What's the TRUE capacity?

This will give you an idea:
1 KB = 1024 bytes
1 MB = 1024 KB = 1048576 bytes
1GB = 1024 MB = 1048576 KB = 1073741824 bytes
So take 4.7 billion bytes, and start dividing by 1024:
4,700,000,000 bytes = 4,589,843 KB = 4,482 MB = 4.37 GB


Hard drive manufacturers define 1 gigabyte as exactly 1,000,000,000 bytes. By their definition, a 45BG hard drive is exactly 45,000,000,000 bytes. The true definition of 1 gigabyte is actually 1,073,741,824 bytes:
* 1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte
* 1024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
* 1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte
To obtain the true size in gigabytes of a 45BG hard drive you must divide the manufacturer's size in bytes by the number of bytes in a gigabyte:
45,000,000,000/1,073,741,824 = 41.9
As such, the actual reported size in gigabytes will always be smaller than the manufacturer's advertised size.

My 160 GB showed 148.65 GB free after a restore on my Mac (HFS+ formatting). I'm guessing an 80 GB will lose 5-6 GB after formatting, but hopefully someone with an 80 GB model will respond with an exact figure.

I think you're going to need to spring for a 160 GB if you want to hold your existing material and have a bit of breathing room.

Also, the actual formatted capacity may differ depending on the number of bad blocks on a drive and whether it is formatted HFS+ or FAT32.

My point though is why not used the same system to measure the drive as one uses to measure the data to fit on it? I know there's small print but surely it would be better to be honest?

Back in the 1970's and early 1980's, some computer companies would use the "honest" number when advertising the amount of memory in their computers. But other computer companies would use the "less honest" number. Computer buyers would see two computers for sale at the same price but one of them would list a higher amount of memory. So, of course, the computers from the less honest companies would sell better even though the actual amount of memory was the same. This left the honest companies little choice but to adopt the less honest numbers.

Once hard drives started to appear, the practice was extended to them. People did not notice this at first because the difference between the honest and less honest numbers was not large. But as hard drive sizes increased, the difference became greater.

Got my 160gb today or should i say 148? I understand a few gigs of ipod OS but seriously. 12GB?!?! I completely understand the 160gb is the raw HD but when over 10gb of it isn't there for storage how can they honestly sell it as 160? Am I crazy? I love Apple products etc like most of us on here however this is dumb. I'd complain if I knew who to contact.

Just realized when I saw the iPod touch on the Apple page it's only got 16GB..so does that mean there are only 4GB of storage space?

Why would the space used up by the "OS" on the 80 be less? How much is used on the nano's? What makes these take so much less "OS" memory space to operate? I'm totally at a loss

you can pick up space my removing the built-in games. instructions are posted in support.

*you can pick up space my removing the built-in games. instructions are posted in support.*
Huh?
Care to point out exactly where they are and what they say?

No it won't. You're short by approx. 500MB. The formatted capacity of an 80GB classic is 75.86GB.

RDH wrote:
Thanks for the reply. My point though is why not used the same system to measure the drive as one uses to measure the data to fit on it? I know there's small print but surely it would be better to be honest?

BTW I bought a 160Gb iPod and can report that it holds 148Gb.Why not call it a 150Gb? Closer to the mark innit!?

Think about the Games, the Software, the RAM support needed. Surely, the more the memory as advertised, the less formatted capacity you will have.

The operating system takes up some space. I assume that there may be some caching space? Then there must be a music "database" that holds the structure of the data. on the iTouch, I assume there has to be caching space for safari web browser. How about space for the small apps, etc. Not sure what else.

I don't want to prolong this discussion, which occurs all over the forums when reference to hard drive sizes is made. As stated in the footnotes on the tech specs page for all current ipods "1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less." Therefore, Apple is using this definition of GB, which is perfectly OK according to Wikipedia (see entry for Gigabyte), and is the general industry practice. For example, here is a link to a large flash memory manufacturer's explanation: <http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/Categories/Products/sd_capacitydisclaimer.pdf>.

bd