My Education.

[sire]

As a 77year old recycled teenager who is IT ignorant, could someone please tell me if I have the following correct:- 1000KB = 1MB; 1000MB = 1GB. I'm trying to work out what size I need to back up my data.
Thank you for your help

[Answerprancer]

Thats close enough - there is a slight discrepancy (eg. 1 Mb is actually 1024Kb)

[EGTB]

Basically that is correct though

1,024 Kilobytes is equal to 1 Megabyte,
1,024 megabytes is equal to 1 Gigabyte

These are generally rounded down to 1000 for conveniance

[Buenchico]

The answer to your question is both 'yes' and 'no'!

Under the SI system 'kilo' means 1000, 'mega' means 1,000,000and 'giga' means 1,000,000,000 so your statement are basically correct.

However digital technology is based upon binary number systems, resulting in the IT world using 'kilo' to mean '2 to the power 10 = 1024'. So pedantic IT specialists will point out that, strictly speaking, 1024b = 1Kb, 1024Kb = 1Mb and 1024Mb = 1Gb.

Just to add to the confusion, both numbering systems get used together. For example an 80Gb hard drive (as advertised by the manufacturer) refers to the storage space measured under the SI system. When you put it in your PC it will show up as a 74.53Gb drive because the storage space is measured under the 'IT' system!

Chris

[sire]

Thank you one & all. Just goes to show that you're never too old to learn!!!