2048 GB Hard Disk

[Hard disk Size]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

 

[richard]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

In name only. Consider yourself damn lucky if you wind up with 1600gb.

 

[Paul]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

There are two measurement systems inside computers.

Disk drives are measured in power_of_ten units. The
unit in this case, for the disk drive, would be "terabyte".
The nearest equivalent units in the two systems, are
explained in this article. So the 2TB drive has
2000000000000 bytes of storage. The disk drive
manufacturers like this system, because it makes
the drives "deceptively smaller". They wouldn't
think of using power_of_two units to measure the
total capacity, even though actual storage operations
on the disk are done in power_of_two chunks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tebibyte

"1 tebibyte = 2**40 bytes = 1099511627776 bytes

related to the terabyte, which is defined as <--- disks
10**12 bytes = 1000000000000 bytes"

The drive is not "naturally" that size. When you check
the exact size, you'll find it's slightly more than
the nice round number. If they were to give less than
the number, they'd be in trouble with the FTC or
equivalent organization.

The disk drive uses "zoned" storage, meaning the tracks on
the disk, don't store the same amount as you move across
the disk. Since the diameter of each track differs, the
information stored on the track can differ. And so there's
no reason for the storage to really align with anything.
It's just a big "bucket of bytes". But, at least the
sectors are "power_of_two" units, whether they're 512 byte
native sectors or 4096 byte native sectors. Both are
power_of_two numbers.

*******

Computer RAM uses binary addressing, and arrays of memory
typically fill the address space, so the units in usage
there are the power_of_two kind. So a 1GiB stick of RAM
contains 1024*1024*1024 = 2**30 bytes. No rounding off
to power_of_ten units there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte

"1 gibibyte = 2**30 bytes = 1073741824 bytes <--- sticks of RAM

related to the gigabyte, which is defined as
10**9 bytes = 1000000000 bytes"

Having the addressing and dimensions work that way, makes
design of the guts of the computer simpler. Address decoding
is relatively simple, because of this choice of doing things.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Char Jackson]

In name only.

In other words, yes. Is that what you meant?

Consider yourself damn lucky if you wind up with 1600gb.

I'm not sure why that would be lucky when you should end up with about
1853GB (or 1.81TB) after formatting.

 

[VanguardLH]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

2^10 = 1024

1 GB = 2^30 bytes
1 TB = 2^40 bytes = 2^10 * 2^30 = 1024 GB

Decimal orders of magnitude:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte

Each has a handy table showing the various sizes. Each is 1000 (or
1024) times greater than the prior size. Because of the deliberate
confusion caused by marketers trying to make hard disks look bigger than
they are by using binary prefixes instead of decimal prefixes, new terms
have evolved to differentiate those base on 2^N and 10^N.

Binary orders of magnitude:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mebibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tebibyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebibyte

Computers are binary. Marketers are decimal.

 

[Andy Burns]

Because of the deliberate
confusion caused by marketers trying to make hard disks look bigger than
they are by using binary prefixes instead of decimal prefixes, new terms
have evolved to differentiate those base on 2^N and 10^N.

Computers are binary. Marketers are decimal.

Memory manufacturers and marketers use binary.

Hard disc manufacturers and marketers use decimal except when
reading/writing chunks from the discs, when they tend to use binary (but
some SANs can use larger e.g. 520 up to 528 byte sectors, the total disc
size doesn't vary though, the user just gets to use less of it.)

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

Yes.

 

[Ed Cryer]

In other words, yes. Is that what you meant?


I'm not sure why that would be lucky when you should end up with about
1853GB (or 1.81TB) after formatting.

I have a 2TB internal drive, partitioned thus;
17GB
100GB
922.95GB
922.97GB
=
1962.92GB in all.

Taking 2048GB as the notional size, I get

1962.92/2048 *100
=
95.8457%

Ed

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

I have a 2TB internal drive, partitioned thus;
17GB
100GB
922.95GB
922.97GB
=
1962.92GB in all.

Taking 2048GB as the notional size, I get

1962.92/2048 *100
=
95.8457%

Ed

I think the disc manufacturer would say 2000 is the notional size, in
fact 2 000 000 000 bytes, so you're even closer to 100%. (I didn't
_think_ formatting took that much; OK, you need a partition table. But
the usual reason for discrepancy is the 2.4% difference between 1000 and
1024, raised to whatever power technology has reached, currently 3,
making 1.073741824, i. e. about 7.4% difference between binary and
decimal T, such that a 2 T drive is about 2/1.073741824 or ~1.86 TiB.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"So, I take it you've ... been with a man before?" "I'm a virgin. I'm just not
very good at it." Topper Harley & Ramada Thompson (Charlie Sheen & Valeria
Golino), in "Hot Shots!" (1991).

 

[John Williamson]

I have a 2TB internal drive, partitioned thus;
17GB
100GB
922.95GB
922.97GB
=
1962.92GB in all.

Taking 2048GB as the notional size, I get

1962.92/2048 *100
=
95.8457%

The space available for data would be rather less than the partition
sizes you give, as the Master File Table that windows uses is allocated
12% of the partition size by default, which can increase if you have a
large number of small files in the volume.

