Category: IT Tips

Why does my hard drive report less capacity than indicated on the drive’s label?

Explains why a hard drive’s capacity often appears to be less than advertised when showing in (My) Computer or Mac Disk Utility.

Hard drive manufacturers market drives in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity. In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, one gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes, and one terabyte (TB) is equal to 1,000,000,000,000 bytes.

Programs such as FDISK, system BIOS, Windows, and MacOS use the binary (base 2) numbering system. In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes, and one terabyte is equal to 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

Simply put, decimal and binary translates to the same amount of storage capacity. Let’s say you wanted to measure the distance from point A to point B. The distance from A to B is 1 kilometer or .621 miles. It is the same distance, but it is reported differently due to the measurement.

Capacity Calculation Formula

Decimal capacity / 1,048,576 = Binary MB capacity
Decimal capacity / 1,073,741,824 = Binary GB capacity
Decimal capacity / 1,099,511,627,776 = Decimal TB capacity

Example:
A 500 GB hard drive is approximately 500,000,000,000 bytes (500 x 1,000,000,000).

500,000,000,000 / 1,048,576 = 476,837 megabytes (MB) = 465 gigabytes (GB)

In the table below are examples of approximate numbers that the drive may report.

Decimal MB (Binary) Windows Output (Binary)
20 GB 19,073 MB 18.6 GB
40 GB 38,610 MB 37.3 GB
60 GB 57,220 MB 55.8 GB
80 GB 76,293 MB 74.5 GB
120 GB 114,440 MB 111.7 GB
160 GB 152,587 MB 149 GB
250 GB 238,418 MB 232 GB
320 GB 305,175 MB 298 GB
400 GB 381,469 MB 372 GB
500 GB 476,837 MB 465 GB
640 GB 610,351 MB 596 GB
750 GB 715,255 MB 698 GB
1 TB (1000 GB) 953,674 MB 931 GB
1.5 TB (1500 GB) 1,430,511 MB 1,396 GB
2 TB (2000 GB) 1,907,348 MB 1,862 GB
3 TB (3000 GB) 2,861,022 MB 2,793 GB

 

Below is an example of a 3TB drive displayed in Windows.

Image

Please also see Document ID: 194563 and the National Institute of Standards and Technology athttp://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

13 Microsoft Word Tips You Need to Learn Now

Microsoft Word is so integral to our digital lives that it has successfully commandeered the actual word, “Word.” If you refer to the once-nonsensical phrases like “Word docs,” “editing in Word,” or “a Word update,” people will know exactly what you are talking about. That’s the power of ubiquity.

Even though the program has since been sucked into the greater branding gravity of Microsoft Office, Word still stands alone as the program with which everyone—regardless of their technological prowess—is at least somewhat familiar.

The long-dominant word processing software faces a new class of cloud-based competition, and Microsoft has even gotten in on the action with Office 365. But the well-known Word software still remains the go-to tool for producing all our important docs (except for Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, who keeps it insane-person old school by writing on a DOS word processor). And why shouldn’t it be? Word is dependable, customizable, and with lots of baked-in functionality.

Old veteran Word users like yourself probably think there’s nothing left to learn. Oh, but there’s always room for more knowledge! Here we present 13 functions that aren’t hidden, but aren’t exactly spelled out either. Click through to uncover little semi-hidden treats that only power user super ninjas know.

Note: These tips were tested using Microsoft Word 2010 on a PC and Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac. Not all tips may be available or in the exact same locale on your version.

 

Please click the below link for Slideshow @ pcmag.com

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/325207/13-microsoft-word-tips-you-need-to-learn-now/1

Create Torn Edge Effect in PowerPoint

How to create your own torn edge shape

It’s pretty easy to create your own torn edge shape. Here are the steps:

  1. Insert a rectangle.
  2. Right-click the rectangle and choose Edit Points.
  3. Choose the side that you want to add points to (it can be more than one side). Along that side, right-click and choose Add Point. Continue until you have about 10 points added to the side. (Note: It’s easy to right-click off the edge and lose Edit Points mode. Just right-click again and choose Edit Points.)
  4. Click each point and drag it where you want it. You’ll want them to alternate inward and outward so that the edge looks ragged.
  5. powerpoint-tips-torn-edge-effect-4You’ll probably see some curves that you don’t want. This is caused by the fact that the points’ extensions aren’t directed at the previous or next point. Click the point and drag its extensions so that they align to the nearest point. This will straighten the line between the points.
  6. If you want, create several shapes that are ragged on different or multiple edges.
  7. Save the presentation file to a slide library where you can find your shapes easily.

Here you see a shape without a picture fill.

powerpoint-tips-torn-edge-effect-5

How to use your torn edge shape

When you want to use your torn edge shape, follow these steps:

  1. Open the presentation file where you saved your torn edge shape. Copy the shape to the Clipboard, return to your current presentation, and paste it onto a slide.
  2. Choose Insert> Pictures to insert the image you want to use. Crop it to the area you want to show. Remember that the torn-edge shape doesn’t crop the image.
  3. Re-size torn-edge shape to match the image. If the shape isn’t the same proportion as the image, your image will be distorted. It should be just a little shorter than the image on the torn edge side.
  4. With the torn-edge shape selected, choose Format tab, Shape Fill, Picture. Browse to the image again and open it to fill the shape with the image.

 

For PowerPoint guides please visit Ellen Finkelstein’s blog at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/pptblog/