Maybe that’s why I couldn’t tell if a gigabyte has 1000 megabytes or 1024. People keep telling me one or the other. Others keep telling me that there’s 1024 mebibytes in 1 gibibyte, but those names absolutely suck.
The confusion comes from the fact that Microsoft in Windows calls 1024 bytes a kilobyte, which makes no sense whatsoever, since that word has a meaning and that ain’t it.
When MS first launched MS-DOS maybe made sense (maybe), but right now it’s only creating confusion. Calling kilobyte a kibibyte is around a 2% error, but with terabyte it’s more than 9%, which is a pretty big deal when you buy a 1TB disk and only shows up as 900 and something GB
The confusion comes from the fact that Microsoft in Windows calls 1024 bytes a kilobyte
And storage… and networking… This isn’t actually a MS spawned problem, and it existed in media before MS put their hands in it. But it is probably fair to say that MS emboldened storage and networking companies to not change their stance. It doesn’t help that it’s in their benefit as they’re providing actually less product because of the confusion.
Afaik for storage it’s exactly what it says on the tin: a 1GB drive is exactly 1,000,000,000 Bytes. Then you put it in the computer and Windows, who thinks that 1GB = 1,073,741,824 Bytes says, well that’s a 0.93 GB drive, aka 930MB. So you start asking yourself where those 70MB went, while in reality windows is telling you that the drive is 930MiB, which is equal to 1GB.
As for networking, last I checked we use Megabits and Gigabits for that, which are a whole different can of worms and use a small b instead of a big B. 8 Mb = 1 MB
I’ve never seen anyone use Mebibit, if it exists, which I’m not sure it does.
And as for benefit, I’m not sure whose benefit it is to create this confusion. In my opinion, no one’s, as the drive makers get accused of false marketing while at the same time Windows gets accused of being a broken OS (fair)
Afaik for storage it’s exactly what it says on the tin
Right… the problem is the discrepancy from RAM and CPU where GB is 1024. There’s a disjoint between hardware where most hardware is base 2… then some other parts just aren’t. That’s my point. HDD/SSD manufacturers benefit from not getting onboard since they’re able to offer less and still be “technically” correct.
I’ve never seen anyone use Mebibit, if it exists, which I’m not sure it does.
It does exist, but it’s so fucking dumb to say (I always feel like I’m stuttering when I say the words) People probably just do everything they can to skip saying the words outright.
Hmm, never heard that before. Idk how to link to a specific section of a page, but what I’m talking about is there too, one section down.
An alternate system of nomenclature for the same units (referred to here as the customary convention), in which 1 kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes,[38][39][40] 1 megabyte (MB) is equal to 10242 bytes and 1 gigabyte (GB) is equal to 10243 bytes is mentioned by a 1990s JEDEC standard. Only the first three multiples (up to GB) are mentioned by the JEDEC standard, which makes no mention of TB and larger. The customary convention is used by the Microsoft Windows operating system[41][better source needed] and random-access memory capacity, such as main memory and CPU cache size, and in marketing and billing by telecommunication companies, such as Vodafone,[42] AT&T,[43] Orange[44] and Telstra.[45]
For storage capacity, the customary convention was used by macOS and iOS through Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and iOS 10, after which they switched to units based on powers of 10.[34]
Yes, you’re right that 1024 bytes was a kilobyte and in fact it was that way for several decades. However, as the differences between powers of two and powers of ten increase as we see larger sizes, it’s become common to differentiate them.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t tell if a gigabyte has 1000 megabytes or 1024. People keep telling me one or the other. Others keep telling me that there’s 1024 mebibytes in 1 gibibyte, but those names absolutely suck.
Mega is 10^6 , Mebi is 2^20 aka 1024^2 bytes
Edit:
The confusion comes from the fact that Microsoft in Windows calls 1024 bytes a kilobyte, which makes no sense whatsoever, since that word has a meaning and that ain’t it.
When MS first launched MS-DOS maybe made sense (maybe), but right now it’s only creating confusion. Calling kilobyte a kibibyte is around a 2% error, but with terabyte it’s more than 9%, which is a pretty big deal when you buy a 1TB disk and only shows up as 900 and something GB
And storage… and networking… This isn’t actually a MS spawned problem, and it existed in media before MS put their hands in it. But it is probably fair to say that MS emboldened storage and networking companies to not change their stance. It doesn’t help that it’s in their benefit as they’re providing actually less product because of the confusion.
Afaik for storage it’s exactly what it says on the tin: a 1GB drive is exactly 1,000,000,000 Bytes. Then you put it in the computer and Windows, who thinks that 1GB = 1,073,741,824 Bytes says, well that’s a 0.93 GB drive, aka 930MB. So you start asking yourself where those 70MB went, while in reality windows is telling you that the drive is 930MiB, which is equal to 1GB.
As for networking, last I checked we use Megabits and Gigabits for that, which are a whole different can of worms and use a small b instead of a big B. 8 Mb = 1 MB
I’ve never seen anyone use Mebibit, if it exists, which I’m not sure it does.
And as for benefit, I’m not sure whose benefit it is to create this confusion. In my opinion, no one’s, as the drive makers get accused of false marketing while at the same time Windows gets accused of being a broken OS (fair)
Right… the problem is the discrepancy from RAM and CPU where GB is 1024. There’s a disjoint between hardware where most hardware is base 2… then some other parts just aren’t. That’s my point. HDD/SSD manufacturers benefit from not getting onboard since they’re able to offer less and still be “technically” correct.
It does exist, but it’s so fucking dumb to say (I always feel like I’m stuttering when I say the words) People probably just do everything they can to skip saying the words outright.
That makes sense.
It’s 1024 because 1 bit is either a 1 or a 0, and a byte has 8 bits in it.
No.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte#Units_based_on_powers_of_10
Hmm, never heard that before. Idk how to link to a specific section of a page, but what I’m talking about is there too, one section down.
An alternate system of nomenclature for the same units (referred to here as the customary convention), in which 1 kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes,[38][39][40] 1 megabyte (MB) is equal to 10242 bytes and 1 gigabyte (GB) is equal to 10243 bytes is mentioned by a 1990s JEDEC standard. Only the first three multiples (up to GB) are mentioned by the JEDEC standard, which makes no mention of TB and larger. The customary convention is used by the Microsoft Windows operating system[41][better source needed] and random-access memory capacity, such as main memory and CPU cache size, and in marketing and billing by telecommunication companies, such as Vodafone,[42] AT&T,[43] Orange[44] and Telstra.[45]
For storage capacity, the customary convention was used by macOS and iOS through Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and iOS 10, after which they switched to units based on powers of 10.[34]
Yes, you’re right that 1024 bytes was a kilobyte and in fact it was that way for several decades. However, as the differences between powers of two and powers of ten increase as we see larger sizes, it’s become common to differentiate them.
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