320GB HDD showing only 298

[hambone04]

I had my computer running vista, and then switched it to another computer. I had to reformat it because of the hardware change, but now it will only show 298 of the 320GB that it is supposed to have.

I slaved it up to my other computer, but still it only shows 298...Any way to recover those lost parts?

PS I think that the ~22 is actually what Vista is installed on, but I wanted to wipe this one because it has to be reinstalled.

 

[Brinson]

Sometimes different file systems read the drive as different sizes. Its just a way it allocates space. Not sure exactly why this is, but it has something to do with different standards for how many bytes compose a megabyte or something like that.

 

[Brinson]

Okay, I did a little research. Something to do with...like...

1024 mb = 1 gb

or

1000 mb = 1 gb?

There seems to be a conflict in different filesystems.

 

[b1gapl]

yea...Whenever you reformat, you will always lose some space. When I reformatted my 320GB, only 270 is usable.

 

[HighTechBMH]

you really should not lose that many gigs when reformatting. When my 100gig became corrupt, I had to reformat and I still have around 96gigs.
If you haven't tried it already, slave it to XP and format it through My computer, it should recover some of the lost gigs... Cause you really shouldn't lose that much space..
Another thing that is kind of out there, and I am not saying its likely, but another thing would be to scan the HDD for any viruses, maybe there is something there that is keeping that 20 or so gigs from being read, cause you really should not lose that much space.... If its really that important to you there are technicians/ devices that can recover corrupted space so it can be used at full capacity.. let me know how it turns out, because losing that much space, to me, is bizzare

 

[peterhuang913]

Wrong: Take advertised space = 320GB X .93 (usable ratio) = 297.6 GB (Windows space)