Gigabyte

Gigabyte (GB or GByte)

What Does Gigabyte (GB or GByte)Mean?

A gigabyte (GB or GByte) is a datameasurement unit for digital computer or media storage equal to one billion(1,000,000,000) bytes or one thousand (1,000) megabytes (MB). The unit of measurementin storage capacity that follows it is the terabyte (TB), which equals 1,000GB.

The prefix “giga” equates to 109 in theInternational System of Units (SI) and comes from the Greek word γίγας (ghìgas)which means “giant.” The term was coined by Werner Buchholz in 1956 during thedesign of the first IBM transistorized supercomputer, the 7030 Stretch.

Gigabytes are normally used for measuringstorage capacity, data transmission speed or random-access memory (RAM), withsome important differences (see the explanation below).

Some of the most common “standard” sizesexpressed in gigabytes include:

·       DVDs, which can hold 4.7 gigabytes of data

·       Single-layer Blu-rays, which can hold approximately 25 GB ofdata

·       Hard drives, which can hold several hundred GB of data (beyond1,000 GB, the size is usually measured in terabytes)

·       SSD drives, which can hold 128, 256 or 512 GB of data

·       Optic fiber bandwidth speed, which can reach up to 1 GB persecond download/upload speed

·       System and/or video RAM, which can be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 GB

A gigabyte is also known as a gig.

One bytecontains eight bits comprised of a string of 0s and 1s. These eight bits canhold 256 values, ranging from 0 to 255. Generally, a byte is the number of bitsused to encode a single text character.

According to theInternational System of Units (SI from the French: Système Internationald'Unités), the “giga” prefix refers to one billion (109 or 1,000,000,000)bytes. In computing terminology, a gigabyte might denote either a certainamount of physical memory (data storage capacity in hard drives and solid-statedrives) or data transmission speed. However, it is also used in informationtechnology to specify amounts of RAM memory, namely 10,243 bytes, leading tosome confusion

In fact, in IT and computer science, one GBequals 1,073,741,824 (10,243 or 230) bytes. In 2000, the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) incorporated the InternationalElectrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) formal approval of SI metric prefixes. Forexample, one GB is one billion bytes, and one kilobyte (KB) is one thousandbytes.

By late 1999, the IEC formally recommendedthat gibi, giga’s metric counterpart, replace the giga prefix. In the 21stcentury, the GB term is used according to the context. Most computer networkingcompanies use the SI prefix gibi for gibibyte (GiB). When referencing theamount of available RAM, the binary prefix is used. Thus, one GB equals 10,243bytes. When referencing disk storage, one GB equals approximately 109 bytes.Software and filing systems often categorize file size by using a binary and SIunit combination, such as GB or GiB.

Here are some practical examples of whatone gigabyte of data translates into:

·       Roughly 10 yards of books on a shelf

·       More than 50,000 emails (with no attachments)

·       5 hours of video chat

·       350+ minutes of YouTube videos

·       250 songs on Spotify

·       Less than 8 minutes of Ultra HD videos or 1 hour at highresolution on a streaming platform

·       10 hours of Facebook

·       Approximately 250 10-megapixel photos or 300 photos uploaded tosocial media platforms

The price per GB of storage capacity variesdepending on the manufacturer and type of storage media, but has consistentlyand significantly dropped over the years. From an average cost of $8 per GB ofHDD memory in 2000, it dropped to $0.022 in 2020. It is even moreincredibly to note how a single GB of memory was worth approximately $500,000in 1981.