A disk is further divided by sectors, which are similar in shape to pie slices. The figure below provides a simple representation of tracks and sectors.

Double-sided, double-density diskettes have either 40 or 80 tracks on each side, and double-sided, high-density diskettes have 80 tracks on each side. Diskettes can have 8,9,15, or 18 sectors per track.

A hard disk consists of two or more platters stacked on top of one another and thus has four or more sides. In addition, a hard disk has many more tracks per side than a diskette, but the number of tracks depends on the capacity of the hard disk. The number of sectors depends on the type of hard disk.

Using Your Computer

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