The data transfer rate represents the amount of information that can be transferred in a given time interval. If you are downloading content from the web or copying data from one system to another, you may need to find out the current data transfer rate. Start by converting the units of measurement so that the file size and transfer speed are expressed in bits or bytes, but respecting the same size (kilo, mega, giga or tera). At this point insert the known values into the equation "V = D ÷ T", where "D" represents the amount of data to be transferred and "T" the time interval required, then solve the equation based on a "V" representing the data transfer rate. You can also work out the amount of data to transfer or the time required to make the transfer, if you know the speed at which the data travels and one of the other two variables involved.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Converting the Units of Measure
Step 1. Find the unit of measurement used to express the size of the file to be transferred
The size of a file can be expressed in bits (b), bytes (B), kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), or terabytes (TB).
Pay attention to the letters of the unit of measure, as they are case-sensitive. For example, bits are indicated by a lowercase letter "b", while bytes are indicated by an uppercase letter "B"
Step 2. Make a note of the unit of measurement in which you will need to indicate the data transfer rate
For example, it could be expressed in bits per second (bps), bytes per second (B / s), kilobytes per second (KB / s), megabytes per second (MB / s), or gigabytes per second (GB / s).
Step 3. Convert the units of measurement to bits or bytes making sure they refer to the same size
Before you can perform the calculations and solve the initial equation, you must be sure that the size of the data to be transferred and the speed of the connection are expressed in the same unit of measurement. For now, you don't have to worry about the unit of measurement used for time.
- 8 bit (b) = 1 byte (B). To convert the bits into bytes, just divide the given value by 8, while to convert the bytes into bits you need to multiply the given value by the same conversion coefficient.
- 1,024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (KB). To convert bytes into kilobytes, divide the given value by 1.024, while to perform the inverse conversion, from kilobytes to bytes, multiply the given value by 1.024.
- 1,024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte (MB). To convert kilobytes into megabytes, divide the given value by 1.024 while to perform the inverse conversion, from megabytes to kilobytes, multiply the given value by 1.024.
- 1,024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (GB). To convert megabytes into gigabytes it is necessary to divide the given value by 1,024 while to perform the inverse conversion, from gigabyte to megabyte, it is necessary to multiply the given value by 1,024.
- 1,024 gigabytes = 1 terabyte (TB). To convert gigabytes into terabytes it is necessary to divide the given value by 1,024 while to perform the inverse conversion, from terabyte to gigabyte, it is necessary to multiply the given value by 1,024.
Step 4. Convert the time unit if needed
As you well know, 1 minute is made up of 60 seconds and 1 hour of 60 minutes, so to convert seconds into minutes you need to divide the given value by 60, as well as to convert minutes into hours. To perform the inverse conversion, from hours to minutes or from minutes to seconds, you need to multiply the given value by 60.
- To convert seconds into hours directly, divide the given value by 3.600 (i.e. 60 x 60). To go directly from hours to seconds it is necessary to multiply the given value by 3.600.
- In general, the speed refers to seconds. If the number of seconds is very large, as is the case with a large file, you can convert them to minutes or hours.
Part 2 of 2: Calculating the Transfer Rate, Time and Amount of Data
Step 1. Calculate the data transfer rate by dividing the amount of information to be transferred by the time it takes to perform the transfer
Substitute the amount of data (D) and the time required for the transfer (T) into the starting equation "V = D ÷ T" to find the data transfer rate.
For example, assume you need to calculate the speed required to transfer 25MB of data in 2 minutes. Start by converting 2 minutes into seconds by multiplying them by 60, obtaining 120. At this point the initial equation will have assumed the following aspect V = 25 MB ÷ 120 seconds. By performing the calculations, you will get 25 ÷ 120 = 0, 208. In this case the data transfer rate is equal to 0, 208 MB / s. If you want to report the transfer rate in kilobytes per second, multiply the resulting value, 0, 208, by 1,024, to get 0, 208 x 1,024 = 212.9. The transfer rate is 212.9 KB / s
Step 2. If you want to calculate the amount of time it takes to transfer data, you will need to divide the amount of information by the transfer rate
In this case you will have to solve the following equation "T = D ÷ V" by entering the amount of data to be transferred (D) and the transfer speed (V).
- For example, assume you need to calculate the time it takes to transfer 134GB at a speed of 7MB / s. Start by converting GB to MB, so you can work with the same units of measure in both sides of the equation. Performing the conversion you will get 134 x 1.024 = 137.217. At this point you will need to calculate how long it will take to transfer 137,217MB at a speed of 7MB / s. Solve the equation given by "T" by dividing 137,217 by 7, resulting in 19,602. To carry out this data transfer, it takes 19,602 seconds. To convert seconds to hours, divide the seconds value by 3,600 to get 5.445. In other words, you'll need 5.445 hours to transfer 134GB at 7MB / s.
- If you want to express the decimal part of the hours in minutes, so that the result is more readable and better interpretable, start by separating the integer part from the decimal part: 5 and 0, 445 hours. To convert 0.445 hours to minutes, multiply the value by 60 to get 0.445 x 60 = 26.7 minutes. To convert the decimal part of minutes to seconds, multiply it by 60 to get 0.7 x 60 = 42 seconds. To perform the data transfer under consideration, it will take exactly 5 hours, 26 minutes and 42 seconds.
Step 3. If you want to calculate the amount of data transferred, you need to multiply the data rate by the time it takes to complete the transfer
In this case you will need to use the following equation "D = T x V", where "D" represents the amount of data transferred, "T" is the time taken to complete the transfer and "V" is the data transmission rate.
