# Dose your computer use Gigabytes or Gibibytes?



## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

Take a vote on which one you think your computer is accurately using/displaying.

Once you have voted highlight below this for the answer. 

The reason for this thread was to display how everyone has been fooled by Hard Drive manufactures. The use of Gibibytes is what Windows actually displays when reporting hard drive size. However when you buy a hard drive its actually shows more then what Windows ends up reporting. This is because HD manufactures use Gigabytes which is defined by 1000KB = MB and 1000MB = a GB. This in effect makes the Drive seem like it has more to offer.

Gibibytes is the binary way of representing it. That is 1024KB = MB and so on. This in effect makes it less.

So if you ever wondered, why your 300GB HD was only showing 279GB, this is why. 

The point was to see show how many people thought wrong and to let them know the truth.


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## erocker (Oct 23, 2009)

Lol wut? What the hell is a gibibyte?


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

erocker said:


> Lol wut?



Answer the question, should be easy right.


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## erocker (Oct 23, 2009)

I don't think the question is appropriate. It's nonsense.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

erocker said:


> I don't think the question is appropriate. It's nonsense.



It its not. It has a point but people have to vote.


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## sneekypeet (Oct 23, 2009)

erocker said:


> Lol wut? What the hell is a gibibyte?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte  Someone is showing off new knowledge Also since they are the same thing voting is pointless, the words are interchangable.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte  Someone is showing off new knowledge



Its nothing like that really. I think it will help people. Im just waiting for some votes to come in so I can prove a point and if not then I'll just get straight too it.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

sneekypeet said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte  Someone is showing off new knowledge Also since they are the same thing voting is pointless, the words are interchangable.



No, my friend. Can people just vote based on what they think? Its not hard and its not non sense.


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## erocker (Oct 23, 2009)

Please get straight to it. I think I'm getting dumber and dumberrer as this thread goes on.  I'm easily confused today. Does dose have a meaning in the title too or do you mean does?


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## Velvet Wafer (Oct 23, 2009)

ive voted for gibibyte, i somehow believe its right


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

erocker said:


> Please get straight to it. I think I'm getting dumber and dumberrer as this thread goes on.  I'm easily confused today. Does dose have a meaning in the title too or do you mean does?



Highlight the answer too see it when you have voted. I just wrote quickly now I'll work on it in more detail.


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## DonInKansas (Oct 23, 2009)

If I were to dose my computer, it would be with moar gigabytes.

and Cheezburgers.


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## phanbuey (Oct 23, 2009)

I voted for Gibibytes because it sounded funny.

Also 1000MB does not equal a gigabyte in nerdspeak... its always been 1024, but I understand where you are coming from with the semantics.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

phanbuey said:


> I voted for Gibibytes because it sounded funny.
> 
> Also 1000MB does not equal a gigabyte in nerdspeak... its always been 1024, but I understand where you are coming from with the semantics.



Yup, this has just been something thats always bothered me.


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## JanJan (Oct 23, 2009)

geez people so what if he wants to show off. most probably didnt know this (yet) had he didnt post this. should be thankful instead


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## W1zzard (Oct 23, 2009)

sigh .. i really can't stand those gibibyte people who think they are smarter than everybody else (no offense to the op). considering on a forum word ban on *ibyte 

if 2.4% of storage is significant for you, you should stop downloading porn.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 23, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> sigh .. i really can't stand those gibibyte people who think they are smarter than everybody else (no offense to the op). considering on a forum word ban on *ibyte



lol sorry man, I wasn't trying to be a smart ass, I was just trying to shed some light. I'd vote for a ban on it too, stuff like that pisses me off and thats why I thought I'd educate some people about it.


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## Arctucas (Oct 23, 2009)

A gibibyte is a unit of data storage that equals 2 to the 30th power, or 1,073,741,824 bytes.

While a gigabyte can be estimated as 10^9 or 1,000,000,000 bytes, a gibibyte is defined as exactly 1,073,741,824 bytes.


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## Nailezs (Oct 23, 2009)

the difference seems to be how windows(?) interprets size

ie 1 MB is supposed to be 1,000,000 bytes, but windows views it as 1,0024,000+/- bytes because of the filing system

EDIT: i think thats right anyway


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 23, 2009)

*Here's a guess*

This is why my 500gb Hd's are actually only 465gb RIGHT?


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## Nailezs (Oct 23, 2009)

well, if you're asking where the other 35GB went, its for the filing system.
ie while windows measure a MB as 1024KB, only 1000KB is useable becuase of the filing system
make sense?

EDIT: standard Nailezs Disclaimer: i think thats right


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 23, 2009)

doesn't 465 Gigibytes = 500 Gibibytes


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## Nailezs (Oct 23, 2009)

hmm,m, could be that...im not doing the math though lol
do the math and post it!

EDIT: i asssume you meant "DOesnt 465 giGAbytes = 500 giBIbytes"


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## bissa (Oct 23, 2009)

my computer displays bytes, so it is showing gigabytes.


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## thebeephaha (Oct 23, 2009)

Nailezs said:


> well, if you're asking where the other 35GB went, its for the filing system.
> ie while windows measure a MB as 1024KB, only 1000KB is useable becuase of the filing system
> make sense?
> 
> EDIT: standard Nailezs Disclaimer: i think thats right



NO. 

Driver makers: 1GB = 1000MB

OS: 1GB = 1024MB

The drive is 500GB but per the understanding a GB is 1000MB. Windows and other OS use binary so thats where the "space goes".


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 23, 2009)

Nailezs said:


> hmm,m, could be that...im not doing the math though lol
> do the math and post it!



