Question

Which of the following are the best units of data on an external storage device?

• A. Bits
• B. Bytes
• C. Hertz
• D. Clock cycles

Answer 1

The correct option is B Bytes

Bytes are the best units of data on an external storage device.

A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer. A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1. Although computers usually provide instructions that can test and manipulate bits, they generally are designed to store data and execute instructions in bit multiples called bytes.

In some contexts, a byte is a word. One convention is that a byte is an 8-bit word, and a word is two bytes, and a double word (dword) is four bytes. I seem to recall the use of the term quad-word, or qword, being 8 bytes in length used in some assemblers.