Units of Storage 

Units of Storage

• The term “bit” stands for Binary Digit

• A byte is made up of 8 bits 

• A nibble is half a byte, so 4 bits

• A Kibibyte (KiB) is 1024 bytes 

• A Mebibyte (MiB) is 1024^2 bytes, or 1024 KiB

• A Gibibyte (GiB) is 1024^3 bytes or 1024 MiB

• A Tebibyte(TiB) is 1024^4 bytes, or 1024 GiB

• A Pebibyte (PiB) is 1024^5 bytes or 1024 TiB

• An exbibyte (EiB) is 1024^6 bytes, or 1024 PiB

Note: KiB or MiB is not the same unit as MB or KB. A Kilobyte (KB) and subsequent units are measured in 1000^n bytes, NOT 1024.

(This error is one commonly made in the exam, so watch out!)

Hexadecimal

In many cases, hexadecimal values are used rather than binary values to store values as they are easier to read. For example, 129 will be represented as 1000001 in binary but 81 in hexadecimal. 

For example, memory dumps, RAM contents, and colour codes are represented using hexadecimal. 

Hexadecimal Colour Code format: #RRGGBB

Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses

The MAC Address uniquely identifies each device on a network. No two devices have the same MAC Address

It is usually 48 bits long

12 hexadecimal numbers are required to store the MAC Address (as each hexadecimal number can store a nibble)

They are manufactured into every device and cannot be changed 

Notes taken in the Class of Ms Amina Khalfe, Karachi Grammar School