Data Unit Conversion

Data Unit

Information

• Byte is the SI (International System of Units) base unit for data
• 1 Byte = 8 bits (bits are the binary base unit for data)
• One word is around 2 Bytes

• The prefix “kilo,” from the Greek word for “thousand,” means 1,000 in SI units
• 1 kilobyte = 1,000 bytes in decimal (1,000¹)
• 1 kilobyte = 1,024 bytes in binary (2¹⁰)
• A small image might be around 100 kilobytes (100 KB)

• The prefix “mega,” from the Ancient Greek word for “great, large, mighty,” means 1,000,000 in SI units
• 1 megabyte (1 MB)= 1,000 kilobytes (1,000KB) = 1,000,000 bytes in decimal (1,000²)
• 1 megabyte (1 MB) = 1,024 kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes in binary (1,024² or 2²⁰)
• A digital music file might be around 5 to 10 megabytes (5 – 10 MB)

• The prefix “giga,” is derived from the Ancient Greek word for “giant” and means 1 billion in SI units
• 1 gigabyte (1 GB) = 1,000 megabytes (1,000 MB) = 1,000,000,000 bytes in decimal (1,000³)
• 1 gigabyte (1 GB) = 1,024 megabytes (1,024 MB) = 1,073,741,824 bytes in binary (1,024³or 2³⁰)
• A typical movie file in DVD quality might be around 4 gigabytes (4 GB)
• A laptop might have a hard drive with around 500GB of storage capacity

• The prefix “tera,” is derived from the Greek word for “monster” or “beast,” and means 1 trillion in SI units
• 1 terabyte (1 TB) = 1,000 gigabytes (1,000 GB) = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes in decimal (1000⁴)
• 1 terabyte (1 TB) = 1,024 gigabytes (1,024 GB) = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes in binary (1024⁴ or 2⁴⁰)
• A desktop computer’s hard drive might have 1 to 2 terabytes (1 – 2 TB) of storage capacity

• The prefix “peta,” is derived from the Greek word for the number five and means 1 quadrillion in SI units
• 1 petabyte (1 PB) = 1,000 terabytes (1,000 TB) = 1000⁵ bytes in decimal
• 1 petabyte (1 PB)= 1,024 terabytes (1,024 TB) = 1024⁵ (or 2⁵⁰) bytes in binary
• One petabyte of data would be enough to store over 200,000 DVD-quality movies
• Facebook generates around 4 petabytes (4 PB) of data per day

• Bits are the binary base unit for data
• A bit can only be one of two values: 0 or 1
• 1 bit = 1/8 byte (0.125 B) in decimal
• 4 bits make up a nibble, sometimes called a half-byte or a tetrade
• A small image might be around 800,000 bits (100 KB)

• The prefix “kilo,” from the Greek word for “thousand,” means 1,000 in SI units
• 1 kilobit = 1,000 bits = 125 bytes in decimal
• An old floppy disk controller would be rated to around 250 kbps (250 kilobits per second)

• The prefix “mega,” from the Ancient Greek word for “great, large, mighty,” means 1,000,000 in SI units
• 1 megabit = 1,000,000 bits = 125,000 bytes = 125 kilobytes in decimal
• Cat 5 cable should support speeds of up to 100 Mbps (100 megabits per second)

• The prefix “giga,” is derived from the Ancient Greek word for “giant” and means 1 billion in SI units
• 1 gigabit = 1,000,000,000 bits = 125,000,000 bytes = 125 megabytes in decimal
• An SSD hard disk drive can transfer data at a speed of around 6 Gbps (6 gigabits per second)

Data Unit

Information

• Kibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1,024 bytes (2¹⁰)
• Kilobytes are sometimes confused with kibibytes because both units have the “kilo” prefix.
• But kilobytes refer to 1,000 bytes in decimal, while kibibytes refer to 1,024 bytes in binary.

• Mebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1,048,576 bytes (2²⁰)
• Mebibytes are sometimes confused with megabytes because both units have the “mega” prefix.
• But megabytes refer to 1 million bytes in decimal while mebibytes refer to 1,048,576 bytes in binary

• Gibibyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes (2³⁰)
• Gigabytes are sometimes confused with gibibytes because both units have the “giga” prefix.
• But gigabytes refer to 1 billion bytes in decimal while gibibytes refer to 1,073,741,824 in binary

• Terabytes are sometimes confused with tebibytes, but terabytes refer to 1 trillion bytes in decimal while tebibytes refer to 1,099,511,627,776 in binary

Data Unit

Information

• kbps stands for “kilobits per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One kilobit equals 1,000 bits (decimal) or 1,024 bits (binary).
• So, if you see something like “128 kbps,” that means the transfer speed is 128 Kilobits per second.

• Mbps stands for “megabits per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One megabit equals 1,000 kilobits (decimal) or 1,024 kilobits (binary).
• So if you see something like “12 Mbps,” that means the transfer speed is 12 Megabits per second.

• Gbps stands for “gigabits per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One gigabit equals 1,000 megabits (decimal) or 1,024 megabits (binary).
• So if you see something like “1 Gbps,” that means the transfer speed is one Gigabit per second.

• KB/s stands for “kilobytes per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One kilobyte equals 8 kilobits.
• So if you see something like “128 KB/s,” that means the transfer speed is 128 Kilobytes per second.

• MB/s stands for “megabytes per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One megabyte equals 8 megabits
• So if you see something like “12 MB/s,” that means the transfer speed is 12 Megabytes per second.

• GB/s stands for “gigabytes per second” and is a unit of data transfer rate
• One gigabyte equals 8 gigabits
• So if you see something like “2 GB/s,” that means the transfer speed is 2 Gigabytes per second.