Which of the following memory units is considered as the largest?

Appeared in: NIA - 29 January 2023

Explanation

Yottabyte (YB) is the largest unit of digital information among the given options.
A Yottabyte is equivalent to 10²⁴ bytes, or 1,000 Zettabytes.
The standard prefixes for data storage units increase in powers of 10³, and 'Yotta' is the prefix for the highest power in this list.
The correct ascending order of the given units is: Petabyte < Exabyte < Zettabyte < Yottabyte.

Option A: A Petabyte (PB) is equal to 10¹⁵ bytes. It is smaller than an Exabyte, Zettabyte, and Yottabyte.
Option B: An Exabyte (EB) is equal to 10¹⁸ bytes. While larger than a Petabyte, it is 1,000 times smaller than a Zettabyte and a million times smaller than a Yottabyte.
Option D: A Zettabyte (ZB) is equal to 10²¹ bytes. It is the second-largest unit listed but is 1,000 times smaller than a Yottabyte.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Hierarchy of digital information storage units as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
Understanding data storage units is crucial in nursing informatics for managing the vast amounts of patient data in Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
Hospital systems, especially those with Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) for medical imaging (X-rays, CT scans, MRIs), often deal with data in the Terabyte and Petabyte range.
The field of genomics and personalized medicine generates massive datasets that can quickly reach the Petabyte and Exabyte scale, requiring significant storage capacity.

How to Approach the Question

This is a factual recall question from the subject of computer awareness, which is often included in nursing entrance exams.
Identify the core of the question: it asks to find the 'largest' memory unit from the given options.
Recall the standard prefixes for units of measurement, which increase in powers of 1000 (or 10³).
Mentally arrange the given prefixes in ascending order based on their value: Peta (10¹⁵), Exa (10¹⁸), Zetta (10²¹), Yotta (10²⁴).
Select the unit corresponding to the highest power of 10, which is Yottabyte.

Concept Tested & Keywords

QIBAA8UQa3FcUNwQ9BgyTW

E6 Textbook of Biochemistry for medical StudentsDM Vasudevan Part 2 — Subpart B (pp 240-463 of 478) p. 201-203

Practise the full NIA - 29 January 2023

Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.