Terabyte

A terabyte (derived from the binary prefix tera-) is a measurement term for data storage capacity equal to 1024 gigabytes. Another way to look at it is approximately one trillion (short scale) bytes. It is commonly abbreviated TB.

The exact number of bytes in a terabyte often varies in common usage originating from a discrepancy between the binary prefix used in computers and SI. The following is the number of bytes in a terabyte according to the binary prefix:

1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 1024⁴ or 2⁴⁰. (This capacity may be expressed unambiguously as a tebibyte.)

This is the system traditionally used in computer science. However, because of confusion stemming from the apparent discrepancy between the SI and the lesser-known binary prefix, modern day common usage often denotes the following number of bytes in a terabyte as follows:

1,000,000,000,000 bytes = 1000⁴ or 10¹².

The prefix "tera" originates from the Greek word teras meaning 'monster'.

Terabytes in use

The U.S. Library of Congress has claimed it contains approximately 20 terabytes of text.
The shipping company UPS has approximately 474 terabytes of information in its databases.
18 minutes of uncompressed Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV) consumes 3.5 terabytes of data.
A Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) can hold up to 3.9 terabytes
Personal computers and related devices such as TiVos containing a terabyte or more of storage space have recently become practical using combinations of high-capacity mass-market hard drives. As of June 2006, common commercial hard drives were up to 750 gigabytes in size, so storage capacity totalling 1.5 terabytes can be reached using as few as 2 hard disks, at a street cost of as little as USD $450, down from over USD $1000 in 2003. (source: www.newegg.com)
Rapidshare has over 360 terabytes of space used for hosting files.
Ancestry.com now claims 600 terabytes of genealogical data with the inclusion of US Census data from 1790 to 1930.

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Terabytes in use

See also