Usb

Fightsback

grumbler wrote: »

And?
Your 256 ............

Grumbler, you're falling into a common misconception. On the basis of your logic you are saying 16 bits is only 8x that of 8 bits which is wholly incorrect, it's 256 times.

Base 2 : Base 10 : Base 16

1 = 1 = 1

11111111 = 255 = FF

11111111111111111 = 65535 =FFFF

See now ?

Remember that 8 bits represents as 256 different combinations and not only 8 combinations. If you are talking absolute bits then yes you are correct but in terms of information depth it isn't, think matrices. A byte is capable of holding 256 times more information than a single bit.

grumbler

Fightsback wrote: »

Grumbler, you're falling into a common misconception. On the basis of your logic you are saying 16 bits is only 8x that of 8 bits

Am I?
I am saying that
16bits = 2x8bits=2Bytes.

which is wholly incorrect, it's 256 times.

Base 2 : Base 10 : Base 16

1 = 1 = 1

11111111 = 255 = FF

11111111111111111 = 65535 =FFFF

See now ?

No

Remember that 8 bits represents as 256 different combinations and not only 8 combinations.

I think this is irrelevant.

Ultimately, any storage device is a set of large number of bits - elementary cells/triggers. Bits can be combined into Bytes. The difference between number of bits and Bytes in the same device is by the factor of 8, i.e. 1TB drive contains 8Tbits.

1 Byte transfered through network/internet/... is 8 bits (0/1) transferred, not 256.
1 Byte stored takes 8 bits of storage/memory.

esuhl

I think grumbler's right here.

The difference is whether you're counting the number of bits of data or the maximum number of distinct states those bits can hold collectively.

A bit of data can hold either 0 or 1. Eight bits of data (a byte) can hold 00000000 to 11111111 (base 2) or 0 to 255 (base 10).

So, a byte is 8 times the size of a bit, but can hold 2^8 (256) times the data.

I wish I could explain that better... :-/

Fightsback

Let's go back to the point which was a giga bit and giga byte,

So how many bits do we have in each ?

gigabit = 2^30

so you can make 1 gigabit word = 1,073,741,824

however with 1 gigabyte of bits I can make a much larger word:

2^38 = 274,877,906,944

Which is 256 times larger

Just depends on how you look at it.

grumbler

We look how much music/photos/videos can be stored.
It's the same amount in 1GByte and (imaginable) 8Gbit devices.

Or we can look how much time is needed to transfer 1GByte and 8Gbit.
The same.

A 8-bit device can store 8 bits or 1 Byte.
It's a different story that there are only 2 1-bit words (combinations of 0/1) and 256 1-Byte words (combinations). Nothing to do with the storage capacity.

Indeed, to store all possible 1-Byte words you need [STRIKE]256[/STRIKE]* times as big capacity as to store all possible 1-bit words. This is only because the number of combinations is bigger.
However to store a 1-Byte word you need 8 times as big capacity as to store a 1-bit word.

* In fact (256*8)/(2*1)=1024

Fightsback

grumbler wrote: »

We look how much music/photos/videos can be stored.
.

My point never was storage, it was which is the bigger number and a gigabyte is a number 256 times bigger than gigabit and in a pure mathematical sense this is correct. It depends entirely on how you organise the bits to achieve the desired outcome

grumbler

Fightsback wrote: »

My point never was storage,

What was it then?

• I used "Gb" unit incorrectly instead of "GB" when discussing the storage capacity.
• I was rightfully corrected that the difference between GB and Gb was by a factor of 8 and so was my error.
• Your (wrong) correction was that apparently it was by a factor of 256.

it was which is the bigger number and a gigabyte is a number 256 times bigger than gigabit

Gigabyte and Gigabit are units for measuring information.
Yes, they are numbers as, like any units, they show amounts.
No, 1GByte isn't 256 times bigger than 1 Gbit.

Yes, the maximum number made of 8 bits it 256 times as big as the maximum number made from 1 bit, but this is absolutely OOT.