Turning Learners into Developers
First Small Storage Device
The first small storage device in computer history was the Punched Card, invented by Herman Hollerith in 1890 for U.S. Census data processing. This mechanical storage medium held about 80 characters per card, using punched holes to represent data. It marked the beginning of external data storage, leading to later innovations like magnetic tapes, hard drives, and solid-state memory.
|
Unit |
Symbol |
Size (in Bits/Bytes) |
Description / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bit |
b |
1 bit |
The smallest unit of data; represents a single binary value — 0 or 1. |
|
Nibble |
— |
4 bits |
A group of 4 bits; often used to represent a single hexadecimal digit. |
|
Byte |
B |
8 bits |
The basic unit of digital data; can store one character (e.g., a letter or number). |
|
Kilobyte |
KB |
1,024 bytes (2¹⁰) |
Used to measure small text files or simple documents. |
|
Megabyte |
MB |
1,024 KB (2²⁰ bytes) |
Commonly used for images, songs, or short videos. |
|
Gigabyte |
GB |
1,024 MB (2³⁰ bytes) |
Used for large files like HD movies, applications, or system storage. |
|
Terabyte |
TB |
1,024 GB (2⁴⁰ bytes) |
Found in modern hard drives and SSDs; used for huge data storage. |
|
Petabyte |
PB |
1,024 TB (2⁵⁰ bytes) |
Common in data centers and large-scale cloud storage systems. |
|
Exabyte |
EB |
1,024 PB (2⁶⁰ bytes) |
Used to measure global data traffic and large enterprise databases. |
|
Zettabyte |
ZB |
1,024 EB (2⁷⁰ bytes) |
Represents enormous amounts of data — used for internet-wide metrics. |
|
Yottabyte |
YB |
1,024 ZB (2⁸⁰ bytes) |
The largest officially recognized data unit — represents the scale of future global storage. |
