Subject: From a Byte to Yottabyte
Date: Tue Jun 13 18:17:00 1995

Patrick,

Here's an interesting chart for your readers.

Source: http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/~roy/dataquan/

Data Powers of Ten

The following list is a collection of estimates of the quantities of
data contained by the various media.  Each is rounded to be a power of
10 times 1, 2 or 5. Most of the links are to small images. Suggestions
and contributions are welcomed, especially picture files or pointers
to pictures, and disagreements are accepted at roy@caltech.edu.

The numbers quoted are approximate. In fact a kilobyte is 1024 bytes
not 1000 bytes but this fact does not keep me awake at night.

The etymology of these words used for very large numbers 
is explained here. 

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 encyclopedic 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
                      encyclopedic 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

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 50,000 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
      200 Petabytes : All printed material
      500 Petabytes : All online data by the year 2000

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)