HDL Format 2 GB!?!

[thesentence]

Is a format with the HD Loader elf supposed to use 2 GB of your HDD space?

[JNABK]

Yes. That 2GB of space contains the boot info for the HDD to be HDL compliant and reserves extra space to ensure there is plenty of space to write all the HDL.game.partition names that make up the Game List.


edit: Show off!....j/k

[dlanor]

Originally Posted by thesentence

Is a format with the HD Loader elf supposed to use 2 GB of your HDD space?

All file systems, regardless of the platform, incur some 'overhead costs'. And whether the space loss you mention is reasonable or not depends mainly on what size your HDD is.

Also remember that many HDD manufacturers specify the size in 'decimal' gigabytes (1GB == 10^9 bytes == 1,000^3 bytes == 1,000,000,000 bytes), whereas the rest of the computing world always uses 'binary' gigabytes (1GB == 2^30 bytes == 1,024^3 bytes == 1,073,741,824 bytes).

So when you buy an HDD, the size claimed by the manufacturer (decimal GB) is appx 7% larger than the raw size the computer (or console) shows after formatting (binary GB). So the theoretical maximum you get for such a case is appx 93.13 % of the claimed size. But the overhead costs for filesystem management I mentioned at the top must also be deducted from that raw formatted size, so the size free for real use is always even less.

If the 2GB loss you saw was entirely due to the binary VS decimal issue, then it would be fitting for an HDD of appx 30GB, as that loss is appx 6.87 %.


Then again, you are possibly referring to the size used by partitions created by HDLoader in the formatting, in which case the short answer JNABK gave you rules.

HDLoader wastes a lot of space for partitions that it never uses, and which are not used by any standard applications either.

But you can eliminate much of that space loss by connecting the HDD to a PC instead and formatting it with WinHiip, which allows you to downsize and/or eliminate extra partitions. (Not all partitions though, as some are mandatory.)

Best regards: dlanor

[thesentence]

Can I format it using some form of ftp? I usually use hdl_dump to send my isos to my hdd. That has a format option doesn't it?

[MidniteAssassin]

Using WinHiip, you can cut that 2GB down to 256MB, depending on your settings.

[thesentence]

I can only use my hdd with a network since I am using a laptop.

[JNABK]

If you have access to a USB to IDE cable or enclosure, you can connect that way to use Winhiip.

[thesentence]

Well I would need an enclosure since I am using a laptop, but I'm not gonna buy one just for something that isn't really necessary. I can live with an extra 1 gb lol

[Pablo_FPN]

Hello.!
I format with WinHiip V1.7.6 and lost 11gb of my HDD Maxtor 160GB, is this normal ?
I have only 149gb available space.

[ps2dragon]

Originally Posted by Pablo_FPN

Hello.!
I format with WinHiip V1.7.6 and lost 11gb of my HDD Maxtor 160GB, is this normal ?
I have only 149gb available space.

dlanor has already explained this in post # 3 of this thread.

Originally Posted by dlanor

Also remember that many HDD manufacturers specify the size in 'decimal' gigabytes (1GB == 10^9 bytes == 1,000^3 bytes == 1,000,000,000 bytes), whereas the rest of the computing world always uses 'binary' gigabytes (1GB == 2^30 bytes == 1,024^3 bytes == 1,073,741,824 bytes).

So when you buy an HDD, the size claimed by the manufacturer (decimal GB) is appx 7% larger than the raw size the computer (or console) shows after formatting (binary GB). So the theoretical maximum you get for such a case is appx 93.13 % of the claimed size. But the overhead costs for filesystem management I mentioned at the top must also be deducted from that raw formatted size, so the size free for real use is always even less.

So just using this information, you can calculate 93.13% of 160 = 149.