Question about cluster size...

I've recently formatted, partitioned and reinstalled my computer with XP pro sp2. A friend advised me to change the cluster size from the default (I think that was 4 K) to 512. He said the computer would be able to read faster if the cluster size was bigger.

I trust him, he does know more than me, but I still have a few questions that he couldn't answer...

If it reads faster, then why isn't that the default?

To be honest, I'm not really sure what a cluster is, I'm guessing it is a part of the hdd. So data is stored on it, and if you can fit larger files in one cluster, then I guess it is logical that it reads faster.

What is the downside? Is it so that if you have many small files they will use one cluster, and not filling it, so that you need a bigger drive?

Not the end of the world I guess, the computer works fine (not that I can see that it is any faster than it was...) but I'm just so darn curious!

 

If the cluster size is bigger, Solonger, the throughput to and from the hard drive will be faster.

The downside is that there will be more wasted space on the hard drive.

See... the cluster size is the smallest amount of disk space that can be used.
Like this: A file cannot use, say, 1/4 of a cluster. If a little bit of the cluster is
used, the whole thing is used. So, if you had many little files, the disk space that is wasted is higher.

Get it?

Like, if a file would need 5 + 1/3 clusters worth of space, then, 6 whole clusters
would be used.


Faster because the seek times are less, instead of going to many small clusters, the armature of the harddrive just hovers over fewer bigger clusters,
not having to flip about, meaning less mechanical motion.

There are other things involved, but this is all that I know about it.

 

This table from M$'s site has the cluster size info on XP.
Also another thing to consider: bigger the cluster size, bigger the fragmentation!

 

Thank you both for your replies!

Yes, it is a lot clearer now!

I don't have problems with fragmentation, at least not yet! And this baby works fine, so I won't mess any further with it!