Western Digital 120gb 8mb Buffer

March 30th, 2003

I have just built a new p4 3.06 ghz system, i brought all new parts exept for a ibm 120gb,

the western digital hard drive is 120gb 8mb Buffer, and i am running windows xp pro

In windows it shows the ibm drive as a 117gb drive, and shows the western digital as a 111gb drive.

I have never known a hard drive to take 9gb after formatting, can any one help ?

**Zedric** · March 30th, 2003

This is because there are different ways to count GB.
Manufacturers count 1000^3 bytes = 1000000000 bytes = 1 GB.
Windows counts 1024^3 bytes = 1073741824 bytes = 1GB.

So a 120GB drive will look like:
120*(1000^3/1024^3) = 111 GB

IBM just added 6 GB I guess...

BonyTony · March 30th, 2003

I have had IBM hard drives that when bought say for example a 120gig is actually 123gig and it does say it on the drive (i just thought it was rather nice of them...and nothing more)....for some reason some drives are actually bigger than what they are supposed to be.

So i am quite sure its not your Pc but the HD itself.

My IBM 120gig formats down to 115 ntfs.

March 30th, 2003

Thanks for you help, i brought the WD1200JB (120gb) hard drive for cloning backups will this still work?

Or will i have to partion the hard drives and copy a partion instead ?

**Zedric** · March 30th, 2003

No I'm pretty sure it should still work as long as the backuped partition isn't completely full.

March 30th, 2003

windows reserves a zone for the mft area, i read it is 12% of your drive, but it can be reduced by good old tweaking.

March 30th, 2003	Top \| #1
poolmanmichael Unregistered Posts: n/a	Western Digital 120gb 8mb Buffer I have just built a new p4 3.06 ghz system, i brought all new parts exept for a ibm 120gb, the western digital hard drive is 120gb 8mb Buffer, and i am running windows xp pro In windows it shows the ibm drive as a 117gb drive, and shows the western digital as a 111gb drive. I have never known a hard drive to take 9gb after formatting, can any one help ?

March 30th, 2003	Top \| #2
Zedric NTFS Guru Joined: January 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,006 Reputation: 890 Power: 175	This is because there are different ways to count GB. Manufacturers count 1000^3 bytes = 1000000000 bytes = 1 GB. Windows counts 1024^3 bytes = 1073741824 bytes = 1GB. So a 120GB drive will look like: 120(1000^3/1024^3) = 111 GB IBM just added 6 GB I guess... Did I help you?* Please use the reputation system. Click the icon on the left! Proud host of the OSNN.net folding sigs. Want one? Check the folding thread! http://zedric.no-ip.com/

March 30th, 2003	Top \| #3
BonyTony OSNN Senior Addict Joined: January 2002 Posts: 786 Reputation: 20 Power: 133	I have had IBM hard drives that when bought say for example a 120gig is actually 123gig and it does say it on the drive (i just thought it was rather nice of them...and nothing more)....for some reason some drives are actually bigger than what they are supposed to be. So i am quite sure its not your Pc but the HD itself. My IBM 120gig formats down to 115 ntfs. -----------------Lurker--------------

March 30th, 2003	Top \| #5
Zedric NTFS Guru Joined: January 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 4,006 Reputation: 890 Power: 175	No I'm pretty sure it should still work as long as the backuped partition isn't completely full. Did I help you? Please use the reputation system. Click the icon on the left! Proud host of the OSNN.net folding sigs. Want one? Check the folding thread! http://zedric.no-ip.com/

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March 30th, 2003	Top \| #4
poolmanmichael Unregistered Posts: n/a	Thanks for you help, i brought the WD1200JB (120gb) hard drive for cloning backups will this still work? Or will i have to partion the hard drives and copy a partion instead ?

March 30th, 2003	Top \| #6
XP Abuser Unregistered Posts: n/a	windows reserves a zone for the mft area, i read it is 12% of your drive, but it can be reduced by good old tweaking.