This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
A gigabyte in decimal is 1000 megabytes. A gibibyte is 1024 mebibytes. Disk vendors often print decimal. Operating systems often print binary. The converter does the arithmetic on a number you type.
The ticket should say which unit it means. A disk that looks smaller than the label is often this difference, not a failed drive. Do not format the disk to chase the label.
192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Write the number and the unit you were given.
- Convert it.
- Label the result decimal or binary.
- Do not format a disk.
- Stop.
Mistakes that outlive the command
GB vs GiB Explained goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- The units mixed in one sentence.
- A disk formatted to match a label.
- A vendor gigabyte treated as a gibibyte without saying so.
Decisions to write down
One decision for GB vs GiB Explained: The unit is named. The converted number is labeled. No disk was formatted. And the difference is explained in one sentence.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The input unit is written. The output unit is written. The number was converted. No disk was changed. And the sentence is in the ticket. If one of those fails, stop.
| Name | Factor | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| GB | 1000 | Often on a disk label |
| GiB | 1024 | Often in the operating system |
| MB | 1000 | A decimal megabyte |
| MiB | 1024 | A binary mebibyte |
# 1000 is decimal. 1024 is binary.
# Do not format a disk to match a label.Before you leave the host
GB vs GiB Explained ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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