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Who stole my 10gig???

D

dmilla_1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2003
13
0
Northern Virginia
Hello all,
First time poster here....thanks for the great site. Quick question: I purchased a new Maxtor ATA/133 40gb hard drive for my G4 desktop. Got everything installed without any problems (thanks to Apple's brilliant case engineering). However once installed, prior to any formatting, the drive only "shows" 31.5gb. Now I realize that there is some sort of discrepency between the way hard drive manufacturers "market" their drives and what is reality (i.e. differing ways of counting bytes etc....I'm not much for the math thing). However, isn't the loss of 9gb a bit extreme? Keep in mind this was prior to initializing the drive that it showed the 31.5gb (never would recognize 40gb). Everything functions well...partitions etc, but does Maxtor owe me 9gb? Or, are we dealing with some operator malfunctions (i.e. am I an idiot)?

Not such a quick question afterall....Thanks to all in advance.
 
It's normal. My EZQuest is supposed to be 120Gig but in the end it's just 111.78Gigs total. There's a really long explaination in one of the threads that you can search for if you want.
 
Catalog/File Structure...

Invisible Files...

Number of Sectors (sector size)...

Dead sectors...

And the 1000 ---> 1024 conversion
 
Just like my 4.6GB iPod :(
Same for the internal HD in my TiBook that came with it. 20GB really meant 18.6GB...


You can thank the formatting for a large portion of the loss. For example, some of the 1.4MB floppies said on the boxes that they were 2MB unformatted.

Also, HFS+ and FAT32 on Windows salvage some of the lost space by making the allocation block smaller, so there is less waste.
 
Originally posted by Sun Baked
Catalog/File Structure...

Invisible Files...

Number of Sectors (sector size)...

Dead sectors...

And the 1000 ---> 1024 conversion
Click to expand...

the 1000 -> 1024 conversion is reallyt he biggest cultprit in "lost" drive space. The drive never is as big as advertised since the drive manufacturers use 1000 for a gigabyte, instead 1024 that the computer does.
 
I thought somebody stole your iPod!! :eek:
And seems to me that 9 GB loss in formatting indeed is a bit extreme!
 
Thanks to all....I was afraid that was the answer. One of the few times I was hoping for the "hey you're an idiot" reply followed by instructions on how easy it is to take advantage of the "marketed" 40gb. I suppose I can rip up the hate letter to Maxtor demanding my 9gig or else .... My dreams of one last partition (as if 5 were not enough) have been shot down ;)

And though it is true that no one has made off with my iPod (since I don't own one yet)....if anyone has an extra laying around....I'll take it :D .....even a 5giger I'm not picky...

Thanks again.
 
I have the same problem ( honestly think there is a defect somewhere).
40gig Maxtor shows up as 31gig.
80gig Maxtor (all 3 of them) show up as 75gig.

:confused:


Lethal
 
Originally posted by LethalWolfe
I have the same problem ( honestly think there is a defect somewhere).
40gig Maxtor shows up as 31gig.
80gig Maxtor (all 3 of them) show up as 75gig.

:confused:


Lethal
Click to expand...

It is strange that the size differences aren't proportional.

You would expect that if the 40GB shows 31 that the 80GB would show 62.

Either that or the opposite showing the 80GB as 75 and the 40GB showing 37.5GB.
 
For Comparison:

My IBM 40GB that came stock with my Quicksilver has a capacity of 38.34GB

and

My IBM 120GXP 80GB has a capacity of 76.68GB.

That 40GB shouldn't be anywhere near 31GB...

Something sounds fishy.:mad:
 
Must.......find....hate letter to Maxtor.....demanding......9gig [read cap't Kirk] (I knew that document shredder would come back to haunt me)

....the plot thickens. Things just don't add up (literally). I appreciate all the help...additional thoughts are most welcome.

I may have to get Maxtor's "official" take on this....you would think with storage being so cheap these days I could just let 9gig go (I did get the drive for $58.00 after rebates)...but it's the principle....
 
I'm about to embarass myself here...and attempt some math. Just running through the 1000bytes per gig vs. the 1024bytes per gig problem. Correct me if I'm wrong....just be gentle ;)

-A 40gig drive by Maxtors figures would be 40,000bytes (1000 bytes per gig)
-40,000bytes (the number Maxtor uses) divided by 1024 (the number computer uses) comes to 39.0625.....a net loss of only a gig or so???

