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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
Hi,
I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#2
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
Suggest you read this:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#3
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
"Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. Poor cluster size is not a problem with fat32 partitions under 32gigs http://www.project9.com/fat32/ |
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
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#6
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
That's probably because partitioning tools do not determine the cluster
size.....formatting determines the cluster size. You can use the undocumented /Z:n switch of FORMAT to specify the cluster size. The "n" value is the number of (512 byte) sectors per cluster. To format a hard drive to use 4K clusters you would use the command: FORMAT C: /Z:8 (assuming the partition being formatted is C FDISK and other partitioning tools are used to set the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), not the cluster size. Note that Scandisk and Defrag will have problems when you use smaller than the default cluster size for a partition. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Suggest you read this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#7
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
That's probably because partitioning tools do not determine the cluster
size.....formatting determines the cluster size. You can use the undocumented /Z:n switch of FORMAT to specify the cluster size. The "n" value is the number of (512 byte) sectors per cluster. To format a hard drive to use 4K clusters you would use the command: FORMAT C: /Z:8 (assuming the partition being formatted is C FDISK and other partitioning tools are used to set the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), not the cluster size. Note that Scandisk and Defrag will have problems when you use smaller than the default cluster size for a partition. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Suggest you read this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#8
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
Doh! Thanks for the correction. Seems like something I used to know, sigh.
-- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "glee" wrote in message ... That's probably because partitioning tools do not determine the cluster size.....formatting determines the cluster size. You can use the undocumented /Z:n switch of FORMAT to specify the cluster size. The "n" value is the number of (512 byte) sectors per cluster. To format a hard drive to use 4K clusters you would use the command: FORMAT C: /Z:8 (assuming the partition being formatted is C FDISK and other partitioning tools are used to set the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), not the cluster size. Note that Scandisk and Defrag will have problems when you use smaller than the default cluster size for a partition. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Suggest you read this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#9
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
Doh! Thanks for the correction. Seems like something I used to know, sigh.
-- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "glee" wrote in message ... That's probably because partitioning tools do not determine the cluster size.....formatting determines the cluster size. You can use the undocumented /Z:n switch of FORMAT to specify the cluster size. The "n" value is the number of (512 byte) sectors per cluster. To format a hard drive to use 4K clusters you would use the command: FORMAT C: /Z:8 (assuming the partition being formatted is C FDISK and other partitioning tools are used to set the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), not the cluster size. Note that Scandisk and Defrag will have problems when you use smaller than the default cluster size for a partition. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Suggest you read this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
#10
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Formatting a 20G HDD, One Partition, With Small Size Clusters
Yep, I'm sure it is something you've known for 7 or 8 years at least.....the memory
can only retain so many things, then it starts dropping memories out your ear to make room for new ones. :-) Actually, since there is some evidence that memories may be stored in proteins, you may not have lost anything.....they are just buried somewhere around your elbow. ;-) -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Doh! Thanks for the correction. Seems like something I used to know, sigh. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "glee" wrote in message ... That's probably because partitioning tools do not determine the cluster size.....formatting determines the cluster size. You can use the undocumented /Z:n switch of FORMAT to specify the cluster size. The "n" value is the number of (512 byte) sectors per cluster. To format a hard drive to use 4K clusters you would use the command: FORMAT C: /Z:8 (assuming the partition being formatted is C FDISK and other partitioning tools are used to set the file system (FAT, FAT32, NTFS), not the cluster size. Note that Scandisk and Defrag will have problems when you use smaller than the default cluster size for a partition. -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Windows, A+ http://dts-l.net/ http://dts-l.net/goodpost.htm "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message ... Suggest you read this: http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partFAT32-c.html I don't know of any partitioning tool that lets you FORCE 4 KB clusters despite the HD size. Not saying there aren't any, but the admittedly few I've used set cluster size automatically. FDISK and BootItNG do, and Partition Magic, IIRC. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User www.grystmill.com "Brad" wrote in message ... Hi, I installed a 20G HDD in my Windows 98se computer. With one partition, I formatted it. The results is 16K byte clusters. With a FAT32 system, a 32 bit number ("index") can represent around 4.3G. This in effect should allow around 4 billion clusters maximum. The major reason for a smaller cluster size is to reduce waste of disk space. Example, if you wrote a 1K byte file to the HDD, the free space will be reduced by 16K (15K wasted). How can I format this 20G HDD in such a way to produce smaller clusters without adding partitions? Thanks in advance, Brad Before you type your password, credit card number, etc., be sure there is no active keystroke logger (spyware) in your PC. |
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