CompTIA Tech+ (FC0-U71)IT Concepts and TerminologyHard
A forensic investigator needs to calculate the total storage capacity of a set of hard drives. They have 4 drives, each with a raw capacity of 2 TB. What is the total raw capacity in gigabytes (GB)?
- A8000 GB
- B8192 GB
- C2000 GB
- D2048 GB
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. 8192 GB
In computing, 1 Terabyte (TB) is commonly understood as 1024 Gigabytes (GB) when referring to actual storage capacity, following the binary standard. Therefore, 2 TB = 2 * 1024 GB = 2048 GB. For 4 drives, the total capacity is 4 * 2048 GB = 8192 GB.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. This uses the decimal approximation (1 TB = 1000 GB), which is often used by manufacturers but not technically accurate for computing capacity.
- C. This is 2 TB converted using 1 TB = 1000 GB, for a single drive.
- D. This is 2 TB converted using 1 TB = 1024 GB, for a single drive.
Binary vs. Decimal Prefixes
The distinction between using powers of 2 (binary, e.g., 1KB = 1024 bytes) and powers of 10 (decimal, e.g., 1KB = 1000 bytes) for data storage units.
- Computing typically uses binary prefixes (KiB, MiB, GiB, TiB) but often labels them with decimal prefixes (KB, MB, GB, TB).
- 1 KB = 1024 bytes (binary standard, KiB).
- 1 TB = 1024 GB (binary standard, TiB).
- Storage manufacturers often use decimal prefixes (1KB = 1000 bytes) which leads to perceived discrepancies.
Memory trick: Binary's 1024, Decimal's 1000, know the difference, or your data's numb'd.