512 byte clusters on C drive?

[Mike W.]

I recently upgraded from Win98SE to WindowsXP. I told the install program to
do a full install, not an upgrade install, and to format C in NTFS. I
checked this web page for information on converting my other drives to NTFS.

http://www.aumha.org/a/ntfscvt.htm

and noticed the cluster boundary issue.

I just checked my C drive and it is using 512 byte clusters. Is this a
problem?

Performance seems pretty good, but I was used to a Win98SE system that was
loaded up with a couple of years accumulation of crapola. I always say that
I'm not going to do that, but I always seem to do it anyway.

Thoughts? Advice?

TIA,

Mike W.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Mike,

I ran on 512 byte clusters once for nearly two years before a corrupt
partition caused me to trash it and rebuild with 4k clusters. Not saying
that will happen to you, just saying that you can run on 512 byte clusters
without issue (the corrupt partition was caused by a different issue).

AFAIK, the only program out there that will change the cluster size in NTFS
is Partition Magic from www.powerquest.com

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone