This means that when you install a 480,000,000,000 bytes storage drive into a Windows® computer, that computer converts the number of bytes into gigabytes by dividing by 1024 all the way up through the scale, not by dividing by 1,000. The Windows® OS on the other hand uses binary bytes, so 1,024 bytes per Kilobyte, 1,024 KB per Megabyte, and so on.
A 480GB SSD is, in other words, actually 480,000,000,000 bytes these are what we call decimal bytes, and it has been an industry standard to use them when advertising storage space.Ī Unix® based operating system like macOS X® or Linux® uses decimal bytes when reporting storage space, so a 480GB SSD will show up as 480GB in Mac Disk Utility for instance. Actual usable capacity may vary.” In other words, the drive capacity is reported on the assumption that 1GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes. If you look at the specifications of any storage device, you will see a note that says something along the lines of ”1 GB = 1 billion bytes. Your drive shows up smaller than advertised because storage drive capacity is calculated and reported slightly differently than other capacities in computing.
