I have always found the following way of thinking about powers of two to be
useful.  If you know about multiplying and dividing by adding and
subtracting exponents, then you may find it useful, too.

k = 2 ^^ 10 (2 to the 10th power)
m = k * k = 2 ^^ 20
g = k * m = 2 ^^ 30

sector = 256 b = 2 ^^ 8 b

1 gb = 2 ^^ 30 b * ( 1 sector / 2 ^^ 8 b) = 2 ^^ 22 sectors
= 2 ^^ 2 * 2 ^^ 20 sectors = 4m sectors.

In the above I multiplied 1 gb by (1 sector / 2 ^^ 8 bytes), since the latter
is just one.  I was also able to cancel out bytes (b) in the numerator and
denominator.

No calculator needed.  After a while, no paper and pencil needed.

Jim





> Date:          Thu, 20 Aug 1998 12:40:00 -0500
> Reply-to:      Tony Cousins <[log in to unmask]>
> From:          Tony Cousins <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:       Re: SECTORS/GIG
> To:            [log in to unmask]

>                 Using the output from discfree a '4 gigabyte' disc has
> 16,776,624 sectors. Using 256 bytes to a sector this gives 4,294,815,744
> bytes. So I guess that means 4,194,156 sectors to 1 gigabyte - unless
> someone has a more accurate figure.
>
>                 Tony Cousins - Director of IS - Optek Technology, Inc
>
>
>                                 -----Original Message-----
>                                 From:   Mike Bundy [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>                                 Sent:   Thursday, August 20, 1998 11:52 AM
>                                 To:     [log in to unmask]
>                                 Subject:        SECTORS/GIG
>
>                         I have a simple question, I'm almost embarrassed to
> ask it.  How many sectors of disk space equals one gigabyte ?
>
>

Jim Kramer /Lund Performance Solutions
Director of Research and Development
phone: (541) 926-3800  fax:   (541) 926-7723
email: [log in to unmask]    home:  [log in to unmask]
http://www.lund.com