How to reformat hdd into 64k blocks ?!?

[jimbobuk]

Right i am going to try and beat this fragmentation problem.. I want to reformat my hdd but i just dont see the options.. there is default allocation size which is currently on its maximum.. which is only 4096 bytes

Where are the options to do that huge block size.. i remember seeing it when installing the hdd.. will look in disk administrator under admin tools now..

[jimbobuk]

formatting now with 64k.. hidden within disk administrator it was

[ku71]

Don't get too excited, I doubt this will give you a measurable improvement.

[jimbobuk]

it didn't... I've hit 90% file fragmentation again within days.... not had chance to try and NOT let the hdd get too full (after all i have a hdd to put shows on it!!!! not to leave space so that it doesn't fragment)

Are those available solutions for realtime automatic defragmentation any good or is it likely to cause more problems than it fixes, or never get chance to do anything as the hdd will always be being written to whilst recording!??!?

[-LD]

diskeeper is a good program... http://consumer.execsoft.com/diskeep...eper.asp?RId=1

it's $30 for the full version which allows multiple disk defrags simultaneously as well as scheduling defrags

they used to have diskeeper lite which was free, but only could defrag 1 disk at a time and could not be scheduled

diskeeper allows you to defrag while still writing to the HDD (obviously performance slows a bit)

[jimbobuk]

Thanks LD.. i think thats one that i have seen.... do you use it to help keep your Sage partition from getting stupidly fragmented!?? is this a worthwile thing or potentially something that could start to cause more glitches in recordings by loading the CPU and harddisk?!?

[-LD]

right now i am still experimenting with SageTV so when i do defrag, it's just been manually with the built-in defragger

come to think of it...you can probably just schedule XP to auto defrag (if you have XP)

using Task Scheduler, it would be a command line something like: defrag C: -f

the -f forces it if diskspace is low

this works on 2003 which is all i have in front of me at the moment...does not work on Win2k

[ku71]

Are you sure you got a problem? What is this 90% fragmentation thing you are talking about? If you are saying 90% of the files are fragmented, that says nothing. If a 2 GB file is stored in two fragments, it may be "fragmented" and shown in all red in disk defragmenter. So what? That's one extra seek in two hours.

Try contig.exe from sysinternals to find out about the number of fragments.

[jimbobuk]

thanks ku71 ... wow.. all the programs on that site look awesome

[Narflex]

Don't worry about fragmentation if you're using 64k blocks. I can assure you they make a HUGE difference, search around...I've discussed it in depth various times on the forums.

[ku71]

the way ntfs manages diskspace is in runs. if you have a chunk of free space, it will only need one entry and it will be able to allocate the whole chunk regardless of cluster size.

the writing strategy of the application has way more influence on fragmentation than the cluster size.

[Surgeon_General]

format c: - f wprls great in XP Pro too. Top tip.

[jimbobuk]

Sorry to resurrect this one but this seemed a really good place to ask and have others in the same position answer..

My TV machine died a few weeks back.. well it was corrupting files on copying.. I finally got this fixed, ready to use the DVD-RW in the tv machine to backup my field recordings on my main machine and then my new hdd in my main machine just went stupid on me, i lost a lot of data..

I've just reformatted this new drive that screwed with me after restoring what i could and am about to test it hard for any fault to consider sending back.. it's just past the manufacturers surface scan which points at some other problem...

Anyways, just reformatted it to 64k clusters as recommended here and i just wanted to check that the used up space following a format sounds right, it sounds huge to me.. ok so here it is..

160gig hdd

149