Improving disk performance

[keith_leitch]

As for allocation units, assuming everything's going to be in the same hard drive, what I do is:
OS+Programs+Swap: 40GB, 4k cluster size
Storage (Recordings): remaining, 64k cluster size

I have many different drives. At the moment, they are all on 4K clusters; I can't get Windows to offer me anything higher. Sometime later, I may try the on-the-fly tool that RedDwarf mentioned, unless anyone knows the secret.


From what you've said here, a swap file in its own partition on a separate drive might warrant smaller clusters. There is no risk of fragmentation, as one file fills the entire partition. Does that make sense?

[ilovejedd]

If possible, dump the swap on a separate hard drive from the OS. Frankly, you can use whatever cluster size you want considering it's just for a partition dedicated to housing one giant page file. Just make sure to create the partition at the beginning of the drive where it's faster.

On my PC which has 3x750GB drives, I have the following:
Drive 1:
XP: 40GB, NTFS 4k
Raw: 40GB (was originally planning to use it for Kubuntu)
Data: NTFS 4k (generic storage)

Drive 2:
Swap: 10GB, NTFS 4k
Data: NTFS 64k (generic media storage)

Drive 3:
Data: NTFS 64k (recordings)

I used gparted to partition and format the hard drives I would be initially using. The data partitions on drive 2 and 3, I only formatted after XP was installed. I don't think you can select the cluster size during XP installation.

[keith_leitch]

I used gparted to partition and format the hard drives I would be initially using. The data partitions on drive 2 and 3, I only formatted after XP was installed. I don't think you can select the cluster size during XP installation.

True, but I can't even change allocation unit size afterward (using Windows format, only 512, 1024, 2048 and 4096 are available). You must have achieved it with GParted, is that correct? Any chance this does it "on-the-fly" (without removing data)?

I have a 6GB partition at the start of a separate drive, with a 6GB swap file in it. Cluster size is currently 4K (like everything else). The only problem I can see with it is that Windows keeps "warning" me that I am "almost out of disk space...gotta be a way to turn that off.

[ilovejedd]

True, but I can't even change allocation unit size afterward (using Windows format, only 512, 1024, 2048 and 4096 are available). You must have achieved it with GParted, is that correct? Any chance this does it "on-the-fly" (without removing data)?

Nope, gparted only uses 4k clusters. At least I haven't found any way to tweak the cluster size using it. That's the reason I just format the data partitions after Windows XP is installed. Just a thought, did you disable compression on your recording partition? Afaik, maximum cluster size you can use if you have compression enabled is 4k.

I have a 6GB partition at the start of a separate drive, with a 6GB swap file in it. Cluster size is currently 4K (like everything else). The only problem I can see with it is that Windows keeps "warning" me that I am "almost out of disk space...gotta be a way to turn that off.

Keep the swapfile at a fixed size. Also, turn off system restore on the partition.

[keith_leitch]

Afaik, maximum cluster size you can use if you have compression enabled is 4k.

I will check, but I always turn compression off, so I doubt it is on. Still only 4K clusters available on a format.

[ilovejedd]

I will check, but I always turn compression off, so I doubt it is on. Still only 4K clusters available on a format.

Just checked again. Apparently, I did it via command line after it was initially formatted using the default 4k setting (just so it'll get assigned a drive letter).

Code:

format X: /FS:NTFS /Q /A:64K

Alternate method (GUI):
Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Computer Management » Disk Management

Right click on the partition you want to format, select Format... and you should now be able to select bigger cluster sizes.

[keith_leitch]

Just checked again. Apparently, I did it via command line after it was initially formatted using the default 4k setting (just so it'll get assigned a drive letter).

Code:

format X: /FS:NTFS /Q /A:64K

Alternate method (GUI):
Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Computer Management » Disk Management

Right click on the partition you want to format, select Format... and you should now be able to select bigger cluster sizes.

OK, thanks. So I must reformat, must I? It makes sense that I would, and it's not impossible, of course, but...

[ga_mueller]

OK, thanks. So I must reformat, must I? It makes sense that I would, and it's not impossible, of course, but...

This works without reformatting... but of course, you'd have to cough up the $49.....

[keith_leitch]

Alternate method (GUI):
Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Computer Management » Disk Management

Hmm. Wish I'd noticed that yesterday. Strange that one access point would be more flexible than the other.

Oh, well...I can backup, reformat and restore sometime later. Large clusters make a lot of sense for recording video.

Does anyone else have opinions about the ideal cluster sizes for swapfile and Windows volumes?

[keith_leitch]

Also, turn off system restore on the partition.

Good idea, but it's still yelling at me. I'm going to apply this patch to turn off all such warnings:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285107