A "Gig"? That's like a band get together right?
I noticed in my last post I was throwing around terms like "2.5 gigs". I realize that what this means may not exactly be clear. A "Gig" is a "gigabyte", a way to measure space on your computer's hard drive.
You might also see it called a "hard disk". The hard disk is where the computer stores all of the data it's not currently using (and a bit that it is using but mostly not). Think of the Hard Drive as the file cabinet where you keep all of your papers. Better yet, think of it as your entire room, or even your whole house. Part of your house has some basic files and paperwork (emails and Word documents), part of it has the tools needed to play games perhaps, a basketball or a set of golf clubs, part of it stores utilities that help the house go, your plumbing or even just your yard rake.
The point is, the Hard Drive is where the computer stores information. This is different than Memory, the subject of a future post. Memory is what the computer is actively doing, the Hard Drive is more like a storage bin for things the computer might use.
Most basic modern computers include a hard drive with around 80 gigs or gigabytes of space. A higher end computer might go up to 120 or 150 gigs of space. Chances are if you have more than that amount of space you've specifically opted to either by adding Hard Drives or upgrading your initial purchase. Either way, you probably know about bytes and gigabytes.
Back to Gigabytes, a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes (more or less). There's an extra complicated step involving kilobytes not actually being 1000 bytes and such but for this explanation we'll neglect that small detail.
So, like I said, a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. A Megabyte is 1 million bytes. a Kilobyte is 1000 bytes, a Terrabyte is 1 Trillion bytes, a Pita byte is 1 Quadrillion bytes.
That's good enough for now. For the most part, people stick with Giga, Mega and Kilo. Anything smaller doesn't really matter, anything larger is for servers and specialized equipment.
Gigabytes really only come up for measuring hard drives as a whole or while installing large pieces of software or games.
Megabytes are really the most common form of measurement. Music files are generally 4-6 megabytes depending on the quality, digital camera photos tend to be about 1-2 megabytes unless you've got some sort of beefy SLR camera shooting in RAW format.
Kilobytes are pretty common too though with today's space and bandwidth their size is pretty negligible. Documents and emails run 50-100 kilobytes. For what it's worth though you could fit 10,000 100 kilobyte documents in 1 gigabyte. Even the most dedicated writer would have trouble filling an 80 gig drive with documents.
These measurements are generally abbreviated in a few standard ways. Gigs, Megs, Kilos (less common) are longer abbreviations. If you have a 5 meg download you're talking about 5 megabytes. Also you might see GB, MB, or KB floating around. Those stand for Gigabyte, Megabyte, and Kilobyte respectively.
Occasionally you'll see those without the "b" on the end but not often.
You might also see it called a "hard disk". The hard disk is where the computer stores all of the data it's not currently using (and a bit that it is using but mostly not). Think of the Hard Drive as the file cabinet where you keep all of your papers. Better yet, think of it as your entire room, or even your whole house. Part of your house has some basic files and paperwork (emails and Word documents), part of it has the tools needed to play games perhaps, a basketball or a set of golf clubs, part of it stores utilities that help the house go, your plumbing or even just your yard rake.
The point is, the Hard Drive is where the computer stores information. This is different than Memory, the subject of a future post. Memory is what the computer is actively doing, the Hard Drive is more like a storage bin for things the computer might use.
Most basic modern computers include a hard drive with around 80 gigs or gigabytes of space. A higher end computer might go up to 120 or 150 gigs of space. Chances are if you have more than that amount of space you've specifically opted to either by adding Hard Drives or upgrading your initial purchase. Either way, you probably know about bytes and gigabytes.
Back to Gigabytes, a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes (more or less). There's an extra complicated step involving kilobytes not actually being 1000 bytes and such but for this explanation we'll neglect that small detail.
So, like I said, a gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. A Megabyte is 1 million bytes. a Kilobyte is 1000 bytes, a Terrabyte is 1 Trillion bytes, a Pita byte is 1 Quadrillion bytes.
That's good enough for now. For the most part, people stick with Giga, Mega and Kilo. Anything smaller doesn't really matter, anything larger is for servers and specialized equipment.
Gigabytes really only come up for measuring hard drives as a whole or while installing large pieces of software or games.
Megabytes are really the most common form of measurement. Music files are generally 4-6 megabytes depending on the quality, digital camera photos tend to be about 1-2 megabytes unless you've got some sort of beefy SLR camera shooting in RAW format.
Kilobytes are pretty common too though with today's space and bandwidth their size is pretty negligible. Documents and emails run 50-100 kilobytes. For what it's worth though you could fit 10,000 100 kilobyte documents in 1 gigabyte. Even the most dedicated writer would have trouble filling an 80 gig drive with documents.
These measurements are generally abbreviated in a few standard ways. Gigs, Megs, Kilos (less common) are longer abbreviations. If you have a 5 meg download you're talking about 5 megabytes. Also you might see GB, MB, or KB floating around. Those stand for Gigabyte, Megabyte, and Kilobyte respectively.
Occasionally you'll see those without the "b" on the end but not often.
Labels: computers, gigabyte, technology, terminology, terms
posted by Josh Miller @ 12:31 PM
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