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Unit of Storage

The document explains the basic units of data storage in computers, including bits, bytes, and words, and how they are used to represent and access data. It details larger units of storage such as kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes, along with their approximate and actual values. Additionally, it discusses data transfer rates measured in bits per second.

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Teacher Campbell
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26 views16 pages

Unit of Storage

The document explains the basic units of data storage in computers, including bits, bytes, and words, and how they are used to represent and access data. It details larger units of storage such as kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes, along with their approximate and actual values. Additionally, it discusses data transfer rates measured in bits per second.

Uploaded by

Teacher Campbell
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT

OF
STORAG
E
Storage devices can hold data in
two states. The technology used
to store data in memory can be
set to one of these two states at
any given time.
Electrical impulses are used to
achieve this – for example a
pulse of current can represent a
1 (one state), and no pulse can
represent a 0 (next state).
TYPES
OF
STORAGE
UNIT
A BIT
A computer stores data in
combinations of 1 and 0. Each state
is a binary digit that is usually referred
to as a bit. A bit is the smallest unit of
storage in a computer.
A BYTE
The amount of data and instructions
that can be stored in the memory of
a computer or secondary storage is
measured in bytes. A BYTE is made
up of a combination of eight bits,
and can represent one character.
A character can be a
letter, a number, a
symbol, a punctuation
mark or a blank space.
A WORD
A Word is the basic unit for
accessing computer storage. For
example, a 32-bit computer can
access 32 bits of data from the
computer storage in one
operation.
The word size is measured by the
amount of bits in the word.
Computers currently have a word size
of 32 bits and 64 bits. This means
that the computer can process four
characters (32 bits) or eight
characters (64 bits) at a time.
KiloByte,

MegaByte,

GigaByte and

TeraByte
A kiloByte is referred to as a
thousand Bytes, a MegaByte
as a million Bytes, a GigaByte
as a billion Bytes and a
TeraByte as a trillion Bytes.
The table below shows
the actual values and
conversions.
Unit Abbreviation Approximate Actual Value
Value
Bit b 0 or 1

Byte B 8 bits

KiloByte KB 1 thousand 1024 Bytes


Bytes

MegaByte MB 1 million Bytes 1024 KB =


1,048,576
Bytes
GigaBytes GB 1 billion Bytes 1024 MB =
1,073,741,824
Bytes
TeraBytes TB 1 trillion Bytes 1024 GB =
1,099,511,627,
776 Bytes
The rate at which data is transferred is
measured in bits per second (bps). For
Example, when we download a file from
the internet, we may see that the file is
transferring to our computer at the rate of
30 kbps (note the small b, represents bits).
This means that we are downloading 30
Kilobits every second from the
Internet to our computer.
Larger Units of Storage
1 byte 8 bits

1 kilobyte (K) 1024 Bytes

1 megabyte (MB) 1000 kilobytes (approximately. 1 million

bytes)

1 gigabyte (GB)1000 megabytes (approximately 1 billion bytes) 1

terabyte (TB) 1000 gigabytes (approximately 1 trillion

bytes)
Fill in the missing data
Unit Abbreviation Approximate Actual Value
Value
Bit b 0 or 1
_____________ _______________ 8 bits
____________ KB 1 thousand ____________
Bytes

_____________ MB 1 million Bytes 1024 KB =


1,048,576
Bytes
GigaBytes _______________ _______________ 1024 MB =
1,073,741,824
Bytes
TeraBytes TB _______________ 1024 GB =
1,099,511,627,
776 Bytes

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