Re: GB vs. MB

Stephen Costaras (stevecs@chaven.com)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 07:56:37 -0600 (CST)

> koenig@tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de (Harald Koenig) writes:
> > I like the disk size message in sd.c but since 1MB == 1024*1024 ==
> > 2^20,
>
> It isn't as simple as that.
>
> 1MB of RAM is, indeed, equal to 1024*1024 bytes.
> But 1.44MB floppy has 1.44*1000*1024 bytes.
> With hard disks, your mileage may vary.

I think you are taking this from the wrong end. Just because
a floppy manufacturer 'says' it is 1.44MB does not actually mean
that it "IS" 1.44MB. As per definitions:

8bits=1Byte
1024Bytes=1KByte
1024KBytes=1MByte
1024MBytes=1GByte
1024GBytes=1TByte
et al.

So you just have to divide it out. If your floppy disk says it has only say
1474560bytes available the disk is actually a 1.40MB floppy. NOT a 1.44MB.

Stephen