No way I'm done I'll look like an idiot in some other way Here at TPU Today


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## Nailezs (Oct 23, 2009)

thebeephaha said:


> NO.
> 
> Driver makers: 1GB = 1000MB
> 
> ...



yay i learnt something 

why driver makers change their definition of GB to the windows def by now? i never understood why they did it that way


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## bissa (Oct 23, 2009)

they do it that way for profit, they don't need to put in about an extra 2.5% storage space and people think they are getting that 2.5% and pay for it also.


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## angelkiller (Oct 23, 2009)

Ok, this *IS NOT* the fault of hard drive makers. They are not lying to your or tricking you in ANY way. 

Seagate says you get 320GB. Well you do. You get 320,000,000,000 bytes. How is that lying??? In fact, I bet if you check on the box they'll probably say that 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. So it's not like you're not getting something you paid for.

If you want that 'extra space' you people claim to be 'missing' why not use an OS that defines a GB as 10^9 bytes?. Oh, I know why. All OSs use 2^30 bytes = 1GB. So you would think that software makers would be to blame here... But that's wrong too. Software uses a Gigbibytes. (2^30 bytes)

Nobody is cheating you, it's simply a difference in definitions. In fact nobody is even wrong. Software uses 2^30, hardware uses 10^9. So stop blaming people for things they have not done.

[/rant]


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## Nick89 (Oct 23, 2009)

Already knew that but thanks.


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## phanbuey (Oct 23, 2009)

angelkiller said:


> Ok, this *IS NOT* the fault of hard drive makers. They are not lying to your or tricking you in ANY way.
> 
> Seagate says you get 320GB. Well you do. You get 320,000,000,000 bytes. How is that lying??? In fact, I bet if you check on the box they'll probably say that 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes. So it's not like you're not getting something you paid for.
> 
> ...





thats true but how many people know that is called a Gibibyte?  Im using that next time i play scrabble haha.

I think the whole point is that giga is not a relevant measure but hdd manufacturers use it anyways instead of gibi.


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## MRCL (Oct 23, 2009)

Bah a German computer magazine (PCGH, Velvet you should know it) uses -ibib..bibiby...that dumb stuff. Yes, the difference is the one sounding alright is not accurate and the one sounding gay is accurate; but it just confuses the Hell out of people...


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## niko084 (Oct 24, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> sigh .. i really can't stand those gibibyte people who think they are smarter than everybody else (no offense to the op). considering on a forum word ban on *ibyte



Good plan


> if 2.4% of storage is significant for you, you should stop downloading porn.



BOOM HEADSHOT!


Yes, I have known this for a long long long long long time. It's not rocket science, even though a lot of people don't know about why you don't get that kinda space, they know you just don't.

It's not a huge deal, I mean honestly would you be that much happier if they marketed the drives as for instance 583GB.


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## AphexDreamer (Oct 24, 2009)

niko084 said:


> Good plan
> 
> 
> BOOM HEADSHOT!
> ...



Or maybe if they just started labling them right. I used to feel robed of Space when ever I saw my 400GB HD was only getting 370 GB of it recognized in Windows. I was like these fuckers lied to me, wheres my other 30GB? Since they don't care and not enough people know/care this will never be fixed.


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## OnBoard (Oct 24, 2009)

My computer uses gigabyte (motheboard)


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## Mussels (Oct 24, 2009)

i'd never heard the term gibibyte before, i'd always seen them referred to as decimal gigabytes Vs binary gigabytes





thebeephaha said:


> NO.
> 
> Driver makers: 1GB = 1000MB
> 
> ...





it goes deeper than that.

1024 bytes to the KB
1024 KB to the MB
1024MB to the GB
1024GB to the TB

taking that 24 out each step of the way, sure adds up


angelkiller: you are wrong.

a gigabyte is a set size, and the HDD makers are using that term differently.
How about i sell you 1KG* of pure gold for $50


*1KG is defined as 3 grams


Also, this is not how its always been - i've still got a quantum fireball 4.3GB HDD that guess what... shows as 4.3GB in windows. these dirty tactics came out around the 15-20GB era of HDD's


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## Deleted member 67555 (Oct 24, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i'd never heard the term gibibyte before, i'd always seen them referred to as decimal gigabytes Vs binary gigabytes
> 
> 
> 
> ...


And as far as OS's are concerned it pre dates DOS ...EXAMPLE first 640kb of the first 1024kbytes AKA a 1MB


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## angelkiller (Oct 24, 2009)

Mussels said:


> angelkiller: you are wrong.
> 
> a gigabyte is a set size, and the HDD makers are using that term differently.
> How about i sell you 1KG* of pure gold for $50
> ...


If what you say about the Fireball hdd, that I will admit that HDD manufactures probably switched to save money, in other words, calling it a gigabyte but defining it as 10^9 bytes. However, while that's a really cheap move to make, I don't think you can call that cheating or wrong. Definitely cheap though. It would be different if they said 320,000,000,000 bytes but it only _physically_ had 312,000,000,000 bytes or something like that.

However, I still disagree about your point about the gigabyte. A gigabyte can be defined in more than one way. In fact, the name would suggest that it's 10^9. (giga = billion) It woudn't make sense to define a GB as 852 megabytes. But it would make sense that a GIGAbyte is 1 billion bytes. In fact, gigabyte is a standard SI unit of data measurement. But I find it hard to believe that the only definition of a gigabyte is 2^30. I mean it's a GIGAbyte. (prefix giga != 2^30) In fact, I find it hard to believe that a GIGAbyte is defined as anything other than 1 billion bytes.

But isn't that the distinction? Software doesn't use *giga*bytes, it uses *gibi*bytes? The way I see this whole issue is that a Gigabyte is 1 billion bytes even and a Gibibyte is 2^30 bytes. Hard drive manufactures use giga, software uses gibi. Am I wrong in my understanding?


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