# Why is my resized volume smaller than I expected?

If you resize a volume and the reported size or available space is smaller than expected, this is usually due to how filesystems allocate and report disk space.

Some common reasons include:

- **Filesystem metadata overhead:** Filesystems reserve space for metadata, which reduces usable space. For example, a 500 GiB volume may appear slightly smaller in `df` output because some space is used internally by the filesystem.
- **Reserved space for the root user:** Many filesystems (such as ext4) reserve a portion of disk space for the root user by default (typically 5%), which is not counted as available by `df`. For example, on a 500 GiB ext4 volume, about 25 GiB may be reserved, making the available space appear lower.

  You can modify reserved blocks and other filesystem parameters using [`tune2fs`](https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man8/tune2fs.8.html) for ext4 filesystems or [`xfs_io`](https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man8/xfs_io.8.html) for XFS filesystems.
- **Differences in size units:** Some tools report sizes in gibibytes (GiB, base-1024) while others use gigabytes (GB, base-1000). For example, a 500 GiB volume is approximately 536 GB, so tools using decimal units may show a larger number. We display volume sizes in GiB. For consistency, use `df -h`, which also reports sizes in GiB.

Before and after resizing, check the following:

- Confirm the resize in the control panel. Go to the [control panel](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/), click **Volumes Block Storage** in the left menu, and find the volume’s new size under its name.
- Verify the filesystem was expanded. Use `df -h` to compare reported and available space.
- Account for filesystem overhead and reserved space when evaluating available space.

## Related Topics

[Why is my snapshot's size different from reported disk usage?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/why-is-my-snapshots-size-different-from-reported-disk-usage/index.html.md): Snapshots of Droplets are a best estimate based on the disk usage. Snapshots of volumes operate at the block storage level, so the snapshot size may not match what the filesystem reports.

[Can I make my Droplet smaller?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/can-i-make-my-droplet-smaller/index.html.md): You cannot resize Droplets to smaller plans, but you can migrate your data to a smaller Droplet.

[Can I resize a DOKS node?](https://docs.digitalocean.com/support/can-i-resize-a-doks-node/index.html.md): You can resize a DOKS node by creating a new node pool of the desired size.