ceeslans

Q: Iphone 6+ 64Gb, actual memory is just 55.6Gb

I have a Iphone 6+ 64Gb, the iphone reports a total capacity of just 55.6Gb memory.

Where are the lost 8.4 GB used for, or is this a hardware failure?.

I use 10.9 Gb the iphone reports 44.7 Gb as available.

Thanks in advance for your comments

Cees

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 27, 2014 5:13 AM

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Q: Iphone 6+ 64Gb, actual memory is just 55.6Gb

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  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Oct 31, 2015 2:41 PM in response to Vaulther13
    Level 8 (38,064 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 31, 2015 2:41 PM in response to Vaulther13

    Vaulther13 wrote:

     

    This make no sense whY does AN OPERATING SYSTEM TAKE  MORE MEMORY TO OPERATE FOR EXAMPLE A16 CAPACITY 12 GIG 4 GIG TO OPERATED, 64 GIG TAKES 11 AND 128 GIG TAKE 14? SHOULDN'T THEY ALL TAKE THE SAME.

    Please get the CAPS LOCK fixed on your keyboard. Typing in all upper case is hard to read and is considered rude.

     

    To answer your question, no, they should not all take the same. One of the key types of metadata in ANY operating system is the "map" of data blocks on the drive to files. The larger the storage capacity, the more space is needed for this table, because there are more "sectors" and more files in 128 GB of storage than there are in 16 GB of storage.

  • by Pike68,

    Pike68 Pike68 Nov 5, 2015 11:10 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 11:10 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Thx Lawrence and all those trying to explain it to the rest of us, I get it now cheers.

    I had an iphone 16GB which gave me 14GB and change, so losing about 1.5GB for the OS seems reasonable enough to me, so when I just got my new 6s 64gb and found only 55 and a bit GB free I was really struggling to work out where and why 8.5GB had been sucked away.

    but thanks to everyones posts, info links and spelling it out step by step has really helped me to understand the big difference and why..

    Its almost 6 times the amount from one device to the other. I guess the 7% and the mapping thing really mounts up.

     

    once again, thanks.

    ( Amounts ive used in this post are rough guides, I really do understand it now, but im really to old to remember stuff exactly lol )

  • by mlcindia,

    mlcindia mlcindia Dec 11, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Moratomac
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 11, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Moratomac

    Well Described.

     

    I too have the same concern. something is not clear to us.

     

    if my 64gb iphone 6 has a usable space of 55GB i.e., 9GB is unexplained.

    then why 16gb iPhone 6 has a usable space of 12GB i.e., 4GB is unexplained.

     

    why this difference with same operating version of Operating System.

     

    its like, if you install windows on different capacity of hardrives, it will take the specified amount of space which is already declared by Microsoft.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Dec 11, 2015 5:17 PM in response to mlcindia
    Level 8 (38,064 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 11, 2015 5:17 PM in response to mlcindia

    There are 2 different factors. First, the space shown in the Settings on the phone is expressed in binary kilobytes, while the size on the box is in decimal GB. A binary KB is 1024 bytes. So the 64 GB is expressed as 59.8 GB in binary. It's the same amount of space, just in a different number system (see: How OS X and iOS report storage capacity for a more detailed explanation). So accounting for different numbering systems the difference is only 59.8 GB - 55 GB or 4.8 GB is unexplained.

     

    The second factor is the amount of space needed to store the disk allocation map ("inode table"), which is proportional to the total amount of disk space to be mapped. The larger the available storage, the larger the allocation map must be, as it must have an entry for each allocation unit (formerly called "sectors") on the disk. Clearly, a 64 GB drive has more sectors than a 16 GB drive.

     

    The same thing is true for Windows, except that Windows' allocation map and allocation system is not as space-efficient as the Unix file system used by iOS, so you will lose space more rapidly as the disk size increases on Windows systems.

     

    BTW, all of this has been explained several times over in this thread already.

  • by johnsta,

    johnsta johnsta Apr 9, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 9, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    I may be true but its disingenuous to say its got 64 gb in the advertising - does this mean that a 16Gb iPhone only has a meagre 5.5Gb?

    Would you buy a pint of beer and expect that you could only drink half of it?

