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 ______

The capacity of a hard disk is given by:

Given:

• Total capacity $= 512\text{ GB} = 512 \times 2^{30}\text{ bytes} = 2^{39}\text{ bytes}$

• Number of surfaces $= 32 = 2^5$

• Sectors per track $= 4096 = 2^{12}$

• Bytes per sector $= 1024\text{ bytes} = 2^{10}\text{ bytes}$

Let $C$ be the number of cylinders:

Thus, the number of cylinders in the hard disk is 4096.