Cluster is an computer memory unit . If you create file let's imagine 1 byte in size, a minimum of one cluster should be allocated on FAT filing system . On NTFS if file is little enough, it are often stored in MFT record itself without using additional clusters. When file grows beyond the cluster boundary, another cluster is allocated. It means the larger the cluster size, the more disc space is wasted, however, the performance is best .
So if you've got an outsizes disk drive & don't mind wasting some space, format it with a bigger cluster size to realise added performance.
The following table shows the default values that Windows NT/2000/XP uses for NTFS formatting:
Drive size
(logical volume) Cluster size Sectors
----------------------------------------------------------
512 MB or less 512 bytes 1
513 MB - 1,024 MB (1 GB) 1,024 bytes (1 KB) 2
1,025 MB - 2,048 MB (2 GB) 2,048 bytes (2 KB) 4
2,049 MB and bigger 4,096 bytes (4 KB) 8
However, once you format the partition manually, you'll specify cluster size 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB within the format panel or as a parameter to the instruction FORMAT utility.
The performance comes thew the bursts from the disk drive . by having a bigger cluster size, you effectively have a bigger chunk of knowledge sent to ram instead of having to read multiple smaller chunks of an equivalent data.
So if you've got an outsizes disk drive & don't mind wasting some space, format it with a bigger cluster size to realise added performance.
The following table shows the default values that Windows NT/2000/XP uses for NTFS formatting:
Drive size
(logical volume) Cluster size Sectors
----------------------------------------------------------
512 MB or less 512 bytes 1
513 MB - 1,024 MB (1 GB) 1,024 bytes (1 KB) 2
1,025 MB - 2,048 MB (2 GB) 2,048 bytes (2 KB) 4
2,049 MB and bigger 4,096 bytes (4 KB) 8
However, once you format the partition manually, you'll specify cluster size 512 bytes, 1 KB, 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, 64 KB within the format panel or as a parameter to the instruction FORMAT utility.
The performance comes thew the bursts from the disk drive . by having a bigger cluster size, you effectively have a bigger chunk of knowledge sent to ram instead of having to read multiple smaller chunks of an equivalent data.
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