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Glite Dictionary
petabyte

petabyte

2 7.2
A very large unit of computer storage equal to about one thousand terabytes
  • noun
  • /ˈpɛtəˌbaɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : petabyte
  • According to the CSIRO, in the next decade, astronomers expect to be processing 10 petabytes of data every hour from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope.
  • petabytes of data
  • generate petabytes
  • more than two petabytes

We're running CentOS and it is time now to load in one petabyte of hard drives.

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Examples

  • Today, 8 percent of respondents have one petabyte of data in a single database, while 47 percent of respondents expect to have a one-petabyte database within the next five years.

    Blog text (3)

  • Astronomy is already awash with data: currently 1 PB (petabyte) of public data is electronically accessible, and this volume is growing at 0.5 PB per year.

    Academic text (2011)

  • We have more than a petabyte of data.

    2000 Mules (2022)

  • Of those with big data initiatives underway, 68 percent expect to have a one-petabyte database within five years.

    Blog text (3)

  • Over 80 petabytes of data were analyzed with Datameer in the last 10 months alone.

    Blog text (22)

  • In 2012, worldwide health care data reached 500 petabytes, and it is expected that in 2020 there will be more than 25,000 petabytes available.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Cosmos ingests or generates a couple of petabytes of data per day.

  • The yearly volume of data, real and simulated, produced by ATLAS and CMS reaches tens of petabytes.

    Academic text (2012)

  • According to DigitalGlobe CTO Walter Scott, the company's three current satellites photograph the earth's surface approximately six times a year, collecting between 2 and 3 petabytes of imagery annually.

    Blog text (13)

  • Facebook stores more than 300 petabytes of data, much of it photos and video.

Synonyms

PB
vspetabyte
  • Specialized
4 6.9

A very large amount of digital data equal to about 1,000 terabytes

is the full word form naming that large unit rather than its abbreviation

How Much

exabyte
  • Specialized
2 9.6
petabyte
  • Specialized
2 7.2
terabyte
  • Specialized
8 4.1
gigabyte
  • Specialized
13 2.7
megabyte
  • Specialized
10 3.0
kilobyte
  • Specialized
4 3.6
byte
  • Specialized
23 3.6

Surface Forms

petabyte singular
petabytes plural

Morphology

petabyte = byte (semi-transparent) = peta + byte

The formation is a regular SI-prefix + unit pattern, but the prefix 'peta-' is a technical/rare prefix unfamiliar to many B1 learners, so the meaning is only partly guessable.

Etymology

Petabyte is built from the part peta-, which comes from a Greek word for 'five' and is like the start of pentagon, and byte, meaning 'a unit of digital information'. So a petabyte is a very large amount of digital storage — about 1,000 terabytes.