diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index 0c9e807..a4a9a0c 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -142,8 +142,9 @@
     r->end_head = p[5];
     r->end_cylinder = p[7] | ((p[6] << 2) & 0x300);
     r->end_sector = p[6] & 0x3f;
-    r->start_sector_abs = p[8] | p[9] << 8 | p[10] << 16 | p[11] << 24;
-    r->nb_sectors_abs = p[12] | p[13] << 8 | p[14] << 16 | p[15] << 24;
+
+    r->start_sector_abs = le32_to_cpup((uint32_t *)(p +  8));
+    r->nb_sectors_abs   = le32_to_cpup((uint32_t *)(p + 12));
 }
 
 static int find_partition(BlockBackend *blk, int partition,