Consider a 512 GB hard disk with 32 storage surfaces. There are 4096 sectors…
2024
Consider a 512 GB hard disk with 32 storage surfaces. There are 4096 sectors per track and each sector holds 1024 bytes of data. The number of cylinders in the hard disk is _________
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Correct answer: 4096
Key idea: convert the disk capacity to bytes and divide by the number of bytes in one cylinder (all surfaces' tracks at one cylinder).
Total disk size: 512 GB = 512 × 1024³ bytes = 549,755,813,888 bytes.
Bytes per cylinder: surfaces × sectors per track × bytes per sector = 32 × 4096 × 1024 = 134,217,728 bytes.
Number of cylinders = total bytes ÷ bytes per cylinder = 549,755,813,888 ÷ 134,217,728 = 4096.
Answer: 4096 cylinders.
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