Data Storage Converter

Why does your new drive look smaller than advertised?

You buy a 1 TB external drive, plug it in, and Windows shows about 931 GB. Nothing is missing: manufacturers count a kilobyte as 1,000 bytes, while Windows, like this tool, counts it as 1,024. Jood's data storage converter works between bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB and PB using binary math, the same figures your computer shows you.

How to use it

1. Enter the size, with decimals if needed.
2. Choose the unit you are converting from and the one you want.
3. Click "Start Now".

Examples worked out with the tool

• A gigabyte is 1,024 MB and a terabyte is 1,024 GB, so 2 TB is 2,048 GB.
• A drive sold as "1 TB" holds one trillion bytes; the tool converts that to 931.3226 GB, the number Windows displays.
• A "500 GB" drive shows up as 465.6613 GB on your computer.
• A 128 GB phone gives you 131,072 MB.

Strictly speaking, the binary units are called kibibyte, mebibyte and gibibyte (KiB, MiB, GiB), but most software still labels them KB, MB and GB, and so does this tool.

Megabytes or megabits?

Internet speeds are measured in bits, not bytes, written Mbps with a small b. A byte is 8 bits, so a 100 Mbps plan downloads at best about 12.5 MB per second. This tool converts bytes and their multiples only; if your figure is in bits, divide it by 8 first.

When you will need it

• Before sending an attachment: Gmail, for example, caps them at 25 MB.
• When buying a memory card or a drive, to know how much space you will really see.
• When uploading to a portal that sets a maximum file size in KB.

If your file is over the limit, compress PDF or compress image may get it under. The calculation runs on Jood's server and nothing is stored.