When Sauron forged the ring, he left part of the power that was intrisic in him in that ring, that was what Gandalf said.
So, in a sense, as well as Morgoth gave up part of his own power to create and powering his evil creatures, Sauron did something similar with the ring.
But, he didn't do it for nothing. It wasn't that the ring + Sauron = Sauron before the ring. It was that Sauron became more powerful by wearing that ring, mostly because he could read the minds and control those who wore the other rings, including the three rings of the elves, even though he never touched them or participated in their making.
that wasn't the only power of the ring, what exactly were those power, it's not explained in LOTR. Except for the domination of other's minds, and enhancement of some senses, I don't know what was the practical effect of wearing the ring (like being stronger, creating earthquakes or stuff like that). The foundations of Barad Dur were put with the power of the ring and while the ring existed they couldn't be destroyed. When the ring was destroyed, Sauron was weakened and his spirit was sent somewhere outside Arda, but also, the destruction caused terrible earthquakes that devastated Mordor.
To answer the second question, what's preferable, to be Sauron or to wear the ring, I can give the answer Elrond gave. To control the ring it had to be someone with a great power on his own, otherwise the ring would dominate him (as it did with Gollum), but in that case, if someone like Gandalf, or Elrond, Galadriel or Aragorn wore the ring, and used it, they would become something similar to Sauron. In other word, if you wore the ring, you would be like Sauron.
[ April 29, 2002: Message edited by: Mankáno ]
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