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A terabyte (derived from the prefix tera- and commonly abbreviated TB) is a measurement term for data storage capacity
Computer storage

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording medium that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time....
. The value of a terabyte based upon a decimal radix
Radix

In numeral system, the base or radix is usually the number of unique Numerical digit, including zero, that a Positional notation numeral system uses to represent numbers....
 (base 10) is defined as one trillion (short scale) byte
Byte

A byte is a basic unit of measurement of Computer storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a Byte addressing memory address space....
s, or 1000 gigabyte
Gigabyte

Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
s.

A tebibyte
Tebibyte

A tebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated TiB.The tebibyte is closely related to the terabyte, which can be either a synonym for tebibyte, or refer to 1012 bytes = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
 (TiB, binary-based terabyte, 240 bytes) is approximately equal to 1.1 (decimal-based) terabytes (1012 bytes). This difference arises from a conflict between the long-standing tradition of using binary prefix
Binary prefix

In computing, a binary prefix is a set of letters that precede a unit of measure to indicate multiplication by a power of two. In certain contexts in computing, such as computer memory sizes, units of information storage and communication traffic have traditionally been reported in multiples of powers of two....
es and base 2
Binary numeral system

The binary numeral system, or notation with a radix of 2. Owing to its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used internally by all modern computers....
 for memory sizes, and the decimal
Decimal

The decimal numeral system has 10 as its Base . It is the most widely used numeral system....
 (SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
) standard adopted widely both within and outside of the computer industry.






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A terabyte (derived from the prefix tera- and commonly abbreviated TB) is a measurement term for data storage capacity
Computer storage

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components, devices, and recording medium that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time....
. The value of a terabyte based upon a decimal radix
Radix

In numeral system, the base or radix is usually the number of unique Numerical digit, including zero, that a Positional notation numeral system uses to represent numbers....
 (base 10) is defined as one trillion (short scale) byte
Byte

A byte is a basic unit of measurement of Computer storage in computer science. In many computer architectures it is a Byte addressing memory address space....
s, or 1000 gigabyte
Gigabyte

Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
s.

A tebibyte
Tebibyte

A tebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated TiB.The tebibyte is closely related to the terabyte, which can be either a synonym for tebibyte, or refer to 1012 bytes = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
 (TiB, binary-based terabyte, 240 bytes) is approximately equal to 1.1 (decimal-based) terabytes (1012 bytes). This difference arises from a conflict between the long-standing tradition of using binary prefix
Binary prefix

In computing, a binary prefix is a set of letters that precede a unit of measure to indicate multiplication by a power of two. In certain contexts in computing, such as computer memory sizes, units of information storage and communication traffic have traditionally been reported in multiples of powers of two....
es and base 2
Binary numeral system

The binary numeral system, or notation with a radix of 2. Owing to its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used internally by all modern computers....
 for memory sizes, and the decimal
Decimal

The decimal numeral system has 10 as its Base . It is the most widely used numeral system....
 (SI
Si

Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
) standard adopted widely both within and outside of the computer industry. Standards organization
Standards organization

A standards organization, standards body, standards development organization or SDO is any entity whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise maintaining standards that address the interests of a wide base of users outside the standards develo...
s such as IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission

The International Electrotechnical Commission is a Non-profit organization, non-governmental international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies ? collectively known as "electrotechnology"....
, IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE is an international non-profit, professional body for the advancement of technology related to electricity....
 and ISO
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 recommend to use the alternative term tebibyte
Tebibyte

A tebibyte is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated TiB.The tebibyte is closely related to the terabyte, which can be either a synonym for tebibyte, or refer to 1012 bytes = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, depending on context ....
 to signify the traditional measure of 10244 bytes, or 1024 gibibytes, leading to the following definitions:

  • According to the SI
    Si

    Si, si, or SI may refer to :...
     standard usage, a terabyte (TB) contains 1,000,000,000,000 bytes = 10004 or 1012 bytes.
  • According to binary arithmetic, a terabyte contains 1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 10244 or 240 bytes.


The capacities of computer storage devices are typically advertised using their SI standard values, but the capacities reported by software operating systems uses the binary values.

An NTFS
NTFS

NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....
 formatted terabyte hard disk or partition in Windows XP
Windows XP

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptop, and media centers....
 shows 931 gigabytes of free, usable storage space (in fact, it is 931 gibibytes).

Terabytes in use

  • The U.S. Library of Congress
    Library of Congress

    The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
     Web Capture team has claimed that "as of May 2008, the Library has collected more than 82.6 terabytes of data".
  • Ancestry.com claims approximately 600 terabytes of genealogical data with the inclusion of US Census data from 1790 to 1930.
  • LaCie
    LaCie

    LaCie is a computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, and computer monitors. The company markets several lines of hard drives with a capacity of up to many terabytes of data, with a versatile choice of interfaces ....
     released the world's first 1 TB external hard drive in early 2004.
  • Hitachi
    Hitachi

    Hitachi may refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
     introduced the world's first one terabyte internal hard drive in 2007.
  • In 1993 total Internet traffic
    Internet traffic

    Internet traffic is the flow of data around the Internet. It includes web traffic, which is the amount of that data that is related to the World Wide Web, along with the traffic from other major uses of the Internet, such as electronic mail and peer-to-peer computer network....
     was around 100 terabytes for the year. , Cisco Systems
    Cisco Systems

    Cisco Systems, Inc. is a multinational corporation with more than 66,000 employees and annual revenue of United States dollar39 billion as of 2008....
     estimated Internet traffic at 160 terabytes per second (which equals about 5 Zettabyte
    Zettabyte

    A zettabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one sextillion bytes.* 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes = 10007, or 1021....
    s for the year).


See also

  • Gigabyte
    Gigabyte

    Gigabyte is an SI prefix-multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage. Since the giga- prefix means 109, gigabyte means 1,000,000,000 bytes ....
  • Petabyte
    Petabyte

    A petabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quadrillion bytes, or 1024 terabytes. It is commonly abbreviated PB....
  • Orders of magnitude (data)
    Orders of magnitude (data)

    This is a list of multiples for Computer data storage, measured in bits. This article assumes a descriptive attitude towards terminology, reflecting actual usage by the speakers of the language....