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    Cluster size which & why?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Profy_X, Aug 8, 2011.

  1. Profy_X

    Profy_X Notebook Consultant

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    Can someone explain me better what's whit the cluster size i know that is the size of the files and directories from the disk and improves speed for copy/move files on the disk,but how do I know which one should I chose and how does the cluster influence my disk space? :confused:
     
    Profy_X, Aug 8, 2011
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  2. Cin'

    Cin' Anathema

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    Cin', Aug 8, 2011
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  3. Profy_X

    Profy_X Notebook Consultant

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    Ok that i already read it but i need some opinions form users who use different cluster size to see if something change if there are incompatibilities with software what is the max cluster size for NTFS partitions things like so :p
     
    Profy_X, Aug 9, 2011
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  4. Raptor88

    Raptor88 Notebook Consultant

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    I've always left it alone and never tinkered with it to be honest. Haven't ever heard anyone mentioning a benefit for changing it.
     
    Raptor88, Aug 9, 2011
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  5. jimbob83

    jimbob83 Notebook Evangelist

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    This is something that you might have messed with back in the old days when HDDs were small and operating systems had much smaller limits on HDD or partition size than they do now. Nowadays I think the vast majority of people would have no reason to change these settings.

    How does it influence your disk space? Suppose you store a lot of small files of 1kB. If your cluster size is 16kB, each of those 1kB files will occupy 16kB on disk. If your change the cluster size to 4kB, each file will only occupy 4kB and you can now store 4 times as many files.
     
    jimbob83, Aug 9, 2011
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  6. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

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    only case when you may want to change cluster size is on server setup when you know larger one has demonstratable performance gain. that is for very controlled environment where program compatiblity is known to be not an issue(i.e. all software used has been tested).
     
    chimpanzee, Aug 9, 2011
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  7. woofer00

    woofer00 Wanderer

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    On the other hand, 12.000001-15kb files are broken into 4 clusters that can be randomly dropped onto the drive. The space isn't exactly wasted when it means data is kept contiguous.
     
    woofer00, Aug 9, 2011
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