Change cluster size of partition without losing data on other partition

[Barry OGrady]

I have a 60 gig drive as a secondary drive. My BIOS is limited to 32 gigs so I
used an overlay program to create a 2 gig FAT 32 partition for Slackware Linux.
The problem is that I made the cluster size 16 K and with so many small files the
2 gigs is not enough. Using 4 K partitions would fit all the files into less than 1.5 gigs.

So now I want to convert the 2 gig partition to 4 K clusters without losing data on the
other partition.

Can it be done and how?


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

I have a 60 gig drive as a secondary drive. My BIOS is limited to 32 gigs so I
used an overlay program to create a 2 gig FAT 32 partition for Slackware Linux.
The problem is that I made the cluster size 16 K and with so many small files the
2 gigs is not enough. Using 4 K partitions would fit all the files into less than 1.5 gigs.

So now I want to convert the 2 gig partition to 4 K clusters without losing data on the
other partition.

Can it be done and how?

Partition Magic should be able to do it. As always, BACKUP, BACKUP,
BACKUP before trying anything so drastic.

 

[Barry OGrady]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

I have a 60 gig drive as a secondary drive. My BIOS is limited to 32 gigs so I
used an overlay program to create a 2 gig FAT 32 partition for Slackware Linux.
The problem is that I made the cluster size 16 K and with so many small files the
2 gigs is not enough. Using 4 K partitions would fit all the files into less than 1.5 gigs.

So now I want to convert the 2 gig partition to 4 K clusters without losing data on the
other partition.

Can it be done and how?

Partition Magic should be able to do it. As always, BACKUP, BACKUP,
BACKUP before trying anything so drastic.

Thanks. The data in the other partition is a backup of important files.

--

-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Barry OGrady]

[This followup was posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage and a copy
was sent to the cited author.]

I have a 60 gig drive as a secondary drive. My BIOS is limited to 32 gigs so I
used an overlay program to create a 2 gig FAT 32 partition for Slackware Linux.
The problem is that I made the cluster size 16 K and with so many small files the
2 gigs is not enough. Using 4 K partitions would fit all the files into less than 1.5 gigs.

So now I want to convert the 2 gig partition to 4 K clusters without losing data on the
other partition.

Can it be done and how?

Partition Magic should be able to do it. As always, BACKUP, BACKUP,
BACKUP before trying anything so drastic.

OK. I used Partition Magic.

Thanks. The data in the other partition is a backup of important files.





-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Cetus35]

Change Increase Check Windows XP NTFS Cluster Size

Change Increase Check Windows XP NTFS Cluster Size

If you have the same situation as me and are simply trying to increase the cluster size on a Windows XP partition (up from the default of 4k), after much searching and trial and error
here is how I successfully did it:
(First back up all data or better yet use Norton Ghost 12 and back up the total partition or drive. My C: drive is around 300Gb with about 30Gb of applications, files, operating system, documents, photos, movie clips, etc. and it backs up in about 16 minutes to a USB external drive and restores completely in about 11 minutes)

Next, you will need a utility to actually increase the cluster size, such as Paragon, PartitionMagic, Acronis, etc

Here is where I had problems...every forum post recommended PartionMagic
to do this which can be accomplished by (in PartitionMagic) going to Partition>Advanced> Change cluster size
After about 2 hours it finally finished.
What resulted was an error message of "Disk read error" every time I tried to re-boot into Windows. In fact, my system was crashed. It would not boot at all. I tried FIXMBR and FIXBOOT and some other drive utility to fix it and still nothing.

I restored my drive with Norton Ghost 12 (bootable CD) as mentioned before ( I was up and ready to roll in about 11 minutes, absolutely nothing lost...except my time) and tried PartitionMagic's "Cluster resize" again. Same thing. Unbootable PC.

I happen to have a bootable CD of Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 from when I used it for something last summer. (Get the trial, if you want to try it HERE )
I booted with it, and lo and behold, it ALSO has a "Cluster resize" feature. I set my cluster size to be increased from 4k to 64k and it finished in about 3 minutes.
I thought something had to be wrong, since it finished so fast, but it booted into WinXP just fine and the cluster size was now 64k!

Couple of notes:

1) You can no longer use NTFS file compression if you raise cluster size above 4k.

2) At least 2 ways to check the cluster size used by a drive:
a) Run WinXP built-in Disk Defragmenter, select the drive, Analyze,
then View Report. (cluster size is 2nd item in top window)

b) Type chkdsk at a command prompt. For example, to see the cluster size of D:,
C:\Docume~1\Cetus>chkdsk d: (and hit the Enter key), where it
says "____ bytes in each allocation unit," that is the cluster size.

3) You can use Acronis to decrease the cluster size as well as increase it



4) This may matter a lot or not much at all, but my specs are: Windows XP installed on drive C:, which is a RAID 0 array of (2) WD Raptor 150Gb Serial ATA (SATA) drives. My drive D: is a Seagate (SATA) 7200.10 320Gb drive. My mobo is a EVGA NVIDIA 680i SLI. (I have WIndows Vista Home Premium installed on the D: drive and I dual-boot, but that has nothing to do with this "Cluster size" issue, AFAIK

 

[snodgrss1984]

how do i back up using acronis disk director suit and then change cluster size there is no user guide and by the way thank you

 

[shun]

When format a partition, you can change the cluster size, but it will cause data losing. To non-destructively change cluster size, you need third party software, for example, partition magic, partition manager, disk director, etc.
http://www.hdd-tool.com/hdd-optimise/change-cluster-size-to-better-mange-hard-drive-space.htm