[Azazel]

I recently converted my partition to NTFS using 4K cluster size using PartitionMagic 8.0. When I looked to confirm if everything went well I saw that I had 12GB that was label unallocated bringing my formal 37GB partition down to 25GB. Why did this happen? Do I need to use a bigger cluster size? What would you recommend?

Would it be better to take that 12GB that is unallocated and make it FAT32 and use it for gaming purposes?

I'm looking for the best preformance options.

 

[johnwill]

PM doesn't change the size of the partition when you convert from FAT to NTFS, so that 12gig unused must have already been there before you started. As to the question of what to do with the space, I guess that depends on exactly how you use the system...

 

[Azazel]

fixed

Thanks, I got it all worked out now.

 

[x5dr]

to follow up for those that might be interested.....

You can add the unallocated space to another partition with a couple of clicks in Partition Magic...or resize the partitions you already have.

4kb is the default for NTFS cluster size. You can increase it to speed things up for large files but it will fragment faster.

 

[johnwill]

It's actually not a good idea to increase the cluster size of NTFS partitions over the 4k default, since that seems to screw up several defrag programs. Also, increasing the cluster size tends to minimize fragmentation not increase it, however it wastes space.

 

[x5dr]

Never heard of it screwing up defrag programs before but I could see that happening.

http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_optimization.htm

It means that the bigger the cluster size, the more disk space is wasted, however, the performance is better.

 

[johnwill]

I have a large NTFS partition (120gig) and I wanted to make it a bit faster, and the files are all pretty large (MP3 storage), so I made the clusters 8kb. Norton DeFrag and Diskeeper both choked on it, so I fired up PM and put it back to 4kb.

 

[x5dr]

Doesn't Norton choke on everything?

I was experimenting with SystemWorks on XP PRO with FAT32 and it didn't work...at least not all of the apps...kept giving some kind of NTFS error message. Personally, I don't find I need it with XP PRO.

 

[johnwill]

I don't have any issues with Norton, and I use it on all my systems. Eagle Computer had a special for $10/ea for NSW Pro 2003, a deal I couldn't pass up, so I bought a bunch of them. I have a mix of FAT32 and NTFS volumes, and it's never complained about any of them.

 

[Freak24-7]

dimensions?

Hi there!

I was just fiddling around with the NTFS cluster size for a partition with mostly extremely large files (80% of the files are CD Images of 650MB+)

I was wondering if anyone could tell me by how much the performance increases when increasing the cluster size...

I mean, this is a 60GB Maxtor HDD, 7,200rpm, ATA133.
Will I even notice the difference in access time or is it more a theoretical value?

Has anyone made any experiences in that matter? Is it worth the effort?


regards,


Freak24-7

 

[johnwill]

As I previously observed, you may run into issues with system utilities if you change the cluster size, I know Norton's defrag has a problem with 8k clusters on NTFS volumes. It's hard for me to believe it's the only one, and I believe I was told that Diskeeper also has problems with them. Since a stripped down version of Diskeeper is what Microsoft ships as the defrag for XP, you may want to think about this.