It's important to understand the differences between bits and bytes to avoid confusion. To convert from one unit to another, just know that for every level you go up, you multiply by 1, Don't worry if that's confusing—you'll see enough examples below that you'll have the math down in no time. The table at the bottom of this article is helpful, too. You'll see many sources online say that each new level is 1, times greater than the smaller, not 1, While true in some cases, in practical terms, considering how computers use storage devices, 1, is the more realistic multiplier to do your calculations with.
Now on to the most practical stuff There are 1, GB in 1 TB. A TB is 1, times bigger than a GB. There are 1, MB in 1 GB. Like in the previous example, a GB is 1, times bigger than a MB. Megabytes and megabits are different units of measurement. The terabyte TB is the most common unit used to measure hard drive size and a number you might actually run into from time to time.
A single TB is a lot of space. The petabyte PB is just a crazy large chunk of data but it actually comes up more and more these days. To store a single PB would take over million floppy disks or 1.
A single PB is 1, TB In yet a more impressive view, 1 PB is equal to over 1 quadrillion bytes! Talking about even a single EB seems a bit crazy but there are situations where the world really does run into this level of data. Yes, it's comical, but heading back to the previous comparisons: to get to just a single EB would take billion floppy disks or 1.
Can you imagine? Some more mind-bending thoughts around exabytes:. That's over 1 quintillion bytes! We had to look up quintillion —yes, it's a number! Talking about the GB is a bit more commonplace—we see GBs everywhere, from memory cards to movie downloads, smartphone data plans, and more. A single GB is equivalent to a little over floppy disks or just over a single CD.
A GB is not a small number by any means, but these days it's a level of data we use up quickly, sometimes several times over each day. It's a number we very much run up against on a regular basis.
That's no small number, but it's not nearly an impressive of an amount as it once was. Here it all is together, which helps to illustrate just how big some of those big numbers get! So which definition do most people conform to? When referring to a megabyte for disk storage, the hard drive manufacturers use the standard that a megabyte is 1,, bytes.
This means that when you buy an Gigabyte Hard drive you will get a total of ,,, bytes of available storage. This is where it gets confusing because Windows uses the 1,, byte rule so when you look at the Windows drive properties a Gigabyte drive will only yield Gigabytes of available storage space, a GB drive only shows GB and a One Terabyte hard drive will report a capacity of Gigabytes.
Anybody confused yet? With three accepted definitions, there will always be some confusion so I will try to simplify the definitions a little. The can be replaced with and still be correct using the other acceptable standards.
Both of these standards are correct depending on what type of storage you are referring. This is based on the IBM Dictionary of computing method to describe disk storage — the simplest.
A Bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses. It can be used to represent two states of information, such as Yes or No. A Byte is equal to 8 Bits. A Byte can represent states of information, for example, numbers or a combination of numbers and letters.
A Kilobyte is approximately 1, Bytes, actually 1, Bytes depending on which definition is used. A Megabyte is approximately 1, Kilobytes.
In the early days of computing, a Megabyte was considered to be a large amount of data. A Gigabyte is approximately 1, Megabytes. A Gigabyte is still a very common term used these days when referring to disk space or drive storage. A Terabyte is approximately one trillion bytes, or 1, Gigabytes. There was a time that I never thought I would see a 1 Terabyte hard drive, now one and two terabyte drives are the normal specs for many new computers.
To put it in some perspective, a Terabyte could hold about 3. A Terabyte could hold 1, copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Even if the tape experiences slight alterations from magnetic fields, the data is safe from corruption because the discrete levels are still there. The bit, short for BI nary digi T, is the smallest unit of data a computer can read. Simply put, it can be either a 1 or 0. There are some other measurement units, however, which go well beyond the Yotta and which are recognized by some experts in their fields.
For instance, the brontobyte is 1 followed by 27 zeros and some believe will be the scale of data enabled by the internet of things smart devices from toasters to fridges to home sensors that constantly transmit and receive data. Gegobyte is 10 to the power 30, which by now is futile to count in DVDs or anything like it. Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines.
Home Other Feature Post. How big is a petabyte, exabyte or yottabyte? The scale at which data storage is growing can be dizzying.
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