4 ms·

People don't use it like you say. My SSD that says "500 GB" on the label is actually only 500e9 bytes or 465 gibibytes. If I see a file size listed somewhere, I

People don't use it like you say. My SSD that says "500 GB" on the label is actually only 500e9 bytes or 465 gibibytes. If I see a file size listed somewhere, I never know which version of the unit it's using so I tend to think in terms of bytes anywhere that the difference matters.

mjevans 6y ago
The shrinkage is all just Sales and Marketing ignoring engineering sensibilities in the quest for a bigger number on the box. The underlying storage cell arrangement is still (typically) 4096 bytes in size. (or 65536 (64KB) for many embedded devices). The device probably has about 10% of it's real storage capacity dedicated to ECC and other 'administrative' uses for provisioning the user facing storage.
- exporectomy 6y ago
  It doesn't matter the reason. At the end of the day, it's used inconsistently so you can't just treat GB as meaning GiB when it's to do with computers and the units have become a confused muddle.
gorgoiler 6y ago
Context is everything and I’m fine with that. I can handle the base2 / base10 problem by using context. I don’t need a clumsy new prefix. If someone on the street asked you how much memory your computer has, how would you answer? “Seven gigs”? “Seven gibs”? “Seven gibibytes”?
- HourglassFR 6y ago
  > I can handle the base2 / base10 problem by using context. I don’t need a clumsy new prefix. I feel numbers ure a much more powerfull abstraction than any particular unit, so when there is friction like this between conventions, I prefer to favor the number. Giga is 10⁹ and Gibi is 2¹⁰⁰ whatever the actual unit behind it.
- exporectomy 6y ago
  Perhaps you have a clearer picture of when GB is a power of ten and when it's a power of 2. Now I think of it, maybe it's only hard drives that use powers of ten? Hmm, what about SD cards? Internet bandwidth? Anything that might be labeled for marketing purposes? To me it's still a blur.

mjevans 6y ago

The shrinkage is all just Sales and Marketing ignoring engineering sensibilities in the quest for a bigger number on the box. The underlying storage cell arrangement is still (typically) 4096 bytes in size. (or 65536 (64KB) for many embedded devices). The device probably has about 10% of it's real storage capacity dedicated to ECC and other 'administrative' uses for provisioning the user facing storage.

exporectomy 6y ago
It doesn't matter the reason. At the end of the day, it's used inconsistently so you can't just treat GB as meaning GiB when it's to do with computers and the units have become a confused muddle.

gorgoiler 6y ago

Context is everything and I’m fine with that. I can handle the base2 / base10 problem by using context. I don’t need a clumsy new prefix. If someone on the street asked you how much memory your computer has, how would you answer? “Seven gigs”? “Seven gibs”? “Seven gibibytes”?

HourglassFR 6y ago
> I can handle the base2 / base10 problem by using context. I don’t need a clumsy new prefix. I feel numbers ure a much more powerfull abstraction than any particular unit, so when there is friction like this between conventions, I prefer to favor the number. Giga is 10⁹ and Gibi is 2¹⁰⁰ whatever the actual unit behind it.
exporectomy 6y ago
Perhaps you have a clearer picture of when GB is a power of ten and when it's a power of 2. Now I think of it, maybe it's only hard drives that use powers of ten? Hmm, what about SD cards? Internet bandwidth? Anything that might be labeled for marketing purposes? To me it's still a blur.