Hi all I have just done a clean install of everything on my pc and when I
reformatted my 80 gig hd there are options for the allocation unit size, at
the moment I have it formatted with the default allocation size but would
like to know if a small size of say 512 bytes will speed things up faster
than default allocation size.

it says this when I right click and click "whats this"

Specifies the disk allocation unit size or cluster size. All file systems
used by this version of windows orginise your hard disk based on cluster
size. Which represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be
allocated to hold a file. The smaller the cluster size you use, the more
efficently your disk stores information. If no cluster size is specified
during format, windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume.

Thanks
Shaun B.

"GabrielSab" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> Hi all I have just done a clean install of everything on my pc and
> when I reformatted my 80 gig hd there are options for the
> allocation unit size, at the moment I have it formatted with the
> default allocation size but would like to know if a small size of
> say 512 bytes will speed things up faster than default allocation
> size.

>
> Specifies the disk allocation unit size or cluster size. All file
> systems used by this version of windows orginise your hard disk
> based on cluster size. Which represents the smallest amount of
> disk space that can be allocated to hold a file. The smaller the
> cluster size you use, the more efficently your disk stores
> information. If no cluster size is specified during format,
> windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume.

That's correct. If you are short on disk space, select a smaller
cluster size. Smaller cluster size uses less disk space but it's
slower. If you are not short on disk space, accept the default and
don't worry about it.

I haven't messed with cluster size in ages.

Have fun.

On 5/20/06 10:34 PM GabrielSab wrote:
> Hi all I have just done a clean install of everything on my pc and when I
> reformatted my 80 gig hd there are options for the allocation unit size, at
> the moment I have it formatted with the default allocation size but would
> like to know if a small size of say 512 bytes will speed things up faster
> than default allocation size.
>
> it says this when I right click and click "whats this"
>
> Specifies the disk allocation unit size or cluster size. All file systems
> used by this version of windows orginise your hard disk based on cluster
> size. Which represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be
> allocated to hold a file. The smaller the cluster size you use, the more
> efficently your disk stores information. If no cluster size is specified
> during format, windows picks defaults based on the size of the volume.
>
> Thanks
> Shaun B.
>
>
>
Go with the default. a cluster size of 512 bytes on an 80g drive will
be like trying to read/write through molasses in January. Overall
performance will end up in the toilet. Believe me. I tried that little
experiment when I first got Partition Magic.

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Brian M. Kochera
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