Harddrive Problem with New Vista

shyleshno1 · Feb 7, 2009

So i got a New laptop from HP just recently (actually it was a replacement)
When i received it it was saying that the memory was only 2gb(instead of 4) and it was a 32bit(stead of 64) system, so HP was able to help me out with that by reinstalling the chips on the pc, but the harddrive is showing that its only 285GB instead of a 320GB, and Hp is basically useless on that..we spent like hours on the phone trying to figure that part..i mean we reinstalled the Harddrive on the laptop and its STILL showing smaller size, what do you guys think the problem is...I mean i would LOVE to have my computer show a harrdrive size of 320 stead of 285.

Help! :confused:

here is the basic specifications:

ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo T5750 / 2 GHzMulti-Core TechnologyDual-Core64-bit ComputingYesData Bus Speed667 MHzCache MemoryTypeL2 cacheInstalled Size2 MBRAMInstalled Size4 GB / 4 GB (max)TechnologyDDR2 SDRAMForm FactorSO DIMM 200-pinConfiguration Features2 x 2 GBStorage ControllerTypeSerial ATASerial ATA InterfaceSerial ATA-150StorageHard Drive320 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm

sygnus21 · Feb 7, 2009

shyleshno1 said:
but the harddrive is showing that its only 285GB instead of a 320GB, and Hp is basically useless on that..we spent like hours on the phone trying to figure that part..i mean we reinstalled the Harddrive on the laptop and its STILL showing smaller size, what do you guys think the problem is...I mean i would LOVE to have my computer show a harrdrive size of 320 stead of 285.

Hi shyleshno1,

If you had a 320gig hard drive, once the HD is formatted, it will lose some space, that's not unusual.

Here's an example of my hard drives - I have two 500gig hard drives, but once formatted they became 465.7 gig hard drives, and my once 320gig hard drive is now 298gig. See my image -

Why this happens - Hard drive manufactures measure use 1000 MB per GB, but the actual conversion is 1024 MB per GB, since it's based on base 2. (2^10) The size reported by your computer is based on the correct 1024 MB/GB number.

Example - Manufacturers sell the drive based on 1GB=1000MB, 1MB=1000kb 1KB=1000bytes, etc. However hard drives are formatted like this: 1GB=1024MB, 1MB=1024kb, 1KB=1024bytes, etc. Read more here - Why do hard drives have less space than they are advertised? My...

Now why is your HD at 285 instead of 298? Maybe a hidden partition? Again, HP should have been able to explain this. :confused:

But the bottom line is that yes... you will lose hard drive space on a formatted HD, that's not unusual, and you see this all the time when you format a CD or DVD.

Hope this helps ease your tension.

Harddrive Problem with New Vista

shyleshno1

New Member

My Computer

System One

sygnus21

Here to learn

My Computer

System One