Size does matter: Hard drive puzzle Win vs Linux results

[Daywolf]

Here is a really odd SSD anomaly I've been trying to figure out, so to have maximum drive space to install things including the EQ client in WinX.

So this is on a Toshiba satellite laptop, about 4yrs old with a new SSD (year old but not used much to this point). The hard drive is a 128gb Toshiba SSD. OS is WinX and Ubuntu 16.04 (latest LTS) both on/off install DVD's.

The mystery: Linux reports 128gb SSD space, WinX reports 119gb.

It's not just WinX, Win7 was showing the same. It started last year after installing Ubuntu to the SSD drive (dedicated), and deleted a partition of about 10gb. I recovered it, but Winders (7 at the time) install never recognized it and started reporting 119gb ever since (even 10)

So now, I formatted the SSD, wiped it clean, X'd the whole drive using Linux 'Disk Utility' (slow format mode). Formatted it, put into single partition, NTFS. Also scanned for errors with SMART. Linux shows 128gb., WinX utilities and install wizard show 119gb.

So formatted it again with 'Diskpart' after running 'chkdsk'. Same thing, single partition, NTFS, even tried again as unallocated, only shows 119gb in every situation. I tried about everything with WinX command line tools off the install DVD as well as from Ubuntu in live mode. I also tried extending it by 9000 using Diskpart, it refused to declaring the drive was too small to extend the partition any larger than the 119gb.

Anyway, I went ahead installed/reinstalled and patched WinX (dedicated) with it's report of 119gb partition. Suggestions short of reformatting?

[Luminious]

This is the difference between how the OS's as well as how the drive manufacturer measure a gigabyte.

Windows is using 1GB = 1,024 x 1,024 x 1,024 (1,073,741,824) bytes however some manufacturers use 1GB = 1,000 x 1,000 x 1,000 bytes what is really only 0.931GB so manufacturer's 128GB will result in 119.2 real GB.

[Daywolf]

Yeah, 119.2gb exactly. In fact, thinking about it, I installed linux first, deleted the partition before recovering it, and then installed Win7 back then so never had a report of 128gb out of Win on the drive.

oh duh yeah it does. Looking at drive properties out of the WinX gui, it reports 128.033.222.656 bytes followed by 119.2GB next to it. I remember the 1000 vs 1024 controversy now, slipped my mind. Windows, the confusing easy way [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Thanks for the reply!

Well at least I dumped the upgrade and did a clean install which was mostly the point. Though even now WinX clean install comes pretty bloated.

[quido]

they're stealing mah megabytes

[Daywolf]

Originally Posted by quido [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

they're stealing mah megabytes

M$ so greedy. You try giving M$ a bit, they take a whole byte!

[Galaorn]

Further reading for the interested: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Gibibyte