200gb sd card only shows 183gb

[Steve Wellens]

Brand new sd card from amazon. Just loaded and formated. Only shows 183gb. Is this normal.

 

[anon(5719825)]

Explained:

Phone makers count storage differently, software does it differently

This is a storage problem that afflicts all computing devices. For some reason, device manufactures count 1GB differently from how it is counted by a machine using intelligent software. This means a 320GB laptop never has 320GB internal storage. A 1TB hard disk never has usable 1TB storage. And a 16GB phone never has 16GB usable space.

This happens because phone makers count 1GB = 1000MBs. But the software treats it differently. It counts 1GB = 1024MBs. So when a phone makers gives you 1GB, you actually get only 1000MBs and not 1024MBs.

Or in other words, device manufacturers use decimal system to measure capacity. But software uses binary units to measure it.

Apple explains it best on its website. It says (to avoid lawsuits),"1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less."

So how much is the actual formatted capacity of a phone, or for that matter any other phone, that has 16GB specified storage?

According to binary method 1GB = 1073741824 bytes. This means if a device like phone has 16 billion bytes internal storage, the actual capacity that software has access to is:

16,000,000,000 divided by 1073741824 = 14.9GB

So, a 16GB phone actually has 14.9GB internal storage.

 

[Steve Wellens]

Thanks for the education on memory. : )

 

[anon(5719825)]

Thanks for the education on memory. : )

Hope it all makes sense. I copied it from a page that was about iPhones but it applies to any phone/hard drive.

 

[Steve Wellens]

Yes, it makes sense. Thanks again.

 

[mavrrick]

A little correction. These are simply two different ways of calculating size.

Hard drive manufacturers calculate with the decimal system. So that would be based on powers of 10. But computers are a binary system with 0's and 1' making up everything. The binary system is based on powers of 2 at its core. That is why so many things with computers go from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 to 32 to 64 to 128 to 256 to 512 to 1024. 1024 is the base for binary for any calculations for storage. Early on this difference was insignificant and few people commented on it, but as storage grows the difference is greater so it keeps getting attention.

If you take a drive and open up its properties in windows and look at the number of bytes(not GB) the drive has the value is actually very close to system based on powers of 10. This has nothing to do with formating and everything to do with simple math.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[felloffthetruck]

Normal for a 200GB.

 

[Jeffrey Chen4]

Wait, even if you use decimal where 1GB = 1000MB, 1MB = 1000KB and 1KB = 1000Bytes, then 200GB should = about 186GB and NOT 183GB

Most 200GB harddrive is 186GB formatted too but 200GB microsd card after formatting is only 183GB, so this 200GB advertised capacity is a total BS.

However, to answer your question, this is NORMAL because every 200GB sd card I see is 183GB, i.e. everyone of them is overstating their capacity by 3GB.

Explained:

Phone makers count storage differently, software does it differently

This is a storage problem that afflicts all computing devices. For some reason, device manufactures count 1GB differently from how it is counted by a machine using intelligent software. This means a 320GB laptop never has 320GB internal storage. A 1TB hard disk never has usable 1TB storage. And a 16GB phone never has 16GB usable space.

This happens because phone makers count 1GB = 1000MBs. But the software treats it differently. It counts 1GB = 1024MBs. So when a phone makers gives you 1GB, you actually get only 1000MBs and not 1024MBs.

Or in other words, device manufacturers use decimal system to measure capacity. But software uses binary units to measure it.

Apple explains it best on its website. It says (to avoid lawsuits),"1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less."

So how much is the actual formatted capacity of a phone, or for that matter any other phone, that has 16GB specified storage?

According to binary method 1GB = 1073741824 bytes. This means if a device like phone has 16 billion bytes internal storage, the actual capacity that software has access to is:

16,000,000,000 divided by 1073741824 = 14.9GB

So, a 16GB phone actually has 14.9GB internal storage.