HDD/SSD Real Capacity
HDD/SSD Real CapacityWhy 1TB = 931GB usable. Fast, free and secure — works in your browser. By AK Computer, Dwarka.
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How to use
- 1 Enter the advertised drive size printed on the box, such as 1TB.
- 2 Select the capacity unit shown by the manufacturer.
- 3 Let the tool convert from decimal (1000) to binary (1024) counting.
- 4 Read the real usable capacity your operating system will display.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my 1TB hard drive only show 931GB?
The manufacturer counts 1TB as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes (decimal), but Windows divides by 1024 at each step (binary). The result is roughly 931GB of usable space, so nothing is missing or faulty.
How much does a 500GB drive really give me?
A 500GB drive gives about 465GB usable after the 1000 versus 1024 conversion, and a small amount more is reserved for the file system, so plan for around 460GB of free space.
Is the missing space a sign of a defective drive?
No. Every brand loses the same percentage because of decimal versus binary counting. It is normal and consistent, and formatting for NTFS or exFAT uses only a tiny extra amount.