Alsina González
Specialist journalist and researcher
As in any other aspect of life, in the field of computing there are also units of measurement to quantify the space available or the space used, whether it is disk storage or RAM memory.
From the smallest…
The smallest information storage unit is the bit, which can store information in binary (yes/no, true/false, white/black,…). Two possible states that originally depended on a magnetic polarization, but with the advancement of new technologies, they may now depend on other factors.
With only one bit, we can do few things. It’s like a light switch that turns the light on or off, it doesn’t store much more information. On the other hand, if we join this bit to others, then we will be able to encode a greater number of information in the resulting set.
For example, if we have two bits, we can store four different values, the result of the different combinations that we have between the two bits. If each of them can have two states, let’s put 0 and 1 (to call them somehow), then we will have 00, 01, 10 and 11 as possible combinations. If we increase to three digits, then they will be 000, 001, 010, 100, 011, 101, 110, and 111, eight possible informations in total.
Note that with each new bit, we multiply by two the number of possible combinations with respect to the same number of bits minus one: with 1 bit, 2; with 2 bits, 4; with 3 bits, 8; with 4 bits, 16; with 5 bits, 32,… and so on.
Thanks to Boolean algebra, which establishes a whole system of operations using values of 0 and 1 (binary), computer systems can function and work on stored information.
…to the eldest
But going back to the storage units, it is obvious that we need to standardize measurements, so starting from a set of eight bits that make up a byte, the following units have been created:
1 bit = 1 binary position (value 0/1)
1 bytes = 8 bits
1,024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (abbreviated KB)
1,024 KB = 1 Megabyte (abbreviated MB. Although, for simplicity, it is often explained as “approximately 1,000 KB and popularly known as “mega”)
1,024 MB = 1 Gigabyte (GB, jig)
1,024 GB = 1 Terabyte (TB, tera)
1,024TB = 1 Petabyte (PB, peta)
1,014 PB = 1 Exabyte (EB)
1,014 EB = 1 Zettabyte (ZB)
1,014 ZB = 1 Yottabyte (YB)
Thus, if they tell us that our hard disk has 500 gigabytes, or 1 terawe can be calm because we have what is adequate today, while if they tell us that it is 20 MB we can be sure that it is an error or an old thing, and that if it is 1 Yottabyte, someone has not understood it correctly and is exaggerating…
Photos: iStock – MF3d / Calamusdesign
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