Just in case anyone's searching for the reverse of this problem (as I sure did) here's what works for me:
def get_bytes(size, suffix):
size = int(float(size))
suffix = suffix.lower()
if suffix == 'kb' or suffix == 'kib':
return size << 10
elif suffix == 'mb' or suffix == 'mib':
return size << 20
elif suffix == 'gb' or suffix == 'gib':
return size << 30
return False
