“Data Powers of Ten” in this version was written by Roy Williams of the California Institute of Technology in the mid-1990s. It is no longer available on his own site...
- Bytes (8 bits)
- 0.1 bytes: A binary decision
- 1 byte: A single character
- 10 bytes: A single word
- 100 bytes: A telegram OR A punched card
- Kilobyte (1000 bytes)
- 1 Kilobyte: A very short story
- 2 Kilobytes: A Typewritten page
- 10 Kilobytes: An encyclopaedic page OR A
deck of punched cards
- 50 Kilobytes: A compressed document image page
- 100 Kilobytes: A
low-resolution photograph
- 200 Kilobytes: A box of punched cards
- 500 Kilobytes: A very heavy box of punched cards
- Megabyte (1 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Megabyte: A small novel OR A 3.5 inch
floppy disk
- 2 Megabytes: A high resolution photograph
- 5 Megabytes: The complete works of Shakespeare OR
30 seconds of TV-quality video
- 10 Megabytes: A minute of high-fidelity sound OR
A digital chest X-ray
- 20 Megabytes: A box of floppy disks
- 50 Megabytes: A digital mammogram
- 100 Megabytes: 1 meter of shelved books OR
A two-volume encyclopaedic book
- 200 Megabytes: A reel of 9-track tape OR
An IBM 3480 cartridge tape
- 500 Megabytes: A CD-ROM OR The hard disk
of a PC [As of 2003 a PC's
hard disk is more often tens of gigabytes in size or
more.]
- Gigabyte (1 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Gigabyte: A pickup truck filled with paper OR
A symphony in high-fidelity sound OR A
movie at TV quality
- 2 Gigabytes: 20 meters of shelved books OR
A stack of 9-track tapes
- 5 Gigabytes: An 8mm Exabyte tape
- 10 Gigabytes:
- 20 Gigabytes: A good collection of the works of
Beethoven OR 5 Exabyte tapes OR A
VHS tape used for digital data
- 50 Gigabytes: A floor of books OR Hundreds
of 9-track tapes
- 100 Gigabytes: A floor of academic journals OR
A large ID-1 digital tape
- 200 Gigabytes: 50 Exabyte tapes
- Terabyte (1 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Terabyte: An automated tape robot OR All
the X-ray films in a large technological hospital
OR 50000 trees made into paper and printed
OR Daily rate of EOS data (1998)
- 2 Terabytes: An academic research library OR
A cabinet full of Exabyte tapes
- 10 Terabytes: The printed collection of the US
Library of Congress
- 50 Terabytes: The contents of a large Mass Storage
System
- Petabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 1 Petabyte: 3 years of EOS data (2001)
- 2 Petabytes: All US academic research libraries
- 20 Petabytes: Production of hard-disk drives in
1995
- 200 Petabytes: All printed material OR
Production of digital magnetic tape in 1995
- Exabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- 5 Exabytes: All words ever spoken by human
beings.
- Zettabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 bytes)
- Yottabyte (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
bytes)
