Is this a 14 TB? The photos above show only 12.7 TB available !! null

Question

Matt · Accepted Answer

Operating systems usually report drive capacity in a scale based on powers of 1024. However, drives are usually advertised with the capacity quoted in a shorter scale based on powers of 1000, resulting in a larger number. This accounts for most of the difference.

Answered by Matt 4 years ago

Answer

One Terabyte (TB) is 0.9095 Tebybite (TiB). So 14x0.9095=12.733 and all is fine on your side. The nas shows you TiB while the makers of disks

Answer

This is a legitimate question that deserves a full answer without condescension. The apparent difference is caused by how engineers look at capacity vs. how software developers see it. Engineers are very literal so when they say a drive size is 1 Megabyte, it can hold exactly 1 million bytes. However, software folks see everything in base 2 math instead of base 10. So the closest to 1k is 2^10 = 1024. Therefore, an engineer's 1 MB is 1,000*1,000=1,000,000 physical bytes while a programmer's 1MB is 1,024*1,024=1,048,576 physical bytes. The gap between the two just gets wider as you look at larger numbers since the first always multiplies by 1,000 and the second by 1,024. All drives are sold using the engineering standard because it's a bigger decimal number representing the same physical capacity. In short, engineers say it's a 14 TB drive, programmers say it's a 12.7 TB drive. Both are correct as it's the same capacity listed differently.

Answered by Anonymous 2 years ago

In short, engineers say it's a 14 TB drive, programmers say it's a 12.7 TB drive.  Both are correct as it's the same capacity listed differently.

Western Digital Team · Answer

Hi SherryS87, Please know that while dealing with Windows and Mac based systems, you will commonly see both decimal measurements and binary measurements of a drive's capacity. In either case, a drive's capacity is measured by using the total number of bytes available on the drive. As long as the drive displays the correct number of bytes (approximate), you are getting the drive's full capacity. Need Help? Please see our "'Contact Us" page for information.

Answered by Western Digital Team 4 years ago

FreeTruth · Answer

If you have a computer memory with an 8 bit address bus, then you can only address 256 words (and if the word size is 1 byte, then that's 256 bytes). Note 2^8 = 256. As memories got larger, the familiar metric prefixes (kilo-, mega-, giga-, etc.) were used, but with a modified meaning.
kilo = 10^3 (a thousand), mega = 10^6 (a million), and each successive prefix increases by a factor of a thousand. In contrast, the binary based meanings are kilo = 2^10 = 1024, and each succesively greater prefix is a factor of 1024 times greater. To eliminate confusion, newer prefix abbreviations were introduced for the binary-based prefixes. So instead of kB, you'd have kiB, but the general public is not that familiar.
Hard drives don't store data in a memory array governed by the size of an address bus, So some say the capacity should be specified according to the base 10 prefixes. But operating systems report file sizes and storage capacities by the binary prefixes. Marketing departments like the base-10 values because it gives a bigger number.
For a 14TB drive, your OS will report its capacity as:
14x10^12 / (1024^4) = 12.7TB

Jahy · Answer

Yes there is nothing wrong with the drive the correct capacity is 14Tebibytes not terabytes.

drumnbass · Answer

The way they calculate the size usually means the actual storage in Windows is about 10% less than advertised. I have WD 3TB and 8TB drives and they are also like that. Just the way it is, but yeah, you will have 12.7TB of available storage.

Answered by drumnbass 4 years ago

nohelptonight · Answer

Computer engineers SHOULD be smart enough to know 1024 instead of 1000. WE are all OCD anyway. Computer companies will do ANYTHING to make a buck. WHY distort the truth? IF it's 14TB call it 14TB. Saying they round to 1000 from 1024 is ignorant. + MY last 2 drives were 2 8TB (supposedly), they actually were 7.2 so NOT 16TB but 14.4. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! +So now I want a 14 to cover the other 14.4, BUT NO! - - it's ONLY 12.7TB. Its the AMERICAN WAY! ? << No one will see this anyway since Best Buy makes money off these 'deviations' in logic and won't POST. >> HOPE this helps people triple check THE SPECS on every drive. Oh yeah - let them know this is stupid.

Answered by nohelptonight 1 year ago

Anon · Answer

LOL - read this - https://promotionaldrives.com/blog/why-do-usb-flash-drives-show-a-lower-storage-capacity-when-plugged-into-a-computer/

notsohappy · Answer

What a bunch of crap. Trick advertising bottom line.

luislast · Answer

As for the actual amount, you get the amount designated, allowing for differing methods of counting space and for a certain amount taken up through formatting.

luislast · Answer

All the answers given are right, more or less, in different ways. But if you are easily confused between the stated and measured sizes of drives, perhaps this is not the drive for you, as a smaller drive will have less "lost" space than one of such relatively gigantic capacity. Another suggestion is that you partition the 14TB into multiple, smaller, equal-sized ones, say 128 (the maximum number of partitions Windows will allow). When you add the total, you will find that more storage space has been "magically" created!

jjmIII · Answer

After formatting a drive loses space. Think of it like an old filing cabinet. It's not all just files, you have hanging folders that take up space. Formatting is like those hanging folders.

Grant · Answer

Yes it is 14TB marketed size, which is approx 12.726 actual size. The explanation why is unimportant.

Going forward, simply multiply the marketed size of the hard drive by 0.909 and you will find the actual size.

Example

14TB x 0.909 = approx 12.726 TB actual size.

Easy peasy, no need to think about it or ask again. Good luck.

“Is this a 14 TB? The photos above show only 12.7 TB available !!”

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