Seriously, I am an idiot when it comes to math so thoughts are welcome. Still does'nt add up. Sorry, but I'm one of those people that just needs to know why....if this gets old, tell me to shut up :D

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by Sun Baked:

Catalog/File Structure...

Invisible Files...

Number of Sectors (sector size)...

Dead sectors...

And the 1000 ---> 1024 conversion



Even if your math is correct, you must still factor in the other losses.

I can't tell you how much to deduct for the them because I am actually learning a lot from this thread myself.



Originally posted by FelixDerKater:

It is strange that the size differences aren't proportional.

You would expect that if the 40GB shows 31 that the 80GB would show 62.

Either that or the opposite showing the 80GB as 75 and the 40GB showing 37.5GB.



Originally posted by ShaolinMiddleFinger:

It's normal. My EZQuest is supposed to be 120Gig but in the end it's just 111.78Gigs total.



I would have to disagree that this is normal for the size of your HD and would have to say that this FURTHER validates the proportional loss theory.

If Shaolin's 120 GB drive loses 9 GB, but is 3 times larger, then I would expect that you should lose 3 times less space, or approximately 3 GB. That amount falls closely in line with FelixDerKater's number of 37.5GB and LethalWolfes number of 37GB [on the Windows side] both of which I would agree with.

Call and explain this to Maxtor, and if they don't have a fix of somekind DEMAND an upgrade to an 80 GB, since you know that it only loses around 5 GB according to Felix's feedback.

Let us know how it goes.
 
>(FelixDerKater) Just like my 4.6GB iPod :(
Same for the internal HD in my TiBook that came with it. 20GB really meant 18GB...

Just remember, those 4MB songs you transfer over to your iPod may only read as 3.8MB. :p
 
Well...a quick look at Maxtors "knowledge base" offers a few clues. I found nothing that speaks to the exact problem....as most info is specific to the Windows side of things (i.e. BIOS problems, Fat 32 formatting problems etc). I continue to look and hope to squeeze out a few more gigs. I'm going to give the following a try and let you know what I find...

1. One topic Maxtor mentions does deal with the jumper settings (mine currently is set as slave, good suggestion mnkeybsness
mnkeybsness ). Maxtor indicates that the jumper settings do (in some cases) allow for the drive to limit it's size, Maxtor refers to this as a "Capacity Limitation Jumper". I'll try a few different settings and see...
2. One other topic indicates that the drive is pre-formatted as Fat32. Perhaps, my initializing the drive has only re-formatted the reduced drive space from the Fat32 formatting? I may try a low level format and zero all data etc. (Zzz Zzzz....) I'll save this one for last, as it will take a while.

Thanks, again for all the help. If I do find the solution I will be sure to let you all know, perhaps many of you have some extra gigs looming somewhere...:)
 
there def. has to be a standard set that everyone goes by, if the 1000->1024 is the problem. if it isnt the problem, then well uh....we better get looking.

my 120GB lacie drive registers as 117 GB but when i say get info, it says capacity is only 111.78

Three different figures for the same drive, quite odd in my opinion.

I figured it out though partially. If it were sold as 120GB, the conversaion would take it to 117.18, thus the 117 my iMac is telling me on the desktop. The other 6 los when I click get info is either a casualty of the formatting or other....who knows.
 
my friend called seagate and western digital about the 1000-1024 thing...
It's just a marketing thing. They tell you 100gb, they give you (according to software manufacturers) less.
 
40.000.000 bytes / 1024 =
39062,5 megabytes /1024 =
38,14697 gigabytes

Your loss of almost 25% of capacity is NOT a math issue. Something is wrong with the firmware, or hardware settings.
 
kill maxtor. my IBM 80GB (MDD) reads as 76.68GB as an HFS+ drive with one partition on it.

I think that if you do the 1000>1024 conversion you shuld then loose about 2-3GB again for misc stuff that doesnt affect you ever.

do not ever ask me why. ask the maxtor/IBM/segate engineers why.

good luck.
 
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