1GB = 1024MB

[Vezzeract]

These people on a skype chat are being a bit dumb but it may be me.

 

For RAM: 1GB is 1024MB

For Storage: 1GB is 1024MB

 

But these friends say that...

 

For RAM: 1GB is 1024MB?

For Storage: 1GB is 1000 MB?

[Vezzeract]

Just now, DEcobra11 said:

Well, it's messed up.

But generally it's USED like this:

everything= 2¹⁰ multiples (1024)

HDD manufacturers: 10³ multiples (1000)

 

That's what happens when people decide to use prefixes as they want

 

 

So I am the idiot in the scenario?... That is a weird standard to measure and now I feel triggered... What Have I done....

[Mathew S. Wall]

Hey Vezzeract

 

It's both - depending on who you ask.

In computers, everything is stored in binary (base 2). This makes it convenient to use powers of 2 to express sizes and memory addresses. 1024 is 2^10, the power of 2 which is closest to 1000. So computer engineers used the term gigabyte to denote 1024 megabytes (as well as megabyte for 1024 kilobytes and kilobyte for 1024 bytes), because it was more convenient. Technically speaking it was incorrect, since kilo means 1000 and not 1024.

However, disk drive manufacturers chose to use the "standard" meaning of giga/mega/kilo, which means one gigabyte of hard drive space is 1000³ bytes and not 1024³.

In order to solve this confusion, the International Electrotechnical Commission decided that the base 2 terms would be renamed to "kibibyte", "mebibyte", "gibibyte" etc., however these terms have no completely caught on.

[Oshino Shinobu]

It depends on the units used. 

There are 1000 Megabytes in a Gigabyte. (base10)

There are 1024 Mebibytes in a Gibibyte. (base2)

 

EDIT: The statement "There are 1024MB in 1GB" is wrong, regardless of if it's memory or storage. MB and GB are Megabyte and Gigabyte, which are in the decimal base 10 system. If it were "There are 1024MiB in 1GiB", that would be correct. 

 

Typically, storage is quoted in base 10, but RAM is often quoted in base 2. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

5 minutes ago, DEcobra11 said:

Don't worry, as I said, it's messed up. Look up all windows up to at least 7 for example, if you plug a 1 TB drive for example it'll show as 931 GB, but only because manufacturers use decimal base (So it'd be 1 000 000 000 000 bytes aprox.)

 

Personally I use the rule in my first comment, but if you wanna dig up stuff, search the mebibyte for example and let the chaos between your friends begin

Still don't get why OS makers don't just use a simple conversion from GiB to GB so it's actually displayed properly and avoids unnecessary confusion. 

[Sakkura]

19 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

EDIT: The statement "There are 1024MB in 1GB" is wrong, regardless of if it's memory or storage. MB and GB are Megabyte and Gigabyte, which are in the decimal base 10 system. If it were "There are 1024MiB in 1GiB", that would be correct. 

 

Typically, storage is quoted in base 10, but RAM is often quoted in base 2. 

That's a later change that not everyone has accepted.

 

Windows uses the binary units when handling storage. That's why a 1TB HDD shows up with 931GB of space in Windows.

[Oshino Shinobu]

8 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

That's a later change that not everyone has accepted.

 

Windows uses the binary units when handling storage. That's why a 1TB HDD shows up with 931GB of space in Windows.

It uses binary units, but not binary acronyms/abbreviations like they probably should. That's the reason people get confused.

Then again, most people don't need to know about Mebibytes and Gibibytes, or the differentiation between GB and GiB. Changing it now would lead to even more confusion. A simple conversion from binary to decimal would be the best solution for Windows. Then people don't think their drive is smaller than advertised because of difference in units used. 

[Sakkura]

2 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

It uses binary units, but not binary acronyms/abbreviations like they probably should. That's the reason people get confused.

Then again, most people don't need to know about Mebibytes and Gibibytes, or the differentiation between GB and GiB. Changing it now would lead to even more confusion. A simple conversion from binary to decimal would be the best solution for Windows. Then people don't think their drive is smaller than advertised because of difference in units used. 

Windows just uses the same terminology and abbreviations it's always used, since long before this "gibibyte" thing was introduced.

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, Sakkura said:

Windows just uses the same terminology and abbreviations it's always used, since long before this "gibibyte" thing was introduced.

True, but it still leads to confusion. I see a lot of people say that drives show up "smaller" because of manufacturing tolerances.