NTFS Cluster size

[WMB]

Hello,

Windows XP SP3, NTFS File system on C: drive.

How can I determine the cluster size of the NTFS file system on my computer?
This request is based upon this information: "Make sure the partitions are
aligned to 4K boundaries or else you may
end up with 512 bytes clusters".

Thanks In Advance

 

[John John (MVP)]

At a command prompt issue the following command:

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo c:

John

 

[WMB]

I ran the command and got this extract:
Bytes Per Sector - 512

Bytes Per Cluster - 4096

Bytes Per File Record Segment - 1024

Is there a way to get back to the ideal, with a drive already comverted to
NTFS, of a partition "aligned to 4K boundaries"?

Without losing all data/info on the drive?

Or would you have to start from scratch and redue the entire drive?

 

[Gerry]

WMB

In add ition to John's suggestion you can also see the cluster size in
The Disk Defragmenter Report produced if you select Analyse.

There is a reference to the problem you are asking about in this link:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm

Have you converted successfully, got a 512 bytes cluster or did you stay
with FAT32?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Olórin]

I ran the command and got this extract:
Bytes Per Sector - 512

Bytes Per Cluster - 4096

Bytes Per File Record Segment - 1024

Is there a way to get back to the ideal, with a drive already comverted to
NTFS, of a partition "aligned to 4K boundaries"?

Without losing all data/info on the drive?

Or would you have to start from scratch and redue the entire drive?

"Bytes Per Cluster - 4096", so what's the problem?

Your clusters are 4kb in size (4096 bytes / 1024 = 4kb) , not the 512 byte
size that you don't want... I'd study the article Gerry provided a link to.

 

[John John (MVP)]

Everything there is fine.

I ran the command and got this extract:
Bytes Per Sector - 512

Almost all modern hard drives have 512 byte sectors. That is now
starting to change, to produce drives of ever increasing size and
capabilities drive manufacturer will soon ship drives with larger sector
sizes. To use these hard drives with their larger native sector size
you will need newer operating systems like Vista or you will need to use
them in an emulation mode where older operating systems will be unaware
of the larger sector size, the emulator will present the drive as having
512 byte sectors and it will then look after the translation to the
larger sectors.

Bytes Per Cluster - 4096

Your clusters are 4K, that is the default NTFS cluster size.

Bytes Per File Record Segment - 1024

That is the file record size in the MFT, every file has a file record,
this record holds information about the files on disk.

Is there a way to get back to the ideal, with a drive already comverted to
NTFS, of a partition "aligned to 4K boundaries"?

It's already aligned properly, your clusters are the proper default
size, there is no need to do anything else.

John