terabyte

terabyte — noun

1. A measure of digital data size used in computing, where one terabyte equals 1,09

1.名詞B2
釋義

A measure of digital data size used in computing, where one terabyte equals 1,099,511,627,776 bytes — the binary value that operating systems and software use to represent storage capacity and file sizes. This corresponds to 1024 gigabytes, with each level multiplied by 1024.

例句

Karim checked his computer and saw that his 1-terabyte drive reports 1024 gigabytes in the operating system's binary measurement.

operating system reports binary terabyte value

Raw video from Ignacio's documentary needed nearly two terabytes on the editing workstation — about 2000 gigabytes of 4K footage.

collocation: take up + [number] terabytes

同義詞
  • tebibyte

    The official IEC term for 1,024 gibibytes (2^40 bytes). Used in technical documentation to avoid ambiguity with the decimal terabyte.

文法句型

a/the terabyte of [noun]

[number] terabytes of [noun]

用法筆記

This binary definition (based on multiples of 1024) is the value used by operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux when displaying drive capacity or file sizes. Storage devices labelled with decimal terabytes will show a smaller number of binary terabytes when connected to a computer.

常見錯誤

❌I bought a 2-terabyte hard drive, so my computer shows exactly 2 terabytes of free space.
✅I bought a 2-terabyte hard drive, but my computer shows only about 1.81 terabytes of space.
💡The decimal label (2,000,000,000,000 bytes) is about 10% smaller when converted to binary terabytes.
❌A terabyte is exactly 1,000 gigabytes.
✅A terabyte in computing is 1,024 gigabytes.
💡The binary system uses multiples of 1,024, not 1,000.

2. A measure of digital storage capacity, where one terabyte is set at exactly 1,00

2.名詞B2
釋義

A measure of digital storage capacity, where one terabyte is set at exactly 1,000,000,000,000 bytes — the decimal value that hard drive, solid-state drive, and memory card manufacturers use on product packaging and in advertisements.

例句

Eli bought a 2-terabyte hard drive and expected 2,000 gigabytes of space.

product label uses decimal terabyte value

A memory card labelled '1 terabyte' gives about 931 gigabytes after formatting.

discrepancy between decimal label and actual usable space

同義詞
  • decimal terabyte

    An explicit term used in technical writing to distinguish this 10^12-byte unit from the binary terabyte (2^40 bytes).

文法句型

a/the terabyte [noun]

[number] terabyte [noun]

用法筆記

Hard drive and SSD manufacturers consistently use this decimal definition (1 TB = 1 trillion bytes) for their product labels. The difference between the decimal label and the binary reading shown by an operating system (sense 1) is roughly 9.95% — a 1 TB drive appears as about 931 GB in binary.

常見錯誤

❌A 1-terabyte external drive gives you exactly 1,000 gigabytes of usable space.
✅A 1-terabyte external drive gives you about 931 gigabytes of usable space according to your computer.
💡The operating system counts in binary gigabytes (1,024 MB per GB), while the drive label uses decimal (1,000 MB per GB).