How much hard drive space comes taken up on the top end iMac?

[9007938]

I'm trying to decide what size of HDD to get, how much is taken up by everything that comes on it by default?

 

[JCCash]

Less then 40 GB

 

[Cmax]

Not much -- but conside about 10

5 of any diver is

 

[9007938]

5 of any diver is

I'm not sure what you are saying?

 

[Cmax]

I'm not sure what you are saying?

Oops -- sorry, that's my bad. As I was about to reply to your post, the phone rang and I got distracted. Anyway, didn't realize until now I actually posted something here. I apologize for any confusion.

In any event, what I had hoped to contribute then was that I recently bought one of the new 3.06 Ghz iMacs with a 750 GB hard drive. The Get Info screen for that HD reports its capacity as being only 698 GB. So, seems there is 52 GB of hard disk space unaccounted for on a 750 GB hard drive (lucky me?)

Nevertheless, including the base OS footprint and after installing iWorks, iLife, MS Office 2008, Firefox, a few favorite games, several podcasts and various software updates -- I'm only using up 28.49 GB of disk space -- leaving 669.83 GB of free disk space available.

So, on a top end new iMac with a 750 GB hard disk, seems less than 29 GB of hard disk space is taken up, but note this includes several additional aforementioned application installs beyond the default OS needs.

 

[Mackilroy]

Actually, you lose that space on any drive. For example, I have two 750 GB drives in my Mac Pro, but actual formatted capacity is 698 GB. This is due to differences in measurements by different standards. So you're actually using up space out of that 698 GB, not the 750 GB it says it has.

 

[richard.mac]

Leopard is about 9-11 GB and iLife is about 4 GB so subtract that from the formatted capacity you get about 685-683 GB free.

 

[bogg]

Actually, you lose that space on any drive. For example, I have two 750 GB drives in my Mac Pro, but actual formatted capacity is 698 GB. This is due to differences in measurements by different standards. So you're actually using up space out of that 698 GB, not the 750 GB it says it has.

Exactly, let me explain (this not directed to you Mackilroy):

Harddrive capacity is given in base10 (where 1GB is 1 000 000 000 bytes, and thus a 750GB drive is 750 000 000 000 bytes).
Software / OSes most often calculate 1GB as 1 073 741 824bytes and thus 750GB = 805306368000 bytes

Ah 750GB (750 000 000 000 bytes) drive is then according to the OS 750 000 000 000 / 1 073 741 824 = 698,49GB

So there's always a bit of a mismatch between the specified space and the space you "see" in the OS. Even though it is the same exact amount of bytes.

 

[viperguy]

Exactly, let me explain (this not directed to you Mackilroy):

Harddrive capacity is given in base10 (where 1GB is 1 000 000 000 bytes, and thus a 750GB drive is 750 000 000 000 bytes).
Software / OSes most often calculate 1GB as 1 073 741 824bytes and thus 750GB = 805306368000 bytes

Ah 750GB (750 000 000 000 bytes) drive is then according to the OS 750 000 000 000 / 1 073 741 824 = 698,49GB

So there's always a bit of a mismatch between the specified space and the space you "see" in the OS. Even though it is the same exact amount of bytes.

Nice explanation