Ubuntu – Is the storage partition xxGB, when Disk Utility, and Gparted say otherwise

11.04gpartedpartitioning

I created an ext4 partition to back-up my files to, and partitioned it for 102GB in Gparted using a live USB. After I booted into Ubuntu, I opened Disk Utility, and it said that the partition was actually 108GB. Confused, I opened the mounted partition in Nautilus, and it said the partition was only 98GB.

Which is correct? Did I partition it wrong?

Best Answer

I never can get the Numbers straight, but i think it can be summarized as having to do with one using 'GiB' vs the other using 'GB'

I guess you could think of it in a way akin to the Metric system vs the Non-metric sytem.

A quick snippit from wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte

The gibibyte is a standards-based binary multiple (prefix gibi, symbol Gi) of the byte, a unit of digital information storage. The gibibyte unit symbol is GiB.1

**1 gibibyte =** 230 bytes = 1073741824bytes = 1024 mebibytes

The gibibyte is closely related to the gigabyte, which is defined as 109 bytes = 1000000000bytes, but has been used as a synonym for gibibyte in some contexts (see binary prefix.) In terms of standard gigabytes, 1GiB ≈ 1.074GB.

You often see people confused about the size of the Ubuntu ISO files, the size listed on a web site or ftp server seems to be 'bigger' then a 700mb due to how different systems use GiB or GB.

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