64gb actual capacity

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Level 1

65 points

64gb actual capacity

Just got the new iPhone 64gb in size, and while i do realise that you never get the full capacity due to the operating system size, and other software on the phone etc, i don't understand why my last iPhone, which was 16gb in capacity actually had about 13gb to play with.

last iphone 5 = had 3gb missing.

New iPhone 6 = 8gb missing.

this can't be to do with iOS 8, because you don't lose that vast amount from updating to it on older devices.

Any thoughts on this?

Many thanks

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Sep 25, 2014 12:39 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Axeman1020

Level 6

15,132 points

Sep 25, 2014 1:13 PM in response to Laptopdog 78

Manufactures measure using 1000 MB per GB, but the actual conversion is 1024 MB per GB.

They consider 1 KB to consist of 1000 bytes. A byte being 8 bits or 8 1's and 0's of actual information. As drives increase in size, this inaccurate form of measurement becomes more and more noticeable.

For example:

1GB is supposed to consist of 1,073,741,824 Bytes

a 1GB HDD consists of only 1,000,000,000 Bytes

1TB should consist of 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes

1TB HDD only contain 1,000,000,000,000 Bytes

That is 10% of the advertised space.

To calculate the actual space:

True size (64,000,000,000 Bytes) / Advertised size (68,719,476,736 Bytes) = .931

.931 * 64GB = 59.6GB

Now subtract about 2GB for the OS.

As for your 16GB iPhone 5:

True size (16,000,000,000 Bytes) / Advertised size (17,179,869,184 Bytes) = .931

.931 * 16GB = 14.9GB

Now subtract about 2GB for the OS.

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Answer 2

Laptopdog 78 Author

Level 1

65 points

Sep 25, 2014 2:22 PM in response to Axeman1020

Thank you for this.

Your explanation makes sense.

I think though that people should be given an estimated actual capacity to avoid disappointment regarding what they thought they bought, and what they actually got!!

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Answer 3

Axeman1020

Level 6

15,132 points

Sep 25, 2014 2:25 PM in response to Laptopdog 78

You're welcome.

I don't disagree.

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Answer 4

Jan 7, 2015 8:42 PM in response to Axeman1020

I understand the math on that, but my brand new 64GB iPad Air 2 has a stated capacity of 55.5 with an available of 51.4 (out of the box) Sounds like the actual capacity should be closer to 59GB and then available capacity should be a few GB less due to the OS and apps that ship with it. So, I'm feeling like I'm short about 4 GB, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

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