Subject: Re: mass storage usb camera
To: Wojciech Puchar <wojtek@chylonia.3miasto.net>
From: Todd Vierling <tv@wasabisystems.com>
List: netbsd-users
Date: 12/18/2001 14:29:35
On Sat, 15 Dec 2001, Wojciech Puchar wrote:

: > sd0 at scsibus0 target 1 lun 0: <OLYMPUS, C-1, 1062> SCSI2 0/direct removable
: > sd0: mode sense (4) returned nonsense; using fictitious geometry
: > sd0: 16000 KB, 15 cyl, 64 head, 32 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 32000 sectors

: why it's 16000 not 16384?

Because mass storage manufacturers have been pulling this scam for a very
long time.  Read the fine print on any typical hard drive manufactured since
~1988 -- you'll find a defintion like "1 MB = 1 million bytes" or "1 GB = 1
billion bytes".  There was a false-advertising lawsuit in the late 1980s
about this, resulting in manufacturers working around the issue by adding
that redefinition of "MB" and "GB".

So, when a mass storage manufacturer says "100 MB", it probably means
100000000 bytes, not 104857600 bytes.

-- 
-- Todd Vierling <tv@wasabisystems.com>  *  Wasabi & NetBSD:  Run with it.
-- CDs, Integration, Embedding, Support -- http://www.wasabisystems.com/