Buying External Harddisk

[Vyom]

In digital world base number system is 2(binary number system) not 10(aka decimal number system). So One Thousand is not 1000 but 1024.However HDD manufacturer advertise the capacity in decimal system so the actual space of HDD is always less than advertised capacity(because at every stage you are dividing by 1024 & not 1000.e.g.100000bits is 100000/1024=97.65kb but advertised value will be 100kb).In case of 1TB hdd the bits are 1000000000000 but divide it by 1024 three times & you will get ~931gb so basically manufacturers are advertising decimal system values but PC will use binary system values.

This is the most common and known way manufactures misleads non informed buyers.

 

[Nerevarine]

Dont forget, ISPs advertising their speed in bits instead of bytes

 

[Hrishi]

Dont forget, ISPs advertising their speed in bits instead of bytes

It is the standard saaar!

Sent from my ONE E1003 using Tapatalk

 

[billubakra]

In digital world base number system is 2(binary number system) not 10(aka decimal number system). So One Thousand is not 1000 but 1024.However HDD manufacturer advertise the capacity in decimal system so the actual space of HDD is always less than advertised capacity(because at every stage you are dividing by 1024 & not 1000.e.g.100000bits is 100000/1024=97.65kb but advertised value will be 100kb).In case of 1TB hdd the bits are 1000000000000 but divide it by 1024 three times & you will get ~931gb so basically manufacturers are advertising decimal system values but PC will use binary system values.

Why hasn't some firangi sued them for this?

 

[whitestar_999]

Because ISO standards are based on base 10 number system so using mega,giga,tera etc are all fine.That is why new standards were made for base 2 number system like kibibyte(Kib),mebibyte(Mib),gibibyte(Gib) etc.
Kibibyte - Wikipedia
Now if a hdd manufacturer sells a 2Tb hdd then it is legally correct because as per base 10 system & ISO standards 2TB=2*(1000000000000) bytes.

 

[billubakra]

Because ISO standards are based on base 10 number system so using mega,giga,tera etc are all fine.That is why new standards were made for base 2 number system like kibibyte(Kib),mebibyte(Mib),gibibyte(Gib) etc.
Kibibyte - Wikipedia
Now if a hdd manufacturer sells a 2Tb hdd then it is legally correct because as per base 10 system & ISO standards 2TB=2*(1000000000000) bytes.

So, the terms kilobyte, megabyte etc. ate going to be things of the past. Wah now that's news.

 

[whitestar_999]

Not anytime soon,neither seagate nor WD has any plans to switch from decimal system storage units.Though I have seen some recent torrent clients showing speeds in Kib/s,Mib/s instead of Kb/s,Mb/s etc.

 

[Zangetsu]

I am getting the WD 4TB external @9630. Is it a good deal ? or much lower price is expected ?

Also, why colors has different prices ?

 

[Nerevarine]

Looks like a great deal, but be wary.. one failure and 4 TB of data evaporated

 

[Flash]

Looks like a great deal, but be wary.. one failure and 4 TB of data evaporated

That's the risk he have to live with.
@Zangetsu , why do you need that much space? Are you working as an admin or something or for private use?

 

[Zangetsu]

That's the risk he have to live with.
@Zangetsu , why do you need that much space? Are you working as an admin or something or for private use?

private use and space constraints

Looks like a great deal, but be wary.. one failure and 4 TB of data evaporated

OMG...scaring me

 

[whitestar_999]

Buy 2TB internal & 2TB external.Use 2TB external as your main storage device & keep a backup of important/hard to redownload data in 2TB internal hdd.

 

[Zangetsu]

Thanks to all for replying.
I have finally bought WD 4TB external HDD from amazon lightening deal

MOD can close this thread before its SPAMMED!!!

 

[Flash]

Congrats @Zangetsu . How much is the normal price & lightning deal price?

 

[whitestar_999]

@Zangetsu just need to confirm one thing with your help,if possible.Run crystaldiskinfo & check whether it can show power on hours value & how many SMART attributes it is showing.All the screenshots I have seen of latest WD passport series & related research seems to indicate that WD is using a new sata-usb bridge chip in this series which only allow access to 4 SMART attributes & not even power on hours value is available(it shows as unknown).

Reference image see below,need to confirm if yours is same:

 

[Zangetsu]

^^OK..will do that once I get the delivery

It was 15% cashback from SBI card
so Rs 9899 - 1484 = Rs 8415

 

[whitestar_999]

Ok!I thought you already got it.I asked because I am planning on buying an external hdd but this inability to display power on hours & very limited SMART attributes is making me to think about dropping WD 2.5" portable hdd models altogether.In that case I would be left with only seagate.

 

[Zangetsu]

Ok!I thought you already got it.I asked because I am planning on buying an external hdd but this inability to display power on hours & very limited SMART attributes is making me to think about dropping WD 2.5" portable hdd models altogether.In that case I would be left with only seagate.

Hmm...ordered yesterday and the deal is still going on. I will get it by today evening

 

[whitestar_999]

If possible make sure to post the result even in late night today as I am planning on getting one tomorrow.

 

[Zangetsu]

Here you go

Your were right about it.
Now you will go for Seagate ?