How come the 768GB SSD on the rMBP only have 750GB usable space? What happened to the other 18GB?
Last edited:
rMBP SSD Missing Space
- Thread starter jlin615
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
-
Did you order new AirTags? We've opened a dedicated AirTags forum.
That doesn't account for the fact that the drive is 750 gigabytes unformatted. The formatting and recovery partition take up much less than 1 GB of space - a far cry from the 18 GB that's missing. The 768 GB "flash storage" module has the same unformatted capacity as a 750 gigabyte hard drive, so Apple should advertise it as a 750 gigabyte drive.
I said later in the thread I linked above that Apple advertising the SM512E as 512 GB would be like an SSD vendor advertising their 512 GB drives as 550 GB. With Apple charging $2 per gigabyte for upgrades, you are essentially out $36 on the 768 GB upgrade.
Comment
I don't recall standard hard drives loses so much space after formatting. Wheter it's a HD or SDD, losing 1-2GB is acceptable, but 18GB is pretty signifcant.
Comment
Isn't this true for any drive out there. SSD or HHD Windows or Mac? Even portable thumb drives, the iPhone, android phones SD cards, anything with space is actual is smaller than advertised amount. It's not false advertising, it's usable space vs actual space.
Comment
Why don't you file a class-action lawsuit about it? Seriously, it's not a big deal.
Comment
Then why don't Sandforce drive vendors advertise 480 GB drives as 512 GB? They have 512 GiB of flash on them. Apple is doing the same thing here.
"Actual formatted capacity may be less" has historically referred to two things:
1. The difference between GiB (1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes) and GB (1 kilobyte = 1000 bytes). This isn't an issue with how OS X counts GB because OS X uses base 10 in its indication anyway.
2. The formatting you lose from the EFI and recovery partitions - again, this is irrelevant because we're looking at the unformatted capacity of the drive.
Neither of these situations apply here. The drive just takes 18 GB of space for overprovisioning. If you buy a 750 GB hard drive from Apple, it will have the same unformatted capacity as the 768 GB rMBP.
Not everyone has the time to call lawyers up just to file class actions randomly... You're losing anywhere from 6 GB to 18 GB of space depending on what machine you get, and this can be a significant difference that is NOT reflected before you buy the machine.
On an actual Samsung 830 you can use Samsung's SSD Magician software to customize the amount of overprovisioning on the drive and get the full capacity if you want. That's not an option here - the program refuses to operate on OEM Samsung SSDs.
Last edited:
Comment
A 2% difference is, by most reasonable people's definition, not "significant". You should maintain far more than that in free space on any drive. It's not worth getting bent out of shape about. It is what it is. Ranting about it won't change a thing.
Comment
+1 yea, the significant difference may reflect people decision to choose their rMBP configuration.
Comment
If you're basing a buying decision solely on a 2% difference in storage capacity, your purchasing criteria is seriously flawed. You should keep at least 10% storage space free, anyway.
Comment
Highly unlikely. Anyone choosing the 768 is after the most space they can get, or just wants to be that guy with a top of the range PC. Either way, if you're wealthy enough to afford the device you're not going to be swayed by a small % less storage space. All computers, phones, games consoles, anything with a hard drive always have less space than advertised.
Comment
Not complaining or anything. My original question was all just curiosity.
Comment
I have a brand new 256GB samsung SSD sitting on my desk right now that I just got yesterday. I haven't put anything on it yet, but there is only 238.47GB available. That's 17.53GB wasted on formatting. Maybe I should sue samsung for selling me a 238.47GB drive. 
Comment
I wonder why SSD's loses so much space after formatting compare to standard hard drives.
Comment
OK I plugged in my Seagate 500GB HHD and only 465.76GB are available. Can I get a refund for the 34.24GB that was robbed from me?
What's the sarcasm font on this forum again?
----------
See post number 18 ^^ and do you have another Hard drive that does better? I find it hard to believe. I've never seen any type of hard drive or portable media do much better percentage wise.
----------
My 2007 Honda CBR600RR was advertised as a 600cc engine, but I recently found it it's only 599cc. Should I start a class action lawsuit?
What's the sarcasm font on this forum again?
----------
See post number 18 ^^ and do you have another Hard drive that does better? I find it hard to believe. I've never seen any type of hard drive or portable media do much better percentage wise.
----------
My 2007 Honda CBR600RR was advertised as a 600cc engine, but I recently found it it's only 599cc. Should I start a class action lawsuit?
Comment
[sarcasm]What's the sarcasm font on this forum again?[/sarcasm]
What's the sarcasm font on this forum again? (LOL! it worked!)
Comment
Thanks
This is one of those topics that get on my nerves. To me it's a lack of understanding what you're buying, then complaining about what you bought.
Comment
OK I plugged in my Seagate 500GB HHD and only 465.76GB are available. Can I get a refund for the 34.24GB that was robbed from me?
What's the sarcasm font on this forum again?
----------
See post number 18 ^^ and do you have another Hard drive that does better? I find it hard to believe. I've never seen any type of hard drive or portable media do much better percentage wise.
----------
My 2007 Honda CBR600RR was advertised as a 600cc engine, but I recently found it it's only 599cc. Should I start a class action lawsuit?
Ok. As I've mentioned above, I'm just curious. Not here to rant or anything.
The WD 750GB HD in my Mac Mini has actual space of 749GB. My WD external 1TB's actual space is 1TB. I know the actual space will certainly be different than advertised. This is my first SSD, so I was just wondering why the difference in actual space and advertised space is much more significant than standard HD's. It's no big deal to me, just curious.
Comment
Do you have screen shots? Maybe it's different in a MAC as opposed to windows, but I have several hard drives around me. I have at least three 80GB, a 120, 256, 320 and two 500 HHD drives, and one 256 SSD drive and they all have several GBs less than what's advertised. I've been working in IT for years (windows side) and this is extremely normal.
Comment
I have a brand new 256GB samsung SSD sitting on my desk right now that I just got yesterday. I haven't put anything on it yet, but there is only 238.47GB available. That's 17.53GB wasted on formatting. Maybe I should sue samsung for selling me a 238.47GB drive.
- Is that in Windows or OS X? They differ in how they calculate gigabytes. My 256 GB Samsung 830 shows up as 256.06 GB in Disk Utility with its partition being 255.2 GB. That's fairly accurate, I'd say.
- That's because to Windows 1 GB is 1024 MB, which is 1024 KB, which is 1024 Bytes. OS X uses the same way of calculating as hard drive/SSD manufacturers, where 1 GB is 1000 MB and so on.
Can't anyone come up with an explanation for the missing space on the rMBP's SSD? Neither the unformatted vs. formatted issue or the 1024 vs. 1000 issue apply.
Comment
It's in windows, and mine is a 830 series drive as well.
Are you sure manufacturers are using 1000MB as 1GB? If they are then I'd say someone could have a lawsuit. Can you provide a link where you got that info?
Comment
