Ipod classic down 9gb out of the box?

HyperM3 · Nov 17, 2008

So I recently broke down and bought my first ipod. Got the 120gb classic and I like it a lot. My main concern is that there is a lot of missing room out of the box.

Why do I only have 111gb capacity? What is taking up the other 9gb before I put anything on it?

morty192 · Nov 17, 2008

this is the formatted space (coud be wrong) that holds the iPod OS and the like.

HyperM3 · Nov 17, 2008

morty192 said:
this is the formatted space (coud be wrong) that holds the iPod OS and the like.

If thats the case, does that mean if I bought the 16gb ipod then I would have only half the amount of space left? Or no space with the 8gb ipod?

Doesnt make sense to me.

comraderaikov · Nov 18, 2008

wow. I don't think the iPod OS takes up that much space (or at least it shouldn't). I'd recommend taking it to a geek bar and asking someone about it.
On my iPod touch it only takes up about 50MBs, I don't really think it would take 8 or so gigs though. Maybe it came with some apps or something? You might want to check.

wytwolf · Nov 18, 2008

It's the same reason why my 320GB macbok drive is really only 293GB of useable space. People live in a decimal world, but computers live in a binary world. So 120GB is 1,073,741,824 x 120 not 1,000,000,000 x 120. This result in only about 93% of the size on the box for useable space. A 120 GB ipod has about 111.7GB space for your mp3's.

1,073,741,824

HyperM3 · Nov 18, 2008

wytwolf said:
It's the same reason why my 320GB macbok drive is really only 293GB of useable space. People live in a decimal world, but computers live in a binary world. So 120GB is 1,073,741,824 x 120 not 1,000,000,000 x 120. This result in only about 93% of the size on the box for useable space. A 120 GB ipod has about 111.7GB space for your mp3's.

1,073,741,824

Interesting. Still confused but interesting.

Kash · Nov 18, 2008

It's actually quite simple. Operating systems see hard drive space in base 2, which means a single gigabyte is 1024MB. Hard drive manufacturers, on the other hand, use base 10, which means a single gigabyte is 1000MB. So as you can see, there is a 24MB "loss" for every gigabyte between what a hard drive manufacturer claims and what is actually seen by the operating system.

That's a highly simplified way of putting it, but that's roughly the gist of it.

HyperM3 · Nov 18, 2008

Kash said:
It's actually quite simple. Operating systems see hard drive space in base 2, which means a single gigabyte is 1024MB. Hard drive manufacturers, on the other hand, use base 10, which means a single gigabyte is 1000MB. So as you can see, there is a 24MB "loss" for every gigabyte between what a hard drive manufacturer claims and what is actually seen by the operating system.

That's a highly simplified way of putting it, but that's roughly the gist of it.

OK, I think I get it now. So then they shouldnt really call it a 120gb ipod, rather it should be a 111gb(or 110gb) to be on the safeside. Kinda more like overmarketing to me.

Kash · Nov 18, 2008

More like false advertising, and you're not the first one to say anything about it. I know for a fact that Western Digital got sued, not sure what happened or what other companies have been sued.

dtravis7 · Nov 18, 2008

HyperM3 said:
OK, I think I get it now. So then they shouldnt really call it a 120gb ipod, rather it should be a 111gb(or 110gb) to be on the safeside. Kinda more like overmarketing to me.

Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, Apple and every other brand I could name here all would call it a 120GB Drive. Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Fujitsu, Hitachi also would call it a 120GB drive. Apple is using the same Specs as everyone else.

Kash, WD like everyone else is still using 120GB.

WD Scorpio Black 120 GB SATA Hard Drive ( WD1200BJKT )

HyperM3 · Nov 18, 2008

dtravis7 said:
Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, Apple and every other brand I could name here all would call it a 120GB Drive. Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor, Fujitsu, Hitachi also would call it a 120GB drive. Apple is using the same Specs as everyone else.

Kinda like ford with their 5.0 liter engine when it was actually a 4.6. I understand, I just feel jipped.

dtravis7 · Nov 18, 2008

HyperM3 said:
Kinda like ford with their 5.0 liter engine when it was actually a 4.6. I understand, I just feel jipped.

I understand where you are coming from and I feel the same way, but just wanted to show it was not Apples fault, but the whole industry.

Alexis · Nov 19, 2008

16gig iPod Touch has about 14Gb free for your information.