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Re: 180gb Drive Format ?


  • To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
  • Subject: Re: 180gb Drive Format ?
  • From: "Patrick Lidstone" <patrick@xxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 20:30:19 -0000
  • Mailing-list: list ukha_d@xxxxxxx; contact ukha_d-owner@xxxxxxx
  • Reply-to: ukha_d@xxxxxxx

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "mark_harrison_uk2" <mph@a...>
wrote:
> > so 180gb is not 180gb it is 171'ish gb
>
> "In the old days" (TM), manufacturers used to use the
terminology
gb
> to refer to a decimal gigabyte, and Gb to refer to a binary
gigabyte.
> (Note the capitalisation of the letter G)
>
> So 180gb = 170Gb was a true statement.
>
> > surely this cannot be right ?
> > how are the hard drive manufacturers getting
> > away with this
>
> By being legally correct!
>
> The prefix giga has an internationally understood meaning, defined
by
> SI, which uses a decimal base.
>
> This meaning is used for pretty much everything outside of IT, and
> predates the invention of the microprocessor by some time.
>
> A better question would be "how does the IT industry get away
with
> using technical terms incorrectly and just assume that it can make
> giga mean 2 to the power of something".

IIRC, the capacity of a 1.44MB floppy is also expressed in decimal
MB...

Patrick



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