Definition

gigabyte (GB)

A gigabyte (GB) is a measure of computer data storage capacity and is "roughly" a billion bytes. A gigabyte is two to the 30th power, or 1,073,741,824 in decimal notation. The term is pronounced with two hard Gs. The prefix, "giga" comes from a Greek word meaning "giant."

Also see gigabit, megabyte, terabyte, and exabyte.

Related glossary terms: hard disk, magnetoresistive head technology, RAMAC (random access method of accounting and control), Fibre Channel, memory card (flash memory card or storage card), Secure Digital card (SD card), DASD (direct access storage device), magneto-optical drive (MO), hard disk drive (HDD), storage capacity planning

This was last updated in April 2007

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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