If you check a newly created, empty, unformatted, single partition on a
2TB Hard drive, you may see something not unadjacent to 95% of the HD
size shown. When it is formatted as NTFS by Windows, you will
immediately lose 12% of that for the MFT. If it is formatted for FAT32,
then the FAT would normally be smaller than the MFT.

 

[Evan Platt]

In name only. Consider yourself damn lucky if you wind up with 1600gb.

Wow, then I better go buy a lotto ticket, because I got 1.81 TB on my
2 TB drive.

Oh - it's just more incorrect information from bullis.

 

[Ken Blake]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

Yes, exactly. They are two different ways of saying the same thing,
just like seven days and a week.

 

[Ken Blake]

There are two measurement systems inside computers.

Sort of.

Here's my standard post on the subject:

All hard drive manufacturers define 1GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes, while
the rest of the computer world, including Windows, defines it as 2 to
the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. So a 320 billion byte drive is
actually around 300GB.

Some people point out that the official international standard
defines the "G" of GB as one billion, not 1,073,741,824. Correct
though they are, using the binary value of GB is so well established
in the computer world that I consider using the decimal value of a
billion to be deceptive marketing on the part of the manufacturer.

 

[Wolf K]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

I've read all the other comments. Allyou really need to know is:

a) yes, 2048GB is 1TB, pretty close.
b) the overhead" needed to keep track of files means that you get less
than 2028 of available storage space. About 10% less.
c) Windows doesn't release obsolete overhead space (data about files),
so if you write and delete a lot of files, the actual available space
will shrink.

 

[XS11E]

Yes.

First correct answer to a yes-or-no question!

 

[pjp]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

The basic difference is manufacturers use 1000Mb as 1Gb where it really
should be 1024Mb is 1Gb (powers of 2, e.g. 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512 &
1024).

That said, my disks ...

250Gb formats to 239Gb
500Gb formats to 478Gb
1Tb formats to 954Gb
3Tb formats to 2860Gb

Figures are approximates to nearest Gb.

Notice it's linear.

 

[Paul]

I have a 2TB internal drive, partitioned thus;
17GB
100GB
922.95GB
922.97GB
=
1962.92GB in all.

Taking 2048GB as the notional size, I get

1962.92/2048 *100
=
95.8457%

Ed

You can get size info from "dd".

http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/dd-0.5.zip

( syntax at http://www.chrysocome.net/dd )

Elevate a command prompt window (cmd.exe) then run

dd --list

and it will report the entire size of the disk (as
visible to the OS, so can't "peer past" an HPA). It
also gives sizes for each of the partitions. Partition0
is the entire disk, while Partition1-Partition4 could
be the primary partitions.

That should help clear up the notional size.

My 500GB disk reports

"NT Block Device Objects

\\?\Device\Harddisk0\Partition0

size is 500,107,862,016

That is the amount of space that "dd" can access, which
is why the tool outputs that data. You should not be
able to access past that point (although the dd code
fails to work right for USB flash sticks - that may have
been fixed in a later version).

If I use PTEDIT32 (which also needs to be elevated to work right),
it gives information in CHS format.

PTEDIT32 reports 60801 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors, and
that equals 60801*255*63*512 = 500,105,249,280 bytes

The remainder is a fraction of a cylinder, but still a multiple
of a 63 sector "fake track".

A person can take that 500,107,862,016 number, and convert
to GB or GiB as they see fit.

Paul

 

[VanguardLH]

First correct answer to a yes-or-no question!

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

A yes-no response means the OP doesn't learn how to decipher on his own.
Knowledge weans the child from ignorance and dependence.

 

[Stan Brown]

Is 2048GB Hard Disk same as 2TB Hard Disk?

Yes or no.

According to Microsoft, 1 KB is 1024 bytes and 2 TB is 2048 GB or 2*2
^40 bytes.

According to disk manufacturers, 1 KB is 1000 bytes and 2 TB is 2000
GB or 2*10^12 bytes.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Sort of.

Here's my standard post on the subject:

All hard drive manufacturers define 1GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes, while
the rest of the computer world, including Windows, defines it as 2 to
the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. So a 320 billion byte drive is
actually around 300GB.

Some people point out that the official international standard
defines the "G" of GB as one billion, not 1,073,741,824. Correct
though they are, using the binary value of GB is so well established
in the computer world that I consider using the decimal value of a
billion to be deceptive marketing on the part of the manufacturer.

However, in the world of computers there are defined terms for powers of
2 that approximate certain powers of 10. They are denoted by adding i to
the abbreviation, so that 2^10 is a KiB instead of a KB, and so on.

As long as the disk maker calls 10^3 a KB and not a KiB, he is not lying
(in science, k should be lower case, but in computers, upper case seems
to be the norm).

Note: I have paid too little attention to the variant, so I may be in
error to some degree in the nomenclature, but the notion remains
correct.

There are several other posts in this thread that clarify the issue.