Data Storage Conversion Guide
Digital storage uses two different standards: decimal (KB, MB, GB) and binary (KiB, MiB, GiB). Understanding the difference helps when buying storage devices or understanding file sizes.
Decimal vs Binary
Decimal (SI)
Used by storage manufacturers. 1 KB = 1,000 bytes, 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes.
Binary (IEC)
Used by operating systems. 1 KiB = 1,024 bytes, 1 MiB = 1,048,576 bytes.
Why does my 1TB drive show less? Hard drive manufacturers use decimal (1 TB = 1,000 GB), but your OS uses binary. So 1 TB shows as ~931 GiB in Windows.
| Unit | Decimal | Binary |
|---|---|---|
| Kilo | 1,000 | 1,024 |
| Mega | 1,000,000 | 1,048,576 |
| Giga | 10⁹ | 2³⁰ |
| Tera | 10¹² | 2⁴⁰ |