Comments on: GMail`s strange perception of EMail size http://blog.affien.com/archives/2006/05/02/gmails-strange-perception-of-email-size/ A few thoughts Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:42:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Bas Westerbaan http://blog.affien.com/archives/2006/05/02/gmails-strange-perception-of-email-size/comment-page-1/#comment-42018 Bas Westerbaan Wed, 03 May 2006 14:38:37 +0000 http://blog.w-nz.com/archives/2006/05/02/gmails-strange-perception-of-email-size/#comment-42018 The difference shouldn't be that great: The raw size would when measuring in MB (1000kB) instead of MiB (1024kiB) be 2219MB -- this obviously is a bigger number. Now, as each email is only using 7 bits per character the 'real' size of all my email is: <code>2219 / 8 * 7 = 1939</code> -- this is less than the 2079MB reported by GMail. It gets even worse when I add in that attachments are encoded 6bits. The MB/MiB issue does make a difference, but not that great as you have seen. There's still something else :-). The difference shouldn’t be that great:

The raw size would when measuring in MB (1000kB) instead of MiB (1024kiB) be 2219MB — this obviously is a bigger number. Now, as each email is only using 7 bits per character the ‘real’ size of all my email is: 2219 / 8 * 7 = 1939 — this is less than the 2079MB reported by GMail. It gets even worse when I add in that attachments are encoded 6bits.

The MB/MiB issue does make a difference, but not that great as you have seen. There’s still something else :-) .

]]> By: Max Weinstein http://blog.affien.com/archives/2006/05/02/gmails-strange-perception-of-email-size/comment-page-1/#comment-42017 Max Weinstein Wed, 03 May 2006 14:23:53 +0000 http://blog.w-nz.com/archives/2006/05/02/gmails-strange-perception-of-email-size/#comment-42017 It appears that there is not problem. Computers read file sizes differently based on if 1MB = 1000 Bytes or 1MB=1024 Bytes. This is the same reason some harddrives appear to be smaller after hooking them up to your computer than what is listed on the box (sometimes you'll get lucky and get one slightly larger). Google it, I remember a tech guru explaining this years ago. It appears that there is not problem. Computers read file sizes differently based on if 1MB = 1000 Bytes or 1MB=1024 Bytes. This is the same reason some harddrives appear to be smaller after hooking them up to your computer than what is listed on the box (sometimes you’ll get lucky and get one slightly larger). Google it, I remember a tech guru explaining this years ago.

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