How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)

Posted in 2003

Summary

Not a technical fault: the poster wanted everyday analogies to explain gigabytes and terabytes to non-technical managers for a storage/archiving presentation. Replies supplied several: IBM's figures that 128 petabytes (4TB chunks x 32K) equals 12,800 Libraries of Congress, costs $3-4bn and would take 1,000+ years to load at 10GB/hour; Jonathan Leffler's calculation that a fast typist would need ~4 years non-stop to fill 1GB; and Colin Bull's 1MB-per-paperback, so 1GB is ~1,000 books (30 metres of shelf). Others noted falling cost per gigabyte (~$6/GB in 2003 vs ~$100 five years earlier) and scan/transfer rates as equally important points. The poster didn't report back which analogy he used.

Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.

Topics: General Discussion

Darrell Murphy — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 13:21:11 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something non-technical people can relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the suits will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy I'd appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big effect on database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell Murphy Burton Snowboards ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 5.5.2653.12"> <TITLE>How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Feel a = little guilty sending this but am at a dead end.  I'm doing a presentation to management on = storage and archiving.  I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or = Terabyte is.   Something non-technical people can relate = to.   = I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from = IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime = knowledge of 80 people.   I got something from EMC which says = a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each = instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the = suits will get that.   If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy = I'd appreciate hearing about it.  My presentation will have a big effect on = database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely = we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell = Murphy Burton = Snowboards </BODY> </HTML> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20-- ------=_NextPartTM-000-9aa57b23-718a-4db4-bb85-db042d628cc8--

↪ replying to Darrell Murphy

Sandor Szabo — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 14:04:30 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

Hi Darrell This is what we had in the presentation: (4TB chunk) x (32k chunks) = 128 pedabytes! Just how BIG is 128 pedabytes? At a load rate of 10 gigabytes an hour it would take well over a 1,000 years to fill a 128 pedabytes database. At the current price for high-end structured storage it would cost $3-4 billion to buy 128 pedabytes of storage. The US Library of Congress contains an estimated 10 terabytes of printed material. 128 pedabytes is equal to 12,800 Libraries of Congress. bye Sandor IBM Certified Professional IBM Informix Development Munich Data Managment Solutions Oskar Messter-Str. 20 D-85737 Ismaning Germany Tel +49 89 9603 3254 Fax: +49 89 9603 3200 Cell: +49 16090750915 "Darrell Murphy " <darrellm@burton. To: ids@iiug.org com> cc: Sent by: Subject: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1444] forum.subscriber@ iiug.org 27.06.2003 15:21 Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something non-technical people can relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the suits will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy I'd appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big effect on database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell Murphy Burton Snowboards ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 5.5.2653.12"> <TITLE>How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Feel a = little guilty sending this but am at a dead end.  I'm doing a presentation to management on = storage and archiving.  I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or = Terabyte is.   Something non-technical people can relate = to.   = I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from = IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime = knowledge of 80 people.   I got something from EMC which says = a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each = instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the = suits will get that.   If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy = I'd appreciate hearing about it.  My presentation will have a big effect on = database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely = we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell = Murphy Burton = Snowboards </BODY> </HTML> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20-- ------=_NextPartTM-000-9aa57b23-718a-4db4-bb85-db042d628cc8--

↪ replying to Sandor Szabo

Jonathan Leffler — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 19:07:52 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

