Acer T180 HDD questions (160GB reveals only 70GB x2)

[Michael]

I just went out and bought this desktop (on sale, amazing deal at only $249), and I noticed that the hard drive is split into two partitions, one is where the OS (Vista Home Basic) and all of the pre-installed programs are located, the other is completely empty.

The hard drive is a 160GB SATA with RAID support, not sure if RAID support is relavent here, though.

Anyways, section A is 71.2GB (61.7GB free space) and section B is 70.9GB (70.8GB free space - but has nothing on it).

I'm curious why the partition might be put smack dab in the center of the drive, and why my 160GB only has 140GB of space (including the space the OS/Programs are on).

I've only ever had IDE drives, which stuck the partition just after the OS, leaving the rest of the space for installs.. is there something I'm missing here? Shouldn't the drive be partitioned right after the OS, leaving the rest of the drive free? ... and shouldn't I have more than 140GB of space on a 160GB HDD?

Please help

 

[Michael]

I'll be the first to call myself a no0b to SATA drives and Windows Vista.. which is why I really need some help on this issue.

 

[Tuffie]

Well my brother bought a laptop that claimed a 100Gb HD but with using it he found that it was only 91Gb large, maybe this is a simaler situaition, Maybe there aren't any rules governing the rounding up of HD space?

But if your really worried have you tried googleing it?

Kent.

 

[Michael]

I actually google issues before I ask on the forum.. usually I turn up zero results.

This time the only thing I turned up, and this was a few searches after I asked, was that Vista is a 15GB program, and apprently the program reserves 15GB on the HDD and 'hides' Vista in there? Is there any truth to this? If so, I could completely understand the rest of the pre-installed programs taking up the space that they do, but can't understand what the 'Windows' folder is, provided Vista is hidden out of reach on the HDD, since the 'Windows' folder is within reach and can be altered by the end user (me).

In any event, the only plausable explaination I could come up with was that Acer decided to split the HDD down the middle, one side for programs, the other for media files.. possibly so one side of the HDD was harder to access than the other, or so that one side could be formatted without removing all installed programs?

In any event, I'm still a little confused and appreciate any constructive criticism and/or help

 

[Burgerbob]

The reason it is smaller is because a Gb=1024Mb, whereas the companies say it is 1000Mb. Its not usually much of a difference until you get to really big drives. As for the partition, it was probably meant to be a recovery partition and they messed it up.

 

[Michael]

Is there a downside to having this huge partition on my HDD? ..and is there any reason for me to remove it?

 

[Michael]

Nevermind, I got ahold of Acer Support and they explained it to me.. the guy was actually quite knowledgable, and wasn't from a far, far away land that underpays and overworks the needy.

In any event, thanks for the help