Why size of Storage Devices is less than the mentioned capacity???

Many of us use Memory Cards, e-Drives, Hard Disks and other storage devices. Have you ever wondered why computers always indicate that your hard drive or memory card has a smaller storage capacity than what’s advertised on the box (and the card itself)? No, it’s not because you got a defective card, it’s not because your card came preloaded with a bunch of unwanted files (your hard drives, maybe), and it’s not because the manufacturers are cheating you by skimping out on the storage space (well, not directly, at least). The reason has to do with math and marketing.

Humans think about numbers in base 10, the decimal numeral system, because we have 10 fingers and 10 toes. That’s why the parts of numbers are called “digits” — just like the parts of our hands and feet.

Computers, on the other hand, think in base 2, the binary numeral system.

Here in lies the root of the issue. The “brilliant” marketing gurus at data storage companies decided early on that all their products should be marketed in the decimal system, since that’s what consumers understand.

Therefore, one megabyte on their products is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. To a computer, however, a megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes and a gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Thus, for each gigabyte advertised in base 10, you’re actually receiving about 70 megabytes less than a gigabyte in base 2. All Hard Disk manufacturer way of counting space is different from the way a software count a space. This means to a Hard Disk Manufacturer, 1GB is 1000 B, 1 MB is 1000 KB and so on. Software or computer language recognize a space in terms of power of 2 say 21, 22, 23 etc. hence a KB is 210 Bytes which is 1024 Bytes.

Let’s do a little math considering a 250GB hard disk

From a Manufacturer a 250 GB hard disk is

250 x 1000 x 1000 x1000 =250000000000 Bytes

From the Computer Language point of view a

250000000000 B = 250000000000/(1024*1024*1024) =232.83 GB

Now you’ll see why your 250GB hard disk has only less than 232.83 GB space in total.

Well if you go with higher space like 500 GB, 1 TB and so on the space missing is increases vice versa.

Take a close look at the box your hard drive or memory card came in, and you’ll notice asterisks. Look for the fine print, and you’ll see a disclaimer stating that the figures are stated in base 10.Many of us use Memory Cards, e-Drives, Hard Disks and other storage devices. Have you ever wondered why computers always indicate that your hard drive or memory card has a smaller storage capacity than what’s advertised on the box (and the card itself)? No, it’s not because you got a defective card, it’s not because your card came preloaded with a bunch of unwanted files (your hard drives, maybe), and it’s not because the manufacturers are cheating you by skimping out on the storage space (well, not directly, at least). The reason has to do with math and marketing.

Humans think about numbers in base 10, the decimal numeral system, because we have 10 fingers and 10 toes. That’s why the parts of numbers are called “digits” — just like the parts of our hands and feet.

Computers, on the other hand, think in base 2, the binary numeral system.

Here in lies the root of the issue. The “brilliant” marketing gurus at data storage companies decided early on that all their products should be marketed in the decimal system, since that’s what consumers understand.

Therefore, one megabyte on their products is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes. To a computer, however, a megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes and a gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Thus, for each gigabyte advertised in base 10, you’re actually receiving about 70 megabytes less than a gigabyte in base 2. All Hard Disk manufacturer way of counting space is different from the way a software count a space. This means to a Hard Disk Manufacturer, 1GB is 1000 B, 1 MB is 1000 KB and so on. Software or computer language recognize a space in terms of power of 2 say 21, 22, 23 etc. hence a KB is 210 Bytes which is 1024 Bytes.

Let’s do a little math considering a 250GB hard disk

From a Manufacturer a 250 GB hard disk is

250 x 1000 x 1000 x1000 =250000000000 Bytes

From the Computer Language point of view a

250000000000 B = 250000000000/(1024*1024*1024) =232.83 GB

Now you’ll see why your 250GB hard disk has only less than 232.83 GB space in total.

Well if you go with higher space like 500 GB, 1 TB and so on the space missing is increases vice versa.

Take a close look at the box your hard drive or memory card came in, and you’ll notice asterisks. Look for the fine print, and you’ll see a disclaimer stating that the figures are stated in base 10.