Computer HDDs lose approx. 9% to "formatting" - the bigger the drive the more the quantity of MBs or GBs
HDD makers use a different "scheme" of numbering = 1000 vs. 1024
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from this Q & A >
A: formatting creates, in simple terms, an index to store the location of all other files that file box occupies some space
- ... formatting creates, in simple terms, an index to store the location of all other files that file box occupies some space
- ... drive makers TB are not TB. drive makers use decimal 1000 everyone else uses binary 1024 (2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2) as the basis for kilo mega giga tera
drive makers write 1 tb = 1 000 000 000 000 bytes
terabytes by chkdsk are = 1 099 511 628 xxx bytes (calculator only shows 10 significant digits) = 91%, formatted drives lose 9% without losing anything, because chkdsk reports binary size.
Q: Does that mean every time I format my hard disk, it will lose 9%, according to your figure, of its size?
A: ... no. You wont lose an additional 9% every format. But no matter what you do, every time you format, there will be the same 9% missing. Formatting a disk gets it ready for information. Without formatting it (NTFS, FAT32, EXT4, etc) the computer doesn't know how to write and store data onto the drive therefor renderring it useless. Formatting the drive, no matter which format you use, clears the data that was existing on there, and prepares it to write, store, and access data in a particular way.
