1 gb = ?

[PowerMacG5]

Originally posted by: Pariah
"And the whole "1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes" is just something that Microsoft OS's report the space to be?"

No, all x86 compatible hardware uses 1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte to determine hard drive capacity, for some reason Pink seems to think MS is the one that created this problem, but they are just using what the hardware tells it. ATA drives determine capacity by using binary numbers, which is why every ATA hard drive capacity barrier is in some way linked to a power of 2. When I boot my system the Adaptec SCSI controller detects 18GB drives as 17GB, the add-in Promise ATA controller also reports GiB, both of these initializing before MS has any say in what the system is doing. The problem begins at the hardware level, so if you want to blame someone blame the people that came up with the ATA and SCSI standards.

"it's because there are 8 bits in a byte. 8x128=1024. 8bits in a byte."

Huh? 1024 comes from 2^10. It has nothing to do with bits vs bytes.

2^10 bytes = 1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte
2^20 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes = 1024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes = 1,048,576 kilobytes = 1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte

"in reality 1000 bytes in a kilobyte and 1000 kilobytes in a gigabyte"

1000 kilobytes in a megabyte, not gigabyte

Exactly, I couldn't have said it better myself. I personally hate people like Pink0 that like to blame all of their computers shortcomings to Microsoft. I personally love Microsoft's products, from software to hardware. Just because you don't like Microsoft, or you think that Microsoft is the bain of your existance, doesn't mean that you should impose your beliefs on others. Just because you hat Microsoft, it doesn;t mean that the whole world hate's them. Every operating system I've used, from DOS to WINDOWS to Unix to Linux all use Base 2 measurements for HDD capacity. The method of measyrement, binary or decimal, is not set by the OS. As stated by Pariah, all x86 based architecture measure HDD capacity in Base 2, and this has nothing to do with Microsoft.

 

[Pink0]

I was using the 8 bits in a byte thing in a poor attempt to illustrate the frequent use of 8 in computers. 8 bits to a byte and then multiples of 8 from there up in measurement of everything.
My bad on the microsoft thing though.

 

[Sunner]

I must say, until this whole "mebi" and "gibi" thing started, I've never ever heard anyone refer to a megabyte as anything but 1024 kilobytes, gigabyte as 1024 megabytes, etc.
Nor have I read about it.

That mebi and gibi crap is just stupid, if the whole world is used to "1 MB = 1024 KB", why not keep it that way, it obviously works fine, as it has done for the last several decades.
Besides, mebi and gibi sounds like something a 5 year old would come up with, at least they should have come up with some better words.

What are the following magnitudes called by the way?
Tebibyte?
Ebibyte?
Pebibyte?

Sounds too fscking stupid.

 

[Pink0]

it helps if you say it meb-eye instead of mebee. or Gib-eye instead of gibee.
LOL!

 

[Pariah]

"I must say, until this whole "mebi" and "gibi" thing started, I've never ever heard anyone refer to a megabyte as anything but 1024 kilobytes, gigabyte as 1024 megabytes, etc.
Nor have I read about it."

When referring to data transmission, the decimal system is used, not binary. For example, a 28.8 modem is capable of 28,800 bits/s, not 29,491bit/s.

 

[Sunner]

I was speaking specifically about HD capacity.

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I was speaking specifically about HD capacity.

Every HD manufacturer uses decimal values, so you hear it all the time. DVD writer capacity is officially given in decimal format (4.7GB = 4.7billion bytes). So the 1024 number isn't even universal in storage. The average person has no idea how the binary system works if they even know what it is all. By making a clear distinction between it and the decimal system, (by using the new binary prefixes), it won't explain the binary system to them but it will at least bring to their attention that the 2 are different. You don't even have to use the prefixes, you can use the full name, so instead of saying mebibyte, you can call it a megabinarybyte, which should make it quite clear to anyone that the number is binary based.

 

[SocrPlyr]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I must say, until this whole "mebi" and "gibi" thing started, I've never ever heard anyone refer to a megabyte as anything but 1024 kilobytes, gigabyte as 1024 megabytes, etc.
Nor have I read about it.

That mebi and gibi crap is just stupid, if the whole world is used to "1 MB = 1024 KB", why not keep it that way, it obviously works fine, as it has done for the last several decades.
Besides, mebi and gibi sounds like something a 5 year old would come up with, at least they should have come up with some better words.

What are the following magnitudes called by the way?
Tebibyte?
Ebibyte?
Pebibyte?

Sounds too fscking stupid.

sound stupid to me too, but that is the way it is... SI didn't like the computer industry misusing their prefixes... they had set meaning well before the computer industry tried to redefine them in terms of base2... hey and if you want to argue w/ me look at the gov't websites i have linked on my first post... [sarcasm] i mean if the gov't says it is so, it must be true [/sarcasm] 🙂
and the real problem as mentioned by several others is now that for every 100GB there is a 7GB discrepency and it does cause a problem...

Josh

 

[Sunner]

Well somehow I can't help but think HD manufacturers use decimal numbers simply cause it allows them to show bigger numbers 🙂

Basically to me it seems like decimal is used on papers while binary is used in computers, that is, the paper spec for a HD will show 1 GB as being 1000 MB, etc, while binary will be used as soon as you put that HD in a computer.
And since I work with computers, 1 MB = 1024 KB to me, besides that makes the most sense to me, but I suppose that might be cause it's simply what Im used to, though it might not be mathematically correct.

 

[Daishiki]

alrite. i guess the issue is settled then. thanx for the help guys. gibibyte... hope i don't get laughed at

 

[TwilightZone77]

Originally posted by: littleprince
Now i'm confused. so 1 MB isnt 1024 bytes?!?!?!? My gosh!!! Maybe creationism is true too!!!! :Q

Well, uh, 1 megabyte has never been 1024 bytes. So maybe creationism has been true all along? 😉