[plug] Partition sizes on a new install

[Matt Kemner]

On Wed, 2 Aug 2000, Bret Busby wrote:

> 9GB, allowing for a loss of 1GB (from memory, a loss of about 10% seems
> to occur, from the unformatted capacity, to the useful capacity)

Actually the "loss" is attributable to the fact HDD manufacturers "define"
a GB as a billion bytes (1000000000 bytes) because that makes the drives
seem larger than they really are.
so a "9GB" drive is really 9000000000/1024/1024/1024 GB which is
8.381903172 GB - which is roughly 93% of 9GB

Some wholesale ISPs (which I won't name) seem to define a GB in a similar
way, so when they say you pay (eg) $170/GB you end up paying a little more
than you would have thought if you worked out the amount yourself.

 - Matt