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 9, 2016 9:49 AM in response to johnsta
    Level 9 (59,146 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 9, 2016 9:49 AM in response to johnsta

    johnsta wrote:

     

    I may be true but its disingenuous to say its got 64 gb in the advertising - does this mean that a 16Gb iPhone only has a meagre 5.5Gb?

    Would you buy a pint of beer and expect that you could only drink half of it?

    Perhaps this article will help you understand:

     

    How OS X and iOS report storage capacity - Apple Support

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Apr 9, 2016 10:25 AM in response to johnsta
    Level 8 (38,064 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 9, 2016 10:25 AM in response to johnsta

    There is nothing false. The phone has 64 GB of storage. All of it. 64 GB. 64 GB. Say it again: 64 GB. Before you put anything on it. Once you add an operating system, the available storage is a little less. Once you add data it gets smaller still. But the total is still 64 GB.

     

    When you view the storage on the phone it will APPEAR to have less, because a different measurement system is in use: Base 2, where 1 KB is 1024 bytes instead of 1,000 bytes. In this different measurement system 64 GB will be displayed as 59.8 GB, but it is still 64 GB. It's like the same as the fact that .454 kilogram is is 1 pound. It's the same amount of weight, but it's a different measurement system. If someone sold you a .454 Kg steak and charged you for 1 pound of steak you wouldn't call that false.

     

    Or for your beer example, if you were told that the pint of beer was really only 0.47 liters would that upset you?

     

    Regarding the 64 GB vs the 16 GB phone, I already explained that. Please read what I wrote.

  • by kevinkendall,

    kevinkendall kevinkendall Aug 12, 2016 11:09 AM in response to ceeslans
    Level 1 (127 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 12, 2016 11:09 AM in response to ceeslans

    Regarding general hard drive and iPhone and what have you storage devices showing less than their manufacturer-stated capacity, the reason for the difference in the numbers is very, very simple. The reason has to do with marketing, and with simplicity in storage device manufacturers labeling their products. Here it is:

     

    All computer devices are manufactured for, & operate using, the binary numbering system; i.e., the Base 2 numbering system; i.e., 1's and 0's. However, for simplicity's sake more than for any other reason I suppose, manufacturers *report and advertise* their storage devices' capacities in the "normal" everyday-use decimal numbering system; i.e., the Base 10 numbering system.

     

    So when a memory storage manufacturer builds an iPhone's memory for 32GB, or a desktop or laptop hard drive for, say, 1TB, then the resulting Base 10/Base 2 storage capacity calculates out to, for the 32GB iPhone, as 32,000,000GB total stated Base 10 amount ÷ 1,048,576GB of similarly close Base 2 amount per Gigabyte = 30.517578125GB. For the 1TB hard drive, that'd be 1,000,000,000GB (Base 10) ÷ 1,048,576 (Base 2) = 953.67431640625GB real, actual storage space amount.

    Partitioning and formatting reduces that "real, actual storage space amount" just a bit more.

     

    So there it is.... Marketing, a difference in the Base 10 "human" numbering system and in the "computer" numbering system, and simplicity in labeling.


    Kevin Kendall

    Ol' tried & true & still good 7,1 2.4GHz white Macbook / 1TB HDD / 16GB RAM / Sierra beta4 with Siri (yayyy!!) / Windows 7 & 10 via VMWare 7

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Aug 12, 2016 2:22 PM in response to kevinkendall
    Level 8 (38,064 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 12, 2016 2:22 PM in response to kevinkendall

    Thank you for repeating what has been said about a dozen times in this 2 year old thread, and also what is explained in this tech note from Apple: How OS X and iOS report storage capacity - Apple Support which has also appeared 5 times (now 6) in the thread.

  • by kevinkendall,

    kevinkendall kevinkendall Aug 14, 2016 12:28 AM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (127 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 14, 2016 12:28 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

    wooops..... Discussion board faux pas.... Sorry, Lawrence -- I didn't see your post where you touched on the fact that storage devices are manufactured using the binary Base 2 numbering system before I added mine to the discussion the other day.  And I wasn't "feeding" off of your post, taking it further than you did, 'cause like I said, I didn't see it. However, if I might be so forward to say so, and not to discredit your own post Lawrence, my explanation was pretty thorough, covering both Base 10 & Base 2 & why there's a difference between advertised & actual sizes.

    Gettin' tough to be polite on the internet these days......

    KK

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