How to extrapolate the weight of data in my laptop?
I recently needed to change the disk in my laptop (Acer running Vista) and used an external bay to connect the old, then the new disk to a server,
I happened to notice, when I removed the new drive, that it seemed to weigh more than when I plugged it in. I carried out some tests, and found that the 'full' drive weighed more with data on it than after carrying out a full disk delete and reformat. After I copied data to the new drive, it weighs more than when it was new.
Does anyone have the algorithm to relate data volumes to increase in weight?
Does compressing the data with ZIP or TAR make it weigh more per megabyte?
Are there limits to this, or will it just keep getting heavier until it's completely full?
What difference does the operating system make ?
Thanks
Software/Hardware used:
Wester Digaital caviar drives, matched. Vista
I happened to notice, when I removed the new drive, that it seemed to weigh more than when I plugged it in. I carried out some tests, and found that the 'full' drive weighed more with data on it than after carrying out a full disk delete and reformat. After I copied data to the new drive, it weighs more than when it was new.
Does anyone have the algorithm to relate data volumes to increase in weight?
Does compressing the data with ZIP or TAR make it weigh more per megabyte?
Are there limits to this, or will it just keep getting heavier until it's completely full?
What difference does the operating system make ?
Thanks
Software/Hardware used:
Wester Digaital caviar drives, matched. Vista
ASKED:
September 25, 2009 2:45 PM
UPDATED:
October 1, 2009 11:33 PM
RELATED QUESTIONS
- Inquiry about Disk Partition Alignment for better performance
- Are there any Synon experts out there? (20 plus years)
- moving an existing active/passive 2005 SQL cluster onto an existing active/active SQL 2008 cluster.
- Juniper Networks
- how to map a network drive on server 2003 to vista machine shared folder
Answer Wiki:
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
Phil
To see all answers submitted to the Answer Wiki: View Answer History.
You [B]are joking, right?
I agree – really?? This is a very strange observation.
What is the weight before and the weight after? What was the blank capacity of the drive before? How much data was added?
HDDs record data by magnetizing ferromagnetic material directionally, to represent either a 0 or a 1 binary digit. They read the data back by detecting the magnetization of the material.
No weight should be added to the drive unless there is corrosion of the material.
What did you use to weigh the disks ?
What were the exact weights after and before ?
It could be the “psychologic” weight what augmented…
Guys, he’s right. My hard drive is almost full, and I can barely lift my laptop anymore. =)
Yorkshireman, I think this calls for a YouTube video. As the kids say, “pics or it didn’t happen.“
This is definitely my favorite question this week.
I was thinking of this over the past few days and I realized that a zero is larger then a one –
compare these two figures:
0
1
the one is almost one dimensional, it is almost non existent.
My conclusion is that data that is composed of more zeros than ones will weigh more than data that is composed of mostly ones.
compare these two bytes:
0100 0001
1011 1110
Obviously, the first byte of data would weigh more than the second.
Steve
Content should factor in ..
Grapes of Wrath – HEAVY
Travels with Charlie – light.
Phil
It could be the pull towards magnetic north…or too many JPEG images on your drive – they’re chock full of compressed bits.
If the argument is true that there is more weight (mass) in a 0 compared to a 1, then the disk could also become out of balance. The disk should be taken to a disk balancing center to ensure performance is maintained by regular maintenance.
I’m thinking that maybe disk fragmentation is intentionally created by the OS, as a method for balancing the disks.
ahhh yes, the addition of random entropy into the environment. Good point Carlosdl.
Perhaps the disk is just “bloated”. You have been taking everything with a “grain of salt”. Stop that imediately and the bloating of the drive should cease.
So is that why the guy at Jiffy Lube wants to rotate my discs?
wow… does Jiffy Lube provide IT services now? Or is it just the folks who used to be the Geek Squad?
If you want your computer to run fast you’ve got to get the bit paths lubed.