Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
File size is a measure of how much data a computer file contains or how much storage space it is allocated. Typically, file size is expressed in units based on byte. A large value is often expressed with a metric prefix (as in megabyte and gigabyte) or a binary prefix (as in mebibyte and gibibyte). [1]
Very often, when referring to the word size of a modern computer, one is also describing the size of address space on that computer. For instance, a computer said to be "32-bit" also usually allows 32-bit memory addresses; a byte-addressable 32-bit computer can address 2 32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes of memory, or 4 gibibytes (GiB). This allows one ...
Thus, a representation that compresses the storage size of a file from 10 MB to 2 MB yields a space saving of 1 - 2/10 = 0.8, often notated as a percentage, 80%. For signals of indefinite size, such as streaming audio and video, the compression ratio is defined in terms of uncompressed and compressed data rates instead of data sizes:
On the other hand, a hard disk whose capacity is specified by the manufacturer as "10 gigabytes" or "10 GB", holds 10 × 10 9 = 10 000 000 000 bytes, or a little more than that, but less than 10 × 2 30 = 10 737 418 240 and a file whose size is listed as "2.3 GB" may have a size closer to 2.3 × 2 30 ≈ 2 470 000 000 or to 2.3 × 10 9 = 2 300 ...
In logical block addressing, only one number is used to address data, and each linear base address describes a single block. The LBA scheme replaces earlier schemes which exposed the physical details of the storage device to the software of the operating system. Chief among these was the cylinder-head-sector (CHS) scheme, where blocks were addressed by means
In this convention, one thousand and twenty-four megabytes (1024 MB) is equal to one gigabyte (1 GB), where 1 GB is 1024 3 bytes (i.e., 1 GiB). Mixed 1 MB = 1 024 000 bytes (= 1000×1024 B) is the definition used to describe the formatted capacity of the 1.44 MB 3.5-inch HD floppy disk , which actually has a capacity of 1 474 560 bytes .
For example, the first commercial hard drive, IBM's RAMAC in 1957, supplied 3.75 MB for $34,500, or $9,200 per megabyte. In 1989, a 40 MB hard drive cost $1200, or $30/MB. And in 2018, 4 Tb drives sold for $75, or 1.9¢/GB, an improvement of 1.5 million since 1989 and 520 million since the RAMAC.
The original releases of Windows XP and Windows XP SP1 used PAE mode to allow RAM to extend beyond the 4 GB address limit. However, it led to compatibility problems with 3rd party drivers which led Microsoft to remove this capability in Windows XP Service Pack 2.