Microsoft HDD leaving you short changed?!?!

[Bender Unit]

What’s the deal with the HDD’s? Am I the only one that’s noticed that the HDD’s storage capacity is nowhere near what they claim?

My Elite only has 106gb despite claiming 120gb (that’s taking into account game saves and downloads and I have cleared all the junk they preload onto the HDD as well. So where is the lost 14gb?

It was the same with my 20gb HDD, I only had 13gb to use from what I recall.

Can MS actually do this, advertise that a HDD is x capacity when it isn’t? If the missing space is filled with system info etc then they shouldn’t falsely advertise the HDD’s usable storage capacity.

I am essentially missing 14gb which is A LOT of storage space, where is it and why cant I use it?

Cheers

James

[Nails]

I thought the same thing when I got my elite home and noticed that it only had 106gb too?

Is old Bill using a little bit of everyones hard drive to make one giant supercomputer?

[Ekona]

The OS has to go somewhere... It's the same with the PS3 and every single PC ever made.

[Bender Unit]

If that’s so why does it vary by HHD size?

I lost 7gb on the 20gb hdd and now 14gb on the 120gb hdd.

The OS cant be 14gb surely – that would be insane!

Equally it would imply that they are in effect mis-selling the HDD’s.

If you bought an 80gb ipod and then found you had 1gb as the various functions they pre install take up 79gb then that would be a bit of a joke wouldn’t it. Technically it does have a 80gb HD but not 80gb of usable storage.

It basically means I have 12% less than what I assumed I was getting. Thats very misleading marketing and I am surprised no one has actually raised it as an issue - if I did that in my field it would be in the natrional press within the day!

[H3RB]

The OS has to go somewhere... It's the same with the PS3 and every single PC ever made.

the os? dont think so, the 360 runs without the hdd the os as far as i no is stored on the mobo itself

[JohnnyC]

All HDD's are like this.

I believe it stems from the harddrive manufacturers treating "1 Kilo-byte" as being 1000bytes - but in reality it's 1024bytes. So all harddrives are infact smaller than stated.

My 500Gb HDD for the PS3 has a total of around 465Gb.
The bit in my case that I found odd was that when first installed the system said I had 413GB free out of that 465Gb

[SamUK]

my computer > right click a HDD > properties.


no HDDs are the full size they claim.

[jon_st205]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_drive ... asurements

[Azz]

This is the formula I use, HDD*1000/1024*0.95=Usable Capacity its not exact but it will give you roughly what you will get, Your O/S for the XBox I would guess is about 3GB

120GB*1000/1024*0.95-3GB = 108GB

[matt_mr2t]

I'm sure the capacity for my hdd dropped when i uploaded the new xbox operating system.

[SamUK]

I'm sure the capacity for my hdd dropped when i uploaded the new xbox operating system.

a) you downloaded it


b) the new OS probably takes up more space as its way more graphical.

[matt_mr2t]

A) don't care. B) Obviously.

[SamUK]

what was the point in your post then?

[Mr2_NA]

The 360 runs without a hard drive, so where is the OS stored?

If i use my 64meg memory card, that doesnt have an OS on it?

I can play on live fine with no hard drive. Also have 13gig.

Maybe if you try and get an image of a 120gig drive and swap your 20 gig out for a laptop 120hdd, google it. Its somewhere, ive seen it.

[matt_mr2t]

what was the point in your post then?

The point was to say once I had the new XBL system my HDD capacity seemed to drop.

It's strange.

This is all.

[Goulding]

7gb is used on the 20gb model store game cache, streaming video etc. so it act's like virtual ram.

on the 120gb model, my only guess would be that as there is a lot more storage, they could use more for this.

[Mr2_NA]

7gb is used on the 20gb model store game cache, streaming video etc. so it act's like virtual ram.

on the 120gb model, my only guess would be that as there is a lot more storage, they could use more for this.

Makes sense

But still, 7 gig for temp data? I think someone should have a google of this....

[SamUK]

what was the point in your post then?

The point was to say once I had the new XBL system my HDD capacity seemed to drop.

It's strange.

This is all.

lol its not strange tho like i said in my first post. the new OS takes up more room cos its bigger leaving you with less space.




i win.

[matt_mr2t]

Buuuuut. As people have said, you can use the 360 without a HDD. So how/where did the new O/S go for the people who dont have one?

[SamUK]

*runs away*