Web hosting space and disk storage terminology can be confusing particularly with megabytes , gigabytes and terabytes. Many customers ask us how many MB is 1 GB? Or Is 1 GB equal to 1000 or 1024 MB? 1 GB is equal to how many MB?

We will try to simplify all that jargon for you.

These days storage space is measured in gigabytes ( GB ) or terabytes ( TB ). All most all kinds of devices like PC’s, laptops, Mobile phones coming up with a few GB’s of RAM and a few TB’s of disk storage for apps, images, music and etc.

Let’s begin with storage terms and different measurements.

Bit - A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer. A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1.

Byte - one byte is a group of 8 binary digits.

Kilobyte - KB stands for Kilobyte. A kilobyte is 1024 bytes so 1KB equal to 1024 x 8 = 8192 binary digits.

Megabyte (MB) - MB stands for Megabyte. It’s a unit of computer storage. 1 MB is equal to 1024 kilobyte (KB)

Gigabyte ( GB) - 1 GB is equal to 1024 MB

Terabyte (TB) - 1 TB is equal to 1024 GB

Petabyte (PB) - 1 PB is equal to 1024 TB

Why does my hard drive report less capacity than indicated?

You may see less disk space on your computer once you connect your hard drives.

The main reason is hard drive manufacturers market drives in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity.

In decimal notation, one megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,000,000 bytes, one gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,000,000,000 bytes, and one terabyte (TB) is equal to 1,000,000,000,000 bytes.

But programs such as FDISK, system BIOS, Windows, and older versions of macOS use the binary (base 2) numbering system.

In the binary numbering system, one megabyte is equal to 1,048,576 bytes, one gigabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 bytes, and one terabyte is equal to 1,099,511,627,776 bytes.

Simply put, decimal and binary translates to the same amount of storage capacity.

Let's say you wanted to measure the distance from point A to point B. The distance from A to B is 1 kilometer or .621 miles. It is the same distance, but it is reported differently due to the measurement.

In the table below are examples of approximate numbers that the hard drive may report depends type of operating system you are using.