Why is size and size on disk different?

4 Answers. Size is the actual size of the file in bytes. Size on disk is the actual amount of space being taken up on the disk. They differ because the disk is divided into tracks and sectors, and can allocate blocks of discrete size.

Why does the space used by files on my hard drive show different numbers depending on how I look?

Still takes up 4096 bytes on disk. A 4097 byte file? That takes up 8192 bytes – one complete 4096 byte cluster, plus another 4096 byte cluster to hold the extra byte. So in determining how much disk space is used by the files, we need to pay attention to the larger “Size on disk” number.

What is the relationship between file size and memory size?

The size of a file and a storage device’s capacity will always be written in its simplest form. For example, an operating system would report a 1 terabyte hard disk’s size as 1TB not as 1024 GB, although both are correct….Relationship between measurements.

Size	Equal to
1024 megabytes	1 gigabyte
1024 gigabytes	1 terabyte

How do I reduce the difference between size and size on disk?

Size on disk can be reduced by using compression. However, compression cannot be used to reduce the actual size of the file to a measurement lower than the size on disk. Moreover, the former does not waste space as the actual size of the file only comprises vital data.

How do I change the file size of a disk?

Right-click the volume that you want to reduce the size and select Shrink Volume. Enter the amount of disk space in the box and click on Shrink.

Why does my computer show less storage than installed?

Your drive shows up smaller than advertised because storage drive capacity is calculated and reported slightly differently than other capacities in computing. This is why a 480GB SSD will be correctly reported by a Windows computer as 447GB. …

Why my hard disk is showing less space?

There are several reasons Windows could display the wrong amount of available space, from invisible shadow files, formatting overhead, and hidden recovery partitions to misleading (though technically accurate) storage capacities advertised by hard drive manufacturers.

What is the meaning of Pb in computer?

Petabyte
Petabyte (PB), a unit of information equivalent to 1000 terabytes which is used, for example, to quantify computer memory or storage capacity.

Why do we need to reduce the file size?

File compression reduces the amount of space needed to store data. Using compressed files can free up valuable space on a hard drive, or a web server. Some files, like word files, can be compressed to 90 percent of their original size.

How can size on disk be smaller than size?

You are correct that the size on disk is normally larger. However, sometimes, due to built in compression, the file is actually smaller on the disk. A file can also appear to be smaller on disk if the file is a sparse file.

What is sparse file in Windows?

A sparse file is a file with one or more regions of unallocated data in it. A program sees these unallocated regions as containing bytes with a zero value and that there’s no disk space representing these zeros. Sparse file support allows data to be deallocated from anywhere in the file.

Why is the size on disk slightly bigger than the actual size?

Now, you may have known why the size on disk is always slightly bigger than the actual size of a file. Well, you may encounter some exceptions as well. The size on disk can be the same as or smaller than the actual size. It may occur when you use the automatic file compression feature provided by your operating system.

What is the actual size of a file or folder?

So the size on disk is the space of all those sectors in which the file is saved. That means,usually, the size on disk is always greater than the actual size. So the actual size of a file (s) or folder (s) should always be taken from the Size value when viewing the properties window.

How much space does a file take up on a disk?

You can calculate the following result: The files will take about 1.6 GB disk space (the minimum space: 50000*32). Then the disk space that every single file takes is always a multiple of the allocation unit size. If each file size is 2 KB on average, you would get about 100 MB total.

What is the file size on disk in Linux?

The file size on disk would be 4096 bytes. The reason is, because even though the entire file can fit inside one allocation unit, it still takes up 4096 of space (one allocation unit) on disk (only one file can use an allocation unit and cannot be shared with other files).