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Uploaded file size is different (2 posts)

  • Started 13 years ago by Janet Dorgan
  • Latest reply 13 years ago from Scott McGuire
  • Janet Dorgan Member

    Hello,
    I uploaded a 2.94 GB video file to an FTP site with fetch overnight. It appeared to upload successfully and then disconnect, but the uploaded file size is 2.73. What causes this shrinkage and does it actually affect the file or is it just an error in reporting the size?

    I'm running fetch 5.5.3 on a Mac OS X 10.6.4...

    Thanks,
    Janet

    Posted 13 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi Janet,

    I believe your file was transferred correctly and completely, and what you are seeing is a difference in how Fetch and Mac OS X report file sizes.

    Here's what's going on:

    Apple made a change how the Mac OS X Finder calculates file sizes in Mac OS X 10.6.

    In Mac OS X 10.6, a "GB" is considered to be 1000 x 1000 x 1000 = 1,000,000,000 bytes.

    On Mac OS X 10.5 and earlier, and most other computer systems, a "GB" is considered to be 1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 1,073,741,824 bytes. This is the more standard definition of GB.

    Fetch, for now, continues to use 1024 x 1024 x 1024 as a GB, because that's more standard and matches what many file servers use. So file sizes reported by Fetch will appear to be smaller than those reported by the Mac OS X 10.6 Finder.

    So, if your file is 2,940,000,000 bytes large, Mac OS X 10.6 will report that file as being 2.94 GB (2,940,000,000 divided by 1,000,000,000 = 2.94).

    But Fetch will report that file as 2.73 GB (2,940,000,000 divided by 1,073,741,824 = 2.7381; technically that should be 2.74, but my guess is your file is actually slightly less than 2,940,000,000 bytes and so it rounds down to 2.73 instead).

    The situation is the same for MB; Mac OS X 10.6 considers a MB to be 1000 x 1000, and Fetch considers a MB to be 1024 x 1024.

    So I believe this is what is going on, and you don't have a cause for concern; if Fetch reports that it transferred a file completely (that is, no error was displayed), it really did.

    But you can verify that the uploaded file is really the same size as the one on your Mac by using the Get Info command in both Finder and Fetch. Each one will show you the exact size of the file in bytes; if the uploaded file has the same number of bytes as the original file on your Mac, everything was uploaded.

    Please let us know if you have further questions or you are seeing a mismatch in the exact byte size after uploading.

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 13 years ago #

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