And note that the presentation has a typo in it, faithfully reflected in Sandor's comments. They're peTabytes (PB), not peDabytes. However, that is a mind-staggeringly larger number than a gigabyte or even a terabyte. 1 GB = 1024 MB. Let's see. Say you were a speed typist - 64 words per minute and 8 bytes per word including punctuation and spacing. Hence, in a minute of typing, you could fill a half KB of data. Just one person, typing flat out (and probably at a rate three or more times the actually sustainable rate). It would take you 2048 minutes to fill a 1 MB disk file - that's over 34 hours non-stop flat-out typing. So, to fill a 1 GB disk, you'd have to do that 1024 times; that's just about 4 years continuous typing - no stops for food, sleep, life, etc. And that's just one gigabyte. Extrapolate accordingly - a thousand monkeys, or whatever you choose. -- Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@us.ibm.com) STSM, Informix Database Engineering, IBM Data Management 4100 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025 Tel: +1 650-926-6921 Tie-Line: 630-6921 "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!" |---------+----------------------------> | | "Sandor Szabo" | | | <sandor.szabo@de.| | | ibm.com> | | | Sent by: | | | forum.subscriber@| | | iiug.org | | | | | | | | | 06/27/2003 07:04 | | | AM | | | | |---------+----------------------------> >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------| | | | To: ids@iiug.org | | cc: | | Subject: Re: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1445] | | | >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------| Hi Darrell This is what we had in the presentation: (4TB chunk) x (32k chunks) = 128 pedabytes! Just how BIG is 128 pedabytes? At a load rate of 10 gigabytes an hour it would take well over a 1,000 years to fill a 128 pedabytes database. At the current price for high-end structured storage it would cost $3-4 billion to buy 128 pedabytes of storage. The US Library of Congress contains an estimated 10 terabytes of printed material. 128 pedabytes is equal to 12,800 Libraries of Congress. bye Sandor IBM Certified Professional IBM Informix Development Munich Data Managment Solutions Oskar Messter-Str. 20 D-85737 Ismaning Germany Tel +49 89 9603 3254 Fax: +49 89 9603 3200 Cell: +49 16090750915 "Darrell Murphy " <darrellm@burton. To: ids@iiug.org com> cc: Sent by: Subject: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1444] forum.subscriber@ iiug.org 27.06.2003 15:21 Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something non-technical people can relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the suits will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy I'd appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big effect on database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell Murphy Burton Snowboards ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 5.5.2653.12"> <TITLE>How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Feel a = little guilty sending this but am at a dead end.  I'm doing a presentation to management on = storage and archiving.  I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or = Terabyte is.   Something non-technical people can relate = to.   = I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from = IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime = knowledge of 80 people.   I got something from EMC which says = a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each = instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the = suits will get that.   If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy = I'd appreciate hearing about it.  My presentation will have a big effect on = database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely = we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell = Murphy Burton = Snowboards </BODY> </HTML> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20-- ------=_NextPartTM-000-9aa57b23-718a-4db4-bb85-db042d628cc8--

↪ replying to Darrell Murphy

Madison Pruet — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 20:55:36 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

Well --- I just bought a external disk drive for my laptop. 50 Gig. It cost $300.00. Sooooo I guess a Gig is down below the $10.00 range. ;-) This is down significantly from about 5 years ago with it was closer to $100 a gig. I'm being a bit silly about this, but it points out that in addition to the rapidly increasing capacity that we are attempting to develop, we need to also consider the rapidly dropping cost. M.Pruet "Darrell Murphy " <darrellm@burton. To: ids@iiug.org com> cc: Sent by: Subject: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1444] forum.subscriber@ iiug.org 06/27/2003 06:21 AM Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something non-technical people can relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the suits will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy I'd appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big effect on database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell Murphy Burton Snowboards ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 5.5.2653.12"> <TITLE>How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Feel a = little guilty sending this but am at a dead end.  I'm doing a presentation to management on = storage and archiving.  I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or = Terabyte is.   Something non-technical people can relate = to.   = I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from = IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime = knowledge of 80 people.   I got something from EMC which says = a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each = instrument individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the = suits will get that.   If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy = I'd appreciate hearing about it.  My presentation will have a big effect on = database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely = we'll succeed. Thanks, Darrell = Murphy Burton = Snowboards </BODY> </HTML> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20-- ------=_NextPartTM-000-9aa57b23-718a-4db4-bb85-db042d628cc8--

