title: Calculating NTFS $MFT start cluster from bytes in boot sector
body: <p>I'm wondering how windows interprets the 8 bytes that define the starting cluster for the $MFT. Convering the 8 bytes to decimal using a calculator doesn't work, luckily WinHex has a calculator which displays the correct value, though I don't know how it's calculated: </p>
  
  <p><a href="http://imgur.com/4UEZvNy" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/4UEZvNy</a></p>
  
  <p>The picture above shows WinHeX data interpreter showing the correct amount. So my question is, how does '00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00' equate to '786432'.</p>
  
  <p>I saw another user had a similar question about the number of bytes per sector, which was answered by someone that it was down to a byte being base 256. But that doesn't really help me figure it out. Any help would be really appreciated.</p>