13 replies to this topic

[Legolash2o]

Ok, this is quick and simple test to see who knows this answer.

NO CHEATING!

[NIM]

Voted

[ricktendo]

IDK

[Legolash2o]

I can't believe everyone is wrong so far You won't believe me but the answer is actually 1000MB

1GB = 1000MB
1GiB = 1024MiB

Microsoft is the only company to use GiB which is why HDD appear smaller than advertised, i.e. A 500GB HDD in Windows shows as around 465GB but if you check your HDD via linux or Mac is will show 500GB.

As i said microsoft uses 1024 instead of 1000 like everyone else but confusingly they still show files/folders as GB/MB instead of the correct GiB/MiB.

500GB is around 465GiB, but Microsoft change GiB to GB which is incorrect.

[crashfly]

I can't believe everyone is wrong so far You won't believe me but the answer is actually 1000MB

It depends on who defines what the Gigabyte and Megabyte are. In basic computer science technical terms, a Gigabyte is equal to 1073741824 bytes (1024^3) or 1048576 kilobytes (1024^2) or 1024 megabytes (check google's caculation on that). So depending on what you consider is a real byte, I consider 1024 to be correct in computer science terms. Most storage companies actually have changed to the "1000" number in order to less confuse customers. Storage companies did that, even though those numbers are incorrect.

[bphlpt]

Lego, I'm afraid I'm going to agree with crashfly, that a GB = 1024 MB. His explanation is correct. I believe that storage companies switched to using the "1000" number to make the consumer think they were getting more for their money. Purely a marketing trick.

Cheers and Regards

[Legolash2o]

It depends on who defines what the Gigabyte and Megabyte are. In basic computer science technical terms, a Gigabyte is equal to 1073741824 bytes (1024^3) or 1048576 kilobytes (1024^2) or 1024 megabytes (check google's caculation on that). So depending on what you consider is a real byte, I consider 1024 to be correct in computer science terms. Most storage companies actually have changed to the "1000" number in order to less confuse customers. Storage companies did that, even though those numbers are incorrect.

1GB = 1000MB
1GiB = 1024MiB

Microsoft is the only company to use the 1024 because that's what they used before the Mebibytes and GibiBytes standard came in 1998. Yeah i've noticed google using 1024 :/

[ChiefZeke]

An extensive definition is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte

Agree or diagree as you must.

[bphlpt]

LOL I guess I'm showing my age. (I'm the same age as Bill Gates and started in computers around the same time he did, before MS existed.) Coming from the time before HDD's were available for home computers, I always measured computer related sizes in base 2, like memory is still measured. I didn't realize that they had changed the definitions, and had never even heard of either Mebibytes or GibiBytes. I guess that's the thing I was going to learn today.

Cheers and Regards

[Legolash2o]

I didn't realize that they had changed the definitions, and had never even heard of either Mebibytes or GibiBytes. I guess that's the thing I was going to learn today.

Cheers and Regards

It's alright, i didn't know until last week lol. Microsoft is the only company not using the new standard.

[crashfly]

LOL I guess I'm showing my age.

Don't feel bad about that. I learned what the "original" definition of Gigabyte was before the storage companies decided to change it. That is why I still answer 1 GB = 1024 MB. Say what you will about the storage companies that changed the definition, I will stick with what I learned.

[BeemisoP]

nice!

[crashfly]

To add further information on this discussion, most if not all of your hdd storage providers have the following note attached to the technical specifications of their hdds (this quote was from Toshiba's website):

One Gigabyte (1GB) means 10⁹ = 1,000,000,000 bytes and one Terabyte (TB) means 10¹² = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes using powers of 10. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2³⁰ = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2⁴⁰ = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary