Weight of Data

Someone wanted an answer for this question ...Look at what he got


I've noticed that as I copy data/install programs on my Laptop, the weight of the Laptop increases. I have a bad back and am medically limited on the amount of weight I can carry so I need to be very carefull not to inflict injury upon myself.

I have also noticed my XBox feels heavier as well (the more games I save or purchase from arcade). I generally don't travel with my XBox so that is not an issue for me, but note the I am having the same results.

My ask, what is the weight/file ratio? So for example, how many GB's = 6oz? I dread the day I need a dolly to commute to work with my Laptop.



Hi K_McLovin,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Answers Forum.

If we understand your question correctly, there is no possible way that copying files or installing programs is increasing the weight of your laptop. Also, the same with your Xbox, downloading games from the Arcade will not increase the weight of your Game Console.

Just to explain a little bit more as to why the hard drive will not “gain weight”; if you were to look inside a hard drive you would see what would resemble a record player. There are small platters that resemble the record then you have a read/write head attached to an arm. The platters are coated with tiny magnetic particles when the hard drive gets "written on" the read/write head simply alters the polarity of the millions of different little sections on different parts of the hard drive. So when you write on a hard drive you don't really "Write" on it, you rearrange things on it, and because of that the weight doesn’t change.

If we are misunderstanding your question please clarify so that we may further assist you.




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Robyn
Microsoft Answers Support Engineer



Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:40 AMdixonticon
2If you have very large files, you can compress them and then compress the compressed file etc. until the files are down to 1 byte. That should make you laptop lighter than when you bought it! I use this trick all the time so that I can save my entire music collection on a 5-1/4" floppy (yeah, I found a use for them :)




Thursday, January 29, 2009 3:34 PMSergio Rodriguez Garcia
1Dear friend:
Every Gigabyte counts as 5oz of extra weight for your computer.There has been cases (in computers with 1Tb of Hard drive and more) of people left eMule activated 3 days and when that people returned to the computer,there was a hole in the floor instead.

Maybe you should try a compression software (like 7zip for example) which help reducing the data's weight.

Take care of those P2P software that quickly increase your data.Watch out and be careful.

Use MS-DOS to drastically reduce data weight.


Greetings from Spain!


Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:12 PMLandi
1I am glad you brought this up actually.

I don't think this is just a technology problem. The other day, I was reading one of those MS press books (One of the Thick ones) and towards the end of the book (after reading it for about three hours) I wanted to get up for a glass of water and use the toilet eventually.
But, here's when a strange thing happened. As i was about to get up (I usually read in bed) my head was so heavy that I couldn't get up. I roughly estimate the wheight increase ~564.32 grams.
Well, I attributed this phenomena to the amount of information that got stored in my brain during that time (Notice the similarity there ? )
I eventually fell asleep and when I woke up a few hours later to take the MS exam guess what?!? My head was light again, and I consequently failed the Exam as I couldn't remember anything a read on that book.

Based on my experience, what I would suggest, is turn the laptop off, leave it like that for a few hours and then you can carry it around without risking to break your back. You might risk to loose your data but hey, your health is more important.

I hope that helps


Wednesday, January 21, 2009 7:05 PMShantanu KaushikMVP, Moderator
i am sorry if i didn't understand your question ? but Data does not weight !! afaik.. so their should be no increase in laptop's weight !!!

i dont know if others might differ... >
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Saturday, January 24, 2009 3:53 AMartfudd
The weight gain is not in the Xbox & Laptop, it is in *you* from all that junk food you are pigging out on while playing way too many games for way too many hours on your Xbox & Laptop. :)
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Art..


Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:13 AMJr C
0This is a rare error when the overwriting mechanism of the memory banks lead to an overflow of data because it cannot add on and thus super-stack, increasing the weight significantly. While normal weight/file ratio is approximately 0.02 oz/GB, in rare cases such as these, it can go as high as somewhere around 6 oz/GB.


One solution is going to the system32 folder (C:\WINDOWS\system32) and deleting certain unnecessary files, but too much tampering may cause permanent changes to your computer.
Proposed As Answer bykjhgfsrftdrseas Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:32 PMUnproposed As Answer byBarb WinterMSFT,

Saturday, January 24, 2009 1:02 PMClan Epsilon
Guys he's serious, his last name is McLovin, you gotta trust that...

Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:11 PMChristophSackl
Actually the weight of your hard drive decreases after formatting it for the first time. On an unformatted hard drive the bits are spread in weird order all over the drive and there's big chaos. This causes strong magnetic forces and there's a constant push-pull between the bits. This consumes a lot of energy and according to a smart guy called Einstein energy has weight. When formatting the drive for the first time the bits are put in order and also stay in order when writing data to the disk thus the energy decreases and thus the weight actually decreases and doesn't increase.

P.S. This is fully serious! Read: http://www.wdr.de/tv/wissen-macht-ah/archiv/kuriosah/computer.phtml. Unfortunately the site is in German but I've written the most important part above.

Edited byChristophSackl Saturday, January 24, 2009 11:12 PMspelling mistake


Monday, January 26, 2009 6:49 PMUnkoil

K_McLovin said:

Apologies if this is the incorrect area for this question.

I've noticed that as I copy data/install programs on my Laptop, the weight of the Laptop increases. I have a bad back and am medically limited on the amount of weight I can carry so I need to be very carefull not to inflict injury upon myself.

I have also noticed my XBox feels heavier as well (the more games I save or purchase from arcade). I generally don't travel with my XBox so that is not an issue for me, but note the I am having the same results.

My ask, what is the weight/file ratio? So for example, how many GB's = 6oz? I dread the day I need a dolly to commute to work with my Laptop.


Thanks in advance!
- K




Dreading the day you Dolly your laptop???? Are you kidding me..... what does your laptop weigh 6 lbs. at the most?

That about half the weight of your McDonalds bag...

You better be carrying an Alienware laptop and not a netbook.

If you cannot carry your laptop thats the least of your worries, I'd be more concerned with how your dealing with yourself daily

You do know that your installing programs in a virtual perspective


Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:23 PMlanuletta
0It depends on the size of the gigabyte, if it's a bigger gigabyte it will weigh more (like a normal bite of your Mcdonalds) ...the bigger the byte the more energy (jiggawatts) it will consume and therefore weigh more. Using the formula w=g/j (weight = gigabytes/jiggawatts) you will see how much the weight will increase. Avoid .exe files as they are really heavy according to Christophé Toffy Brun in his 1908 memoirs...

Friday, January 30, 2009 1:27 PMVisentico Rey
0Yes, we have to take that seriously.
If we don't delete the programs that we don't use, we can crash our backs, or even... who knows, transform our planet into a black hole.

XD



Saturday, February 07, 2009 1:43 AMElmer Homero
0Esteemed lanuletta:

I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on this one. The fact is that the equation to which you refer (discovered in the XVIIII century, by Lineus Torvaldus) involves gigabytes AND giggawatts (as opposed to your "jiggawatts" which have been deprecated). The correct form is>
"weight of data equals gigabytes divided by giggawatts"
or
wD=g/g
Basic algebra shows that g/g=1, so
wD=1
Divide both sides by D...
w(D/D) = 1/D
thus eliminating (D/D) it renders.
w = 1/D
Which reads: "The weight is the inverse of the Data"

This is the formal mathematical proof that the more data you store, the LESS the computer weights.
If anything, this person should put his hamburger ON TOP of the laptop, to act as a paperwieght.

Elmer Homero



Saturday, February 07, 2009 1:50 AMElmer Homero
0Forgot to explain:
The fact that the giggawat is spelled with a "g" is because it actually has the same latin root as gigabyte: "gi" and means "the highest one" as in "ginius" (the highest one in IQ).

Elmer Homero




Onre more,

Don't think too much....The data inside your Brain increases your weight!!!


Saturday, March 28, 2009 10:17 AMAlex12344321
0How about being sincere with the guy, and just telling him: "K_McLovin, as your question is one of the stupidest questions existing, the fact that you thought of asking it results in you being EXTREMELY STUPID!"


Sunday, April 19, 2009 1:41 AMclevesteve
McLovin, you are awesome.

By far, my favorite post I've ever seen on a techie message board.

And I usually don't like trolls.