▷ What is an exabyte

Exabyte is a term that is becoming more common, and it will be even more so as the years go by, and the files that we keep on our PCs get bigger and bigger. We explain that it is an exabyte and everything or what you need to know.

We explain what the exabyte is and everything you need to know about this important unit of information.

An exabyte (EB) is a unit of digital information storage that is used to indicate the size of data. Exabyte is equivalent to 1 billion gigabytes (GB), 1, 000 petabytes (PB), or 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 bytes (B). As you all know, the byte is equivalent to 8 bits. As for the bit, it is the minimum unit of information, and corresponds to a 1 or a 0 in the binary language.

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The prefix "exa" is part of the International System of Units (SI) and means 1018 units. Hard drive manufacturers label their products in SI units, which can be confusing to some people. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recommend using the exbibyte unit (EiB), which means 260 bytes and is more accurate for byte measurement.

Two interpretations can be made using the two standards:

• Using SI, one exabyte is equivalent to 1, 000 petabytes or 1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 bytes. Using traditional binary measurement, one exabyte is equivalent to 1, 152, 921, 504, 606, 846, 976 bytes, that is, 260 bytes, also equivalent to 1 exbibyte.

Currently the exabyte is at the top of the information measurement scale, although units such as the terabyte or the petabyte have previously been, so it is only a matter of time that the exabyte ends up needing a new measurement of the information.