THE MEMORY UNIT - UNIT OF STORAGE IN COMPUTER- SS2 NOTE

 

THE MEMORY UNIT III

UNIT OF STORAGE IN COMPUTER

DEFINITION, UNIT OF STORAGE IN ORDER AND CONVERSION/CALCULATION

Definition of Computer Units of Storage

Units of storage in a computer are the denominators used to quantify the volume of data or instructions in a computer or on a storage media.
Data can be stored in the computer through several methods using varying electronic components. Some of these components include Hard disk, Compact disk, Flash drive, Floppy disk, Random Access Memory (RAM), etc.

Units of Storage in a Computer

Some units of storage in the computer include:
(i) Bit (b): Bits is an acronym that stands for Binary digITS. It is the Smallest Unit of data on a binary computer. A single bit consists of 0 (zero) or 1 (one).
(ii) Nibble (nybble, nyble, or nybl): A nibble is a collection of four bits.
(iii) Bytes (B): A byte consists of eight bits. It is the smallest item that can be individually accessed by a program.
(iv) Kilobyte (KB): A Kilobyte consists of 210 (1024) Bytes which is approximately 1000 Bytes.
(v) Megabyte (MB): One Megabyte consists of 1024 Kilobytes which is approximately 1000 Kilobytes.
(vi) Gigabyte (GB): A Gigabyte is a collection of 1024 Megabytes which is approximately 1000 Megabytes.
(vii) Terabyte (TB): A Terabyte consists of 1024 Gigabytes which is approximately 1000 Gigabytes.
(viii) Petabyte (PB): A Petabyte consists of 1024 terabytes which is approximately 1000 Terabytes.
(ix) Exabyte (EB): An Exabyte consists of 1024 Petabytes which is approximately 1000 petabytes.
(x) Zettabyte (ZB): A Zettabyte consists of 1024 Exabytes which is approximately 1000 Exabytes.
(xi) Yottabyte (YB): A Yottabyte consists of 1024 Zettabytes which is approximately 1000 Zettabyte

UNIT OF STORAGE IN ORDER

BIT- NIBBLE - BYTE - KB - MB - GB -TB - PB - EB - ZB- YB

Conversion from One Unit to Another

The conversion process from one unit to another can be done using the relationships below.
1 bit = 0 or 1
1 nibble = 4 bits
1 byte = 8 bits
1 word = 16 bits
1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes
1 MB = 1024 KB
1 GB = 1024 MB
1 TB = 1024 GB
1 PB = 1024 TB
1 EB = 1024 PB
1 ZB = 1024 EB
1 YB = 1024 ZB

Note:

1. To convert from smaller to bigger, divide

2. To convert from bigger to smaller, multiply