Computer Basics

And now some bytes of info Kilo, Mega, What? With so many different file sizes, it may be hard to keep them all straight, so here is a little refresher that any computer user can always use!

So, what really are the differences in all of the sizes you see on your computer?

Kilobytes,
megabytes,
gigabytes, etc?

File sizes tend to be one of the more perplexing issues for both the fledgling and intermediate computer user. So, we've put together a breakdown of the various file size "units" you may encounter.

• Bit - The smallest unit in computing. It can have a value of 1 or 0.  You'd be hard pressed to find a file size listed in bits.
• Byte - A (still small) unit of information made up of 8 bits.
• Kilobyte(KB) - A unit of approximately 1,000 bytes (1,024 to be exact). Most download sites use kilobytes when they give file sizes.
• Megabyte (MB) - 220 bytes = 1,048,576 bytes or 1,024 kilobytes. Sometimes used to mean 1 million bytes.
• Gigabyte (GB) - Approximately 1 billion bytes (1,024 MB).  Most hard drive sizes are listed in gigabytes.

I know that even with the information above, it can still be confusing, so I thought I would compare these digital units of measure to some everyday objects. Just picture them being completely hollow so you can store information in them.

• Bit - Let's call this a regular sized marble.
• Byte - Compared to the marble, this would be a baseball.
• Kilobyte - Now we jump up to a pickup truck size.
• Megabyte - Now for the leap - this would be a medium sized sky scraper.
• Gigabyte - Take 1,024 of the medium sized sky scrapers and stick them together for this one!

OK, now for a little practical application.

•  A 3 1/2" floppy disk holds 1.44 Megabytes (1,474 KB).
• A CD Rom holds 650 to 700 Megabytes (though most programs you get don't utilize the whole amount). This would be around 450 of those 3.5 floppies.
• A 20 Gig hard drive will hold the same amount of info as 31 CD ROMs or 14,222 floppy disks.
• It takes between 7 to 10 minutes to download a one megabyte (1,024 KB) file using the average dial up Internet connection.
• A typical page of text is around 4KB.
• To see the size of a given file, just right-click it (in Explorer or My Computer) and select Properties from the resulting menu (or Alt+ double click the file).

Regards and Cheers
Amey Nevrekar
ameynevrekar@gmail.com