this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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8 bits in a byte, networks are measured in bits.
Data is stored in bytes (as the minimum size), it's moved as a bitstream (continuous flow, without regard to individual byte boarders).
Hence storage is measured in bytes, network connections are measured in bits/second.
Are disks though?
I think the last time I saw storage measured in bits was a SNES cartridge.
I think the N64 measured cart sizes in bits too
They're not even, they're measured in bits per second. That's like saying temperature is measured in calories.
We are talking about the size of a unit of data, not how much time elapses for whatever you're talking about.
There are 8 bits in a byte, regardless if you're talking about 1Mbps or 1MB/s of transfer speed calculation.
Storage are measured in bytes because data are stored in that form, with an individual bit being meaningless but a single byte often being significant. Network throughputs are measured in bits per second because the time-density of data is the significant thing there, not the total number of bytes transmitted.
There are 8 bits in a byte and there are 9 degrees Rankine in every 5 degrees Celsius, but if I told you the temperature for tomorrow in degrees Rankine, you would still think me weird for saying it that way and you might wonder what I was hiding.
There are almost always dozens of units we could use to describe something, but it's okay to call it out when someone says something unusually as the original headline did.
I never claimed disks should be measured in bytes... And still with this per second thing which has no bearing on this. How data is stored is irrelevant to how it's measured in transit. That's kind of like saying kilometers are measured in kilometers per hour, but a drag strip is a quarter mile. So you've lost me on whatever point you're trying to make there.
The original comment in this thread was about how the article lists the capacity of this experimental disk in bits, and posited that bytes are the usual unit to use.
The next comment was about how networks are measured in bits.
So my replies since then have been about two points, first that bits are still inappropriate to use here even if networks use them, and second that networks use bits per second, which is a different unit than bits.
It's more like saying speed is measured in kilometers per hour rather than kilometers (point 2) while also saying that the country we're talking about measures distance in miles usually (point 1).