which is better, larger, or smaller cluster size?

[DigitalFreedom]

well, i need to know, formating my computer using partitionmajic, and them installing windows on that hard drive, so now, which is better, i would think smaller is better, but that may not be the case, also i do not want something that mogh overheat the hd, or shortain its life span.

[m0fo]

depends on what type of files u'll have on your comp... if you have mainly small files, use a smaller cluster size

if you have large files, use a larger cluster size

[VII]

the size of the cluster really depends on the size of that partition, i wouldnt try to make custom size cluster settings for ntfs, or fat32... let the program do it's magic, as it states :happy:

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 larger--------------4,096 bytes (4 KB)--------8

[Steven]

the NTFS Default is 4K. Which is fine for normal usage.

Large Clusters = Faster but also = more wasted space.

[DigitalFreedom]

yeah, i play games alot, as well as store lots of large files, and small files as well, as i also have music, and am a major photoshoper

[macster]

If u have more than enough hard disk space, use a larger cluster

And if u wanna save up space, use smaller clusters

[VII]

if your going to format it ntfs -- i assume you are seeing it be you use xp pro -- here's a page for optimizing ntfs.

[BananaMan]

Large cluster sizes is useful for a swapfile partition (64k NTFS is what I have my swapfile partition running at), other than that, the default NTFS cluster size will do just fine in the performance and disk space usage stakes.