How do you measure storage or memory size in computers?

Answer 1

There are three types of memory, video, storage and RAM. Storage memory is on your hard drive and is used to store everything that's software or virtual on your computer, such as programs, files, settings, etc. If it's part of your computer and you can't throw it out of the window, it's software. If you throw it out of the window and it comes back, it's a cat. Anyways, video memory is memory that is set aside specifically for usage by your video card or onboard video (this doesn't take any away from your RAM or hard drive). It functions much like RAM. Finally, RAM acts as a scratchpad for your computer, keeping track of everything that's not "finalized" or saved on your hard drive (everything in RAM, by the way, is lost when your computer is turned off). All three are seperate, distinct types of memory, but they are all measured in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes, or even terabytes! Bytes are the smallest unit of memory. Kilobytes are roughly equivalent to one thousand bytes, about enough to hold one page of typed text. Megabytes are the next biggest amount and, you guessed it, are about equal to one thousand kilobytes. Gigabytes follow in the same fashion (they hold A LOT of information), and so do terabytes. *~Trivia Warning!~*The latin rootgiga means "giant", and tera means "monster"!

So what's good for each type of memory? Ideally, the hard drive should hold the largest amount, followed by RAM and then video memory. Although these amounts constantly change (hey, having 16 MB of RAM used to be impressive), a good hard drive should hold at least 20 GB, probably a lot more if you're into photos, music, and especially videos (some models hold well past 200 GB!). RAM should be at least 1024 MB or above, and video memory varies with what you want to do. If you bought a computer to gun down and frustrate thousands across the globe while making it look like a high quality movie, 512 MB is stellar (even more is probably unnecessary, but FANTASTIC!). However, if you're just using Word, you won't need much at all.

Let's say :

1 bit=1 binary (0s and 1s) digit

1 byte=8 bit

1 kilobyte=1024 bytes

1 megabyte=1024 kilobytes (Sounds like a lot; it isn't really.)

1 gigabyte=1024 megabytes (You could say it's big)

1 terrabyte=1024 gigabytes (Humungous)

In video or tapes, an "exabyte" or "exobyte" is up to about a year straight of recording.

Hope this answers your question thoroughly, and hey, you just might have learned something!

Answer 2

The size of memory storage devices is measured with units in ascending order of size) starting from : - Bits (0 or 1 in binary coding) - Bytes (8 bits) - Kilobytes (1000 bytes) - Megabytes (1,000,000 bytes) - Gigabytes (1,000,000,000 bytes) (one billion bytes) - Terabytes (1,000,000,000,000 bytes) (one trillion bytes) - Petabytes (1,024 Terabytes) - Exhabytes (1,024 Petabytes) N.B. Note that, Petabytes and Exhabytes have not been mastered by modern technology. Or am I wrong??? Hope this helped.

Answer 3

In its most basic sense computer storage is measured in bits with each bit storing a binary number of either a 0 or a 1. This then expands to a byte which is 8 bits followed by a kilobyte(KB) which is technically 1024 bytes. Expanding from this there are megabytes(MB) which are 1024 kilobytes and gigabytes(GB) which are 1024 megabytes and are the most common size currently used in data storage.

Answer 4

We'll do this on a rounded scale, for the sake of even numbers :)

8 bits=1 byte

1,000,000 bytes=1 megabyte

1,000 megs=1 gigabyte

Modern HDD's are typically in the gigabyte storage range.

40/80/160/320 are all common storage capacities.

Answer 5

The usual measurement is the Byte, which consists of eight bits. Modern computers handle so much data, that the measurements we usually use and hear are in Kilobytes, (1024 bytes), Megabytes (1,048,576 bytes), Gigabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes), and now Terabytes (1,099,511,627,776 bytes).
Even a very small file will show in Windows Explorer as 1KB. No smaller increments are commonly used.

Answer 6

A data storage device for computerized information can be measured in several ways based on different types of attributes:

• Device/media type - Disk drive, tape, ssd, usb storage, sd card, cd, dvd, diskette, floppy disk
• Storage capacity - How many bytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes or Terabytes it can store
• Access speed - How long does it take for the data to become available
• Read/Write Speed -How long does it take to read or write the information
• Storage Media - magnetic media, optical media (read only, or rewriteable))
• Physical/Electronic Interface - SATA, PATA (aka IDE EIDE), ESDI, SCSI, USB, firwwire, etc.
• Form Factor - The size of the media device tofit into a cabinet, cage, drawer, or slot

Answer 7

Device/media type - Disk drive, tape, SSD, USB storage, Sd card, cd, DVD, diskette, floppy disk

Storage capacity - How many bytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, or Terabytes it can store

Access Speed - How long does it take for the data to become available

Read/Write Speed -How long does it take to read or write the information

Storage Media - magnetic media, optical media (read-only, or rewriteable))

Physical/Electronic Interface - SATA, PATA (aka IDE EIDE), ESDI, SCSI, USB, firewire, etc.

Form Factor - The size of the media device to fit into a cabinet, cage, drawer, or slot