You know what that tells me? The cluster sizes have gotten smaller so that space isn't as wasted as it once was.
For those that don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain. All file systems organize (for the lack of a better word) the space on a storage device into what are known as clusters. Only one file can exist in a cluster. For instance, if your cluster size is 4 KB and you have a 6 KB file that file will effectively take up two 4 KB clusters even though the file is 6 KB which results in a loss of 2 KB of storage space. Now this may not seem like such a big deal until you start thinking about how many files that could exist on the system that add up to less than a multiple of whatever the cluster size is. Oops. Wasted space!
Considering that HFS+, the file system that Apple uses, is nearly 30 years old. Yes, HFS+ is 30 years old! This is a file system that was originally designed for floppy disks not storage devices with GBs and GBs of space. I don't even want to think about how large the cluster sizes were. Good God almighty, the cluster sizes must have been HUGE!
Making the cluster size smaller reduces the amount of wasted space.