Bytes

• (8 bits)

• bytes: A single yes/no decision (actually 0.125 bytes, but I rounded)

• byte: One character

• 10 bytes: One word (a word of language, not a computer word)

• 100 bytes: Telegram; two punched computer (Hollerith) cards

Kilobyte

• 1,024 bytes; 2¹⁰;

• approx. 1,000 or 10 ³

• 1 Kilobyte: Joke; (very) short story

• 2 Kilobytes: Typewritten page

• 10 Kilobytes: Page out of an encyclopedia

• 50 Kilobytes: Image of a document page, compressed

• 100 Kilobytes: Photograph, low-resolution

• 200 Kilobytes: Two boxes (4000) punched computer (Hollerith) cards

• 500 Kilobytes: Five boxes, one case (10,000 of punched computer (Hollerith) cards

Megabyte

• 1,048,576 bytes; 2²⁰;

• approx 1,000,000 or 10⁶

• 1 Megabyte: Small novel; 3-1/2 inch diskette

• 2 Megabytes: Photograph, high resolution

• 5 Megabytes: Complete works of Shakespeare; 30 seconds of broadcast-quality video

• 10 Megabytes: Minute of high-fidelity sound; digital chest X-ray; Box of 3-1/2 inch diskettes

• 20 Megabytes: Two boxes of 3-1/2 inch diskettes

• 50 Megabytes: Digital mammogram

• 100 Megabytes: Yard of books on a shelf; two encyclopedia volumes

• 200 Megabytes: Reel of 9-track tape; IBM 3480 cartridge tape

• 500 Megabytes: Average data content of a CD-ROM

Gigabyte

• 1,073,741,824 bytes; 2³⁰;

• approx 1,000,000,000 or 10 ⁹

• 1 Gigabyte: Paper in the bed of a pickup; symphony in high-fidelity sound; broadcast quality movie

• 2 Gigabytes: 20 yards of books on a shelf

• 5 Gigabytes: 8mm Exabyte tape

• 20 Gigabytes: Audio collection of the works of Beethoven

• 50 Gigabytes: Library floor of books on shelves

• 100 Gigabytes: Library floor of academic journals on shelves; large ID-1 digital tape

• 200 Gigabytes: 50 Exabyte tapes

Terabyte

• 1,099,511,627,776 or 2⁴⁰;

• approx. 1,000,000,000,000 or 10 ¹²

• 1 Terabyte: Automated tape robot; all the X-ray films in a large technological hospital; 50,000 trees made into paper and printed; daily rate of EOS (Earth Orbiting System) data (1998)

• 2 Terabytes: Academic research ligrary

• 10 Terabytes: Printed collection of the U. S. Library of Congress

• 50 Terabytes: Contents of a large mass storage system

• ~70 Terabytes: Total space taken up by Google Earth imagery

Petabyte

• 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes or 2⁵⁰

• approx. 1,000,000,000,000,000 or 10 ¹⁵

• 1 Petabyte: 3 years of EOS data (2001)

• 2 Petabytes: All U. S. academic research libraries

• 5-8 Petabytes: Dec '08 estimate of monthly internet traffic of the entire world

• 20 Petabytes: 1995 production of hard-disk drives

• 200 Petabytes: All printed material; 1995 production of digital magnetic tape

Exabyte

• 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes or 2⁶⁰

• approx. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10 ¹⁸

• 1 Exabyte: 50,000 years of DVD quality video

• 5 Exabytes: All words ever spoken by human beings (in text)

• 988 Exabytes: Estimated size of total digital information created/duplicated in year 2010.

Zettabyte

• 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes or 2⁷⁰

• approx. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10 ²¹

• ~2.25 Zettabytes: Amount of information that can be stored in 1 gram of DNA

• 42 Zettabytes: Storage for all human speech if digitized as 16 kHz 16-bit audio

Yottabyte

• 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes or 2⁸⁰

• approx. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10 ²⁴

• 1 Yottabyte: Higher end estimate of the total number of grains of sand on earth