Topic: Memory Block conversion tool

[NeoThunder]

I took the time to do the math incase nobody knew or figured it out.  Oh, and incase your wondering.  I based these numbers on the fact that a 1 gig memory stick and how many blocks it tells me is available on my Wii.  So, I did double check to make sure calculations were correct

7619 blocks total on 1 gig stick of 952 megs total free space

Wii
2171 total available on Wii Flash
about 8 blocks = 1 meg
about 1 block  = 128 k

about 271 megs of memory available for storage
about 53% of Wii memory available to user for storage out of 512 megs

GameCube
about 128 blocks = 1 meg
about   1 block  = 8 Kbytes

* A Wii memory block holds 16 times that of a GameCube memory block

So, it infact turns out very simple to find out how much memory something takes up on your Wii
 example, 4 blocks divided by 8 equals 1 half megabyte...and 16 blocks equals 2 megabytes
ONLY KEEP IN MIND THESE ARE ESTIMATES, the actual size of the file may be a few byes more or less
 example, a 4 block file may only take up 0.49 megs, or 0.51 The way the file system works though the file system will see it as taking up the whole block of memory

[JonLeung]

The Wii has/uses/supports/handles SD cards, QuickTime movies, DVD-variation discs, IBM CPU, ATi GPU, JPEG images, Opera browser, email, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, and probably more.

My point is; they borrow and adapt technology from everyone else but they can't even use a totally standardized filesize nomenclature?  I'm all for simplicity but I'd rather they call filesizes as "bytes" or "kilobytes".  Even "bits" is more understandable than "blocks".

Are the "blocks" even the same size as N64 and GameCube "blocks"?  I have an N64 DexDrive somewhere so I suppose it would be easy enough to check...

[KDR_11k]

Block is perfectly understandable, converting them to bytes is usually only done to deal with file systems of different block sizes. Any block device (i.e. memory with random access) uses blocks. A block is equal to the smallest quantum of space the filesystem deals with, a file automatically occupies a whole block if it occupies any part of it. For filesystems that use the same blocksize on all media it's better to list filesizes as blocks since there's no need to know how much space they use inside that block (if you have owned e.g. a C64 you know that it lists only the block numbers, not the actual bytes). It should be noted that 128kB per block is awfully large, 4kB is a common block size on harddrives in the triple digit gigabytes. I suppose Nintendo wanted the numbers to be small so you can more easily remember how much space you have left.

I fear that these numbers might make people use 16 bit integers for file I/O block addresses which could get problematic on SD cards larger than 4 or 8 GB (depending on whether they use signed or unsigned integers).

[darknight06]

X-Box used blocks too, it may not be the exact unit of memory but it used them

[KDR_11k]

If you don't like blocks use ReiserFS.

[31 Flavas]

Yea, being a gamer does not mean you understand what a bit or byte actually is (or how large). Whether you're young or old, you can understand the idea of blocks. You don't really need to know anyway, the Wii will let you know if it will fit on your SD card (or whatever).

[Entroper]

IMO, it's just as easy to understand "200 MB free" as it is to understand "1562 blocks free".  I liked the PS2 memory cards that just told you bytes, and didn't do any of this block nonsense.  It would also eliminate the confusion of Gamecube blocks and Wii blocks being different sizes.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Some kind of visual percentage meter or pie chart would be helpful on Wii than just simply telling me EFFING BLOCKS.

[KDR_11k]

IMO, it's just as easy to understand "200 MB free" as it is to understand "1562 blocks free".

And then you have people wondering why it doesn't add up. Blocks make more sense because the system actually thinks in blocks. The system doesn't care if a file takes 1kB or 20, a block is a block and all those numbers do is add confusion for the user who's wondering why he managed to fill megabytes with a few 1kB files.

[NeoThunder]

Quote
Originally posted by: darknight06
X-Box used blocks too, it may not be the exact unit of memory but it used them

yes, but luckly on the 360 they changed it to computer talk
Also, When Nintendo brags that it has 512 megs of flash memory, then goes and tells you it's "blocks", they lay person might think they have the whole 512 megs available for saving.  But even the "20 gig" hard drive on a Xbox 360 only has at the most about 13 gigs of space available for saving.

[Rancid Planet]

Suck in the guts guys, we're the Ghostbusters.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Professional 666
Some kind of visual percentage meter or pie chart would be helpful on Wii than just simply telling me EFFING BLOCKS.

Agreed.

This would help with the whole blue ocean thing as well.

[MarioAllStar]

I think a pie chart would be a nice way to go, with optional block/MB/MiB values for those who want them. I am fine with Nintendo using blocks as units, but they should tell us somewhere exactly how many bytes are in a block so we have to run through these types of calculations.

Edit: Plus I want to know exactly how much of my flash memory or SD card is availible for use. That is, if I have a 2GB SD card, how much of that is going toward game saves? In the end, it might just be better to leave these types of details out for interface simplicity.

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
If you don't like blocks use ReiserFS.

I used ReiserFS for while in the past. I corrupted the partition during a resize (or something like that), but was able to restore some of my data. Apparently, there were mechanisms in place where I could have restored everything to working order, but I was stupid and issued a command that pretty much made recovery impossible. [off-topic]
 

[Nick DiMola]

I don't really care that Nintendo decided to use blocks, but I would've liked them to at least publish in the Wii manual just what a block equals, rather than having us guess. When you buy an SD Card it certainly doesn't disclose it's size in Wii blocks, so how does a user know how much space on the SD Card is enough?

[NeoThunder]

Well, now you know all you do is multiply your memory card by 8 and thats how many blocks you have.....about

[Entroper]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
IMO, it's just as easy to understand "200 MB free" as it is to understand "1562 blocks free".

And then you have people wondering why it doesn't add up. Blocks make more sense because the system actually thinks in blocks. The system doesn't care if a file takes 1kB or 20, a block is a block and all those numbers do is add confusion for the user who's wondering why he managed to fill megabytes with a few 1kB files.

Simple, the smallest a file can be is the size of one block.  You wouldn't be filling up megabytes with a few 1 kB files, you'd be filling them up with 128 kB files.  

[KDR_11k]

Of course but if you give them byte sizes rounded to blocks you're just making the numbers larger. Not everyone thinks in base 2.

[NeoThunder]

Well, I've always said there are 10 kinds of people in this world...
Those who understand binary code, and those who don't.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Binary is actually easy, in my opinion its much much easier than hex.

[KDR_11k]

Hex is easy to convert to binary and pretty much never used for something that needs to be converted to decimal.