[SOLVED] Strange 4,096 Bytes Size

[Danvic]

Here is the scenario. I will format my laptop and will backup my files in it. I cut my files and paste it on my Seagate HDD. When I finished formating my laptop, I cut and paste back again the same files back to my laptop. I noticed there is a changed in size.

Before: 1,101,750,411,264

After: 1,101,750,415,360



There is 4,096 bytes difference.

What do you think it is? Please check these pictures.

https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ

View: https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ

https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0

View: https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Normally windows rounds up files to 4KB. So even a 1 byte file will take 4096 bytes to store.

so maybe one extra file was created, which windows does sometimes. there is a hidden file named desktop.ini that windows often creates on removable drives etc.

It is not anything to worry about.

 

[Pimpom]

Open the D: drives, select all files view Properties. That will show you the number of files and folders in the drive. You will find that the number of files has increased by 1.

As already pointed out, Windows sometimes decides to create a new file for its own management. 4096 bytes = 4 KB

 

[Danvic]

Normally windows rounds up files to 4KB. So even a 1 byte file will take 4096 bytes to store.

so maybe one extra file was created, which windows does sometimes. there is a hidden file named desktop.ini that windows often creates on removable drives etc.

It is not anything to worry about.

Thanks! Appreciate it.

 

[Danvic]

Open the D: drives, select all files view Properties. That will show you the number of files and folders in the drive. You will find that the number of files has increased by 1.

As already pointed out, Windows sometimes decides to create a new file for its own management. 4096 bytes = 4 KB

Thanks! Appreciate it.

 

[Marky000]

4K is the default cluster size but it can be changed when you format the drive initially.

 

[Danvic]

Anyone else has an answer? Thanks in advance.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Anyone else has an answer? Thanks in advance.

If you're asking why two copies of the same data are different by 4096 bytes, it's because of the way data is organized on storage drives. You may have a file that's been fragmented more, i.e., its data is broken up into different places. The reason why it's 4096 bytes is because this is the cluster size of the file system, and a cluster is the smallest addressable unit of data. That is, you cannot get a single byte from the file system, you have to get get 4096 bytes and grab the byte from there.

A further explanation of all of this is diving into how file systems work. If you really want that, I suggest Wikipedia's article on the matter.

 

[Danvic]

If you're asking why two copies of the same data are different by 4096 bytes, it's because of the way data is organized on storage drives. You may have a file that's been fragmented more, i.e., its data is broken up into different places. The reason why it's 4096 bytes is because this is the cluster size of the file system, and a cluster is the smallest addressable unit of data. That is, you cannot get a single byte from the file system, you have to get get 4096 bytes and grab the byte from there.

A further explanation of all of this is diving into how file systems work. If you really want that, I suggest Wikipedia's article on the matter.

So windows automatically creates file to organize data on a storage device or external HDD?

 

[hotaru.hino]

So windows automatically creates file to organize data on a storage device or external HDD?

No, it's not creating anything. It's how the data ended up being organized on the drive.

EDIT: If you want an explanation, let's use an analogy.

Say you have a cargo ship full of containers and you have a magical device that can copy the contents of the container, but it can't copy the whole container. You have to go into each container, take out its contents, and have the device copy it. Then the copy is handed off to another person who transfers it to another cargo ship. Obviously you want to keep things somewhat more organized on the new ship, so stuff is stored in a better way.

At some point, you find out that two containers have contents that are related to each other and they can easily fit in one container. So on the new ship, you store it in one container. You could rearrange the items in the old ship, but that requires changing the ship's container log, you were only told to copy the contents, and you're not getting paid enough to go through the hassle of rearranging things. So you leave it alone.

In the end, you end up using a different amount of containers on the new ship than the old ship, despite both having the same amount of stuff.

 

[Danvic]

No, it's not creating anything. It's how the data ended up being organized on the drive.

EDIT: If you want an explanation, let's use an analogy.

Say you have a cargo ship full of containers and you have a magical device that can copy the contents of the container, but it can't copy the whole container. You have to go into each container, take out its contents, and have the device copy it. Then the copy is handed off to another person who transfers it to another cargo ship. Obviously you want to keep things somewhat more organized on the new ship, so stuff is stored in a better way.

At some point, you find out that two containers have contents that are related to each other and they can easily fit in one container. So on the new ship, you store it in one container. You could rearrange the items in the old ship, but that requires changing the ship's container log, you were only told to copy the contents, and you're not getting paid enough to go through the hassle of rearranging things. So you leave it alone.

In the end, you end up using a different amount of containers on the new ship than the old ship, despite both having the same amount of stuff.

I get the point. It how Windows ornagized or store files/data into a new storage. It eats space. But my concern is when I removed (cut and paste) the same files/data from my Seagate external HDD back to my laptop, it left 4,096 bytes or 4K used space.

Here is my explanation to this.

Before I reformat my laptop, I remove my files/data from it and put it into my Seagate external HDD just for security (cut and paste). My HDD already has a content and the size of it is 1,101,750,411,264 bytes.

https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ

View: https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ


After I reformatted my laptop I put back again (cut and paste) the same files/data that I secured to my Seagate external HDD.

The strange thing is that the size of my Seagate external HDD changed to 1,101,750,415,360 bytes even though I put back (cut and paste) the exact same files/data I secured from my laptop to HDD.

https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0

View: https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0


My question is what is that 4,096 bytes used space left into my Seagate external HDD?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I get the point. It how Windows ornagized or store files/data into a new storage. It eats space. But my concern is when I removed (cut and paste) the same files/data from my Seagate external HDD back to my laptop, it left 4,096 bytes or 4K used space.

Here is my explanation to this.

Before I reformat my laptop, I remove my files/data from it and put it into my Seagate external HDD just for security (cut and paste). My HDD already has a content and the size of it is 1,101,750,411,264 bytes.

https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ

View: https://imgur.com/a/c6nnEHJ


After I reformatted my laptop I put back again (cut and paste) the same files/data that I secured to my Seagate external HDD.

The strange thing is that the size of my Seagate external HDD changed to 1,101,750,415,360 bytes even though I put back (cut and paste) the exact same files/data I secured from my laptop to HDD.

https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0

View: https://imgur.com/a/0UUkFZ0


My question is what is that 4,096 bytes used space left into my Seagate external HDD?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

There's no way to tell unless you do a comparison of the contents to determine if either a new file was created, a file got appended with data, or there's fragmentation.

It's really nothing to lose sleep over.

 

[Danvic]

There's no way to tell unless you do a comparison of the contents to determine if either a new file was created, a file got appended with data, or there's fragmentation.

It's really nothing to lose sleep over.

I googled it before and all answer I get is that Windows creates hidden file desktop.ini, something about file system, allocation size at cluster etc...

I don’t know which one is the right answer for my concern.

sigh* 😔

 

[hotaru.hino]

I googled it before and all answer I get is that Windows creates hidden file desktop.ini, something about file system, allocation size at cluster etc...

I don’t know which one is the right answer for my concern.

sigh* 😔

Again, there's nothing to be concerned about. It's 4096 bytes. Unless you're working with no more than a handful of megabytes of storage, it doesn't matter what the scenario is. There's nothing wrong with the system.