Question What is the best format for internal storage hard drives?

[WreckerALeX]

So I recently replaced the pre-built pc's 1tb hdd with a 2tb nvme ssd(for os, games and programs) and 14tb(for storage)

I format the 14tb to NTFS but I am getting 12.7tb, that is 1.3tb difference!

After I move my stuff to an external drive I will try the other formats and its limitations. Any help appreciated.

I want the most storage space but will consider file name limitations

thanks

 

[USAFRet]

14TB reading as 12.7TB is absolutely normal and to be expected.

You've not lost anything, that is simply a difference in reporting units.
Base 10 vs Base 2
Human vs Computer

A 1TB drive is read as 931GB
2TB read as 1.81TB
500GB read as 465GB
etc...

Which is faster, 100kph or 62mph?


NTFS is what you want.

 

[cryoburner]

To add a bit more to that explanation, what Windows refers to as "Terabytes" might be more accurately called "Tebibytes"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Windows refers to a kilobyte as being 1024 bytes, a megabyte as 1024 kilobytes, a gigabyte as 1024 megabytes, and a terabyte as 1024 gigabytes when describing storage and file sizes. However, that's technically not the how those prefixes are intended to be used, even if it became something of a norm when referring to certain computer hardware. Back when "kilobytes" first started getting used, 1024 was considered close enough to 1000 to use a "kilo" prefix to describe it, but each time you move up to another prefix, the difference becomes 2.4% greater, and at "tera" there ends up being a nearly 10% difference

Hard drive manufacturers, however, have been using the prefixes in their more standard, metric form when referring to capacities, and have been doing so for decades, since there was no real need for them to follow base-2 capacities. You see the prefixes used the same way for networking as well, like for Internet or router speeds. So, your 14TB hard drive will hold approximately 14,000,000,000,000 bytes. Windows, however, considers 1TB to be 1,099,511,627,776 bytes (1024x1024x1024x1024 bytes) and 14TB to be 15,393,162,788,864 bytes. And in turn, it considers 14,000,000,000,000 bytes to be about 12.7 TB. You are still getting around 14,000,000,000,000 bytes of storage from the drive though, which you can confirm by checking the drive's properties.

Some other operating systems have changed to reporting drive capacities and file sizes using using prefixes the same way as drive manufacturers, but Windows still uses 1024-based prefixes.

 

[fzabkar]

Use Google's calculator:

https://www.google.com/search?q=14TB+in+TiB