Disk Cluster Sizes

[Derek]

What is the most efficient disk cluster size?
Currently, my hard disk is set a 4k Cluster Size.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

4k is optimal.

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Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
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"Derek" wrote:

| What is the most efficient disk cluster size?
| Currently, my hard disk is set a 4k Cluster Size.



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[Leythos]

What is the most efficient disk cluster size?
Currently, my hard disk is set a 4k Cluster Size.

It would actually depend on the most common file size on your system.
Without knowing the size of the majority of the files it's hard to
speculate for anyone that understands disk performance.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]>

It would actually depend on the most common file size on your system.
Without knowing the size of the majority of the files it's hard to
speculate for anyone that understands disk performance.

While true, WinXP has some specific optimizations in place for 4KB
cluster sizes, so unless you're doing something unusual, 4KB is good
starting advice.

 

[Ron Martell]

What is the most efficient disk cluster size?
Currently, my hard disk is set a 4k Cluster Size.

Generally speaking, small clusters are better in terms of efficient
utilization of disk space. But with hard drive capacity becoming
cheaper than dirt these days this concern is not nearly so important
as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

A 4K cluster has some performance implications for Windows, especially
with regard to the paging file, as the Windows memory manager uses a
4K page size.

On the other hand large cluster sizes can be beneficial in reducing
fragmentation of transaction data files or other files that are
frequently updated or modified, and in providing a modest speedup in
the time it takes to load a very large file.

So you will find some users who advocate using the NTFS file system
with 4K clusters for the operating system drive/partition but using
the FAT32 file system with 32K clusters for large data files including
MP3s, BMP graphics, and video files.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
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