Bits and bytes

Submitted by nick on 10 September 2009 - 7:58pm

I am getting more and more amazed that people, especially those in the computer industry and even teachers and academics, do not know the difference between Megabits (Mb) and MegaBytes (MB). I keep seeing things like "This computer has a 120Gb hard disk" when it should be 120GB. There is a big difference. If it was 120Gb, then in real terms it is only a 15GB drive. People get it sorted, Bytes is a big B, bits is a little b and Bytes is for storage and bits for transmission.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 21 September 2009 - 7:30am.

Actually there are 8 bits in

Actually there are 8 bits in a byte and either term can be used for transmission or storage. There are common uses like miles per hour for speed instead of using inches per hour (at least in the U.S.). Just use the most logical measurement where appropriate.

Submitted by nick on 5 October 2009 - 10:46pm.

I never said anything about

I never said anything about 8bits and a Byte, although you are spot on, there are 8bits in a Byte. Not sure what you are getting at there.  As for either term being used, having spent over 20 years in Engineering and Computing, almost every system, report, professional, etc. uses the measures bits for transmission speed and Bytes for storage. Okay, you do not have to use these, however, the problem I have is when so many people today simply interchange the two not knowing there is a difference.  For example, if I walk in to a shop and see a system with a hard disk with a capacity of 120Gb, do I assume they mean Gigabits or GigaBytes? Gb should be Gigabits and storage capacity, as I have already stated, is normally measured in Bytes.

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