↪ replying to Darrell Murphy

Colin Bull — Mon, 30 Jun 2003 07:40:43 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

> Behalf Of Darrell Murphy wrote > > Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a > presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need > a good way to > convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something > non-technical people can > relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't > find!) something > from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal > to the lifetime > knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says > a Terabyte is > the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument > individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not > sure the suits > will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) > some analogy I'd > appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big > effect on > database operations here so the better analogy I have the > more likely we'll > succeed. > Well I always use the comparison with an A4 page or paperback page that is 2000 characters. So the average Harold Robbins book is 1MB. So a gigabyteis 1000 thickish paperbacks. Or 1250 inches ( 35 yards, 30 metres ) Colin Bull c.bull@videonetworks.com

↪ replying to Madison Pruet

Jack Parker — Mon, 30 Jun 2003 13:11:18 — source: IIUG Forums & Mailing Lists

Not to mention scan and transfer rates. cheers j. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Madison Pruet " <mpruet@us.ibm.com> To: <ids@iiug.org> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 4:55 PM Subject: Re: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1451] > > > > > Well --- I just bought a external disk drive for my laptop. 50 Gig. It > cost $300.00. Sooooo I guess a Gig is down below the $10.00 range. ;-) > > This is down significantly from about 5 years ago with it was closer to > $100 a gig. > > > I'm being a bit silly about this, but it points out that in addition to the > rapidly increasing capacity that we are attempting to develop, we need to > also consider the rapidly dropping cost. > > M.Pruet > > > > > > "Darrell Murphy " > <darrellm@burton. To: ids@iiug.org > com> cc: > Sent by: Subject: How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte) [1444] > forum.subscriber@ > iiug.org > > > 06/27/2003 06:21 > AM > > > > > > > Feel a little guilty sending this but am at a dead end. I'm doing a > presentation to management on storage and archiving. I need a good way to > convey what a Gigabyte or Terabyte is. Something non-technical people can > relate to. I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) > something > from IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) was equal to the lifetime > knowledge of 80 people. I got something from EMC which says a Terabyte is > the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each instrument > individually while playing Beethoven's 5th - close but not sure the suits > will get that. If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy > I'd > appreciate hearing about it. My presentation will have a big effect on > database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely we'll > succeed. > > Thanks, > > Darrell Murphy > Burton Snowboards > > ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20 > Content-Type: text/html; > charset="iso-8859-1" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> > <HTML> > <HEAD> > <META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = > charset=3Diso-8859-1"> > <META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = > 5.5.2653.12"> > <TITLE>How big is a Gigabyte (or Terabyte)</TITLE> > </HEAD> > <BODY> > > Feel a = > little guilty sending this but FACE=3D"Arial">am at a dead end.  SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">I'm doing a presentation to management on = > storage and archiving FACE=3D"Arial">.  I need a good way to convey what a Gigabyte or = > Terabyte is.   Something non-technical people can relate = > to.   = > I recently saw (and thought I saved, but can't find!) something from = > IBM saying a Gigabyte (or was it a Terabyte) COLOR=3D"#000000" SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial"> was equal to the lifetime = > knowledge of 80 people.   I got something from EMC which says = > a Terabyte is the amount of storage you'd need if you recorded each = > instrument individually while playing SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Beethoven's 5 COLOR=3D"#000000" SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">th COLOR=3D"#000000" SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial"> - close but not sure the = > suits will get that.   FACE=3D"Arial"> FACE=3D"Arial">If any of you have run across (or created) some analogy = > I'd appreciate hearing about it.  SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">My presentation will have a big effect on = > database operations here so the better analogy I have the more likely = > we'll succeed. > > FACE=3D"Arial">Thanks, > > Darrell = > Murphy > > Burton = > Snowboards > > </BODY> > </HTML> > ------_=_NextPart_001_01C33CAE.96B97B20-- > > ------=_NextPartTM-000-9aa57b23-718a-4db4-bb85-db042d628cc8-- > > > > > > >

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