On Thu 09 Jan 2025 at 02:29:37 (-0500), Jeffrey Walton wrote: > On Tue, Jan 7, 2025 at 10:07 AM Stefan Monnier <monn...@iro.umontreal.ca> > wrote: > > > > > 8 TB is not that big. I have a external 18 TB drive. It is 18 TB in name > > > only though! After fromating it with ext4 it only had 15TB of usuable > > > space. > > > > 18TB "on paper" is usually 18 * 1000^4 bytes, so if you convert this > > into "computer units" is ~16.37 * 1024^4 bytes. If you then make an > > ext4 filesystem on it with the customary 5% reserved for root, that gets > > you down to 15.5TB, to which you also have to remove the space used by > > inodes, so yes, probably about 15TB and of course, once you start > > putting actual files ion the drive, additional space will be used by > > directories and metadata. > > Also see "Gigabytes vs. gibibytes class action suit nears end", > <https://www.cnet.com/culture/gigabytes-vs-gibibytes-class-action-suit-nears-end/>. > The subtitle is, "Suit alleges companies misrepresent capacity of > flash memory devices by using decimal definitions, thus overstating > memory card sizes by 4 percent to 5 percent." > > The courts ruled a KB is 1000 bytes, not 1024 bytes, so the marketing > departments won over the computer scientists. At least in California. ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑
I think you've made Michael Stone's argument for him: "The entire argument for power of two units has always had more than a hint of elitism behind it. If you know the secret handshake you can be in the club?" Cheers, David.
