Overview of data mesurment

Data measurement in a computer is done based on their binary origins.  The very history of the personal computer can be traced in these numbers as they’ve pushed back computational boundaries again and again.  Today’s top Hard drives can hold more than a TeraByte of data, a numbered that was nearly inconceivable 3 decades ago.  From the bit, to the TeraByte, data storage, and telecommunication speeds, among other things, are counted in a base 2 counting system, or binary.

As “base 2” implies, this counting system only contains two base numbers.  In a computer, each numeric location or decimal place is composed of 8 bits which are interpreted as a single number, called a word.  Because “word” is a confusing term in mathematics, these 8 bits came to be known as a Byte.  Each Byte can be a number in the range of 0 to 255, after which a second Byte is used for the next squence of numbers.  Each character on the screen can be represented by a matching number, also between o and 255.  For a visual idea of what this means, a zero byte is shown by a blank space, and 255 would be a solid block that is 8 dots wide, by 8 dots high.  Each dot is a bit, and each block is a Byte.  A bit ir represented by a lowercase “b”, and a Byte is shown with an uppercase “B”.

A hundred Bytes is approximately one Kilobyte, but its actually a little higher.  The reason is that it is calculated by doubling 8 (8 bits = 1 Byte) eight times.  In order, each doubling is 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1024.  Note that although the number is 256, that the total for each Byte can only be 255; this is because the number zero is the empirical first digit. This method of counting is a result of the way that computers calculate, using a serious of yes or no answers to spell out every character that can be printed.  Zero begins the count because it is the most basic non-value, or “no”.

Here’s a quick rundown:
bit     (b)    = can be either a 1 or a 0.
Byte    (B)    = Made of 8 bits, this can represent any number from 0 to 255.
Kilobit    (Kb)    = 1024 bits
KiloByte    (KB)    = 1024 Bytes (This can be represented as 2^10, or 2 to the tenth power.)
MegaByte    (MB)    = 1024*KB (1,048,576 Bytes)
GigaByte    (GB)    = 1024*MB
TeraByte    (TB)    = 1024*GB  This is only just becoming available as consumer storage.
PetaByte    (PB)    = 1024*TB  This is currently the largest data storage created in the world.
ExaByte    (EB)    = 1024*PB
ZettaByte    (ZB)    = 1024*EB
YottaByte    (YB)    = 1024*ZB

YottaByte is as high as it goes.  It is currently estimated that all the data on all the world’s computers is in the neighborhood of 400 Exbytes.  The IDC estimates that total world storage capacity will reach one ZettaByte in the year 2010.  In normal base 10 (decimal system) math, that amounts to a number represented by 1000^8, or one thousand to the 8th power.  One estimate says, “One ExaByte is the equivalent of about 50,000 years of DVD quality video.”

Article written by MyComputerAid.com