yet) on drive size or the amount of partitions you can have on a single drive (though Windows has a limit of 128 partitions per drive).

Main Rig:-

Ryzen 7 3800X | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | 16GB Team Group Dark Pro 3600Mhz | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe Gen 4 | Sapphire 5700 XT Pulse | Corsair H115i Platinum | WD Black 1TB | WD Green 4TB | EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W | Asus TUF GT501 | Samsung C27HG70 1440p 144hz HDR FreeSync 2 | Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS |

 

Server:-

Intel NUC running Server 2019 + Synology DSM218+ with 2 x 4TB Toshiba NAS Ready HDDs (RAID0)

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