Assuming clusters are not used, just single blocks. Also assuming 32 bit ints for block numbers (*): that makes this line impossible levels maximum of disc indexes capacity 0 400 = 400 bytes 1 100*512 = 51,200 bytes 50.00 K 2 100*128*512 = 6,553,600 bytes 6.25 M 3 100*128*128*512 = 838,860,800 bytes 800.00 M 4 100*128*128*128*512 = 107,374,182,400 bytes 100.00 G 5 100*128*128*128*128*512 = 13,743,895,347,200 bytes 12.50 T (*) 6 100*128*128*128*128*128*512 = 1,759,218,604,441,600 bytes 1.56 P (*) 7 100*128*128*128*128*128*128*512 = 225,179,981,368,524,800 bytes 200.00 P (*) Again assuming clusters are not used, just single blocks. Using 64 bit ints for cluster numbers levels maximum of disc indexes capacity 0 400 = 400 bytes 1 50*512 = 25,600 bytes 2 50*64*512 = 1,638,400 bytes 3 50*64*64*512 = 104,857,600 bytes 4 50*64*64*64*512 = 6,710,886,400 bytes 5 50*64*64*64*64*512 = 429,496,729,600 bytes 6 50*64*64*64*64*64*512 = 27,487,790,694,400 bytes 7 50*64*64*64*64*64*64*512 = 1,759,218,604,441,600 bytes 8 50*64*64*64*64*64*64*64*512 = 112,589,990,684,262,400 bytes 9 50*64*64*64*64*64*64*64*64*512 = 7,205,759,403,792,793,600 bytes Assuming four block clusters Using 64 bit ints for cluster numbers levels maximum of disc indexes capacity 0 512*4-112 = 1,936 bytes 1 1936/8*2048 = 495,616 bytes 2 1936/8*256*2048 = 126,877,696 bytes 3 1936/8*256*256*2048 = 32,480,690,176 bytes 4 1936/8*256*256*256*2048 = 8,315,056,685,056 bytes 5 1936/8*256*256*256*256*2048 = 2,128,654,511,374,336 bytes 6 1936/8*256*256*256*256*256*2048 = 544,935,554,911,830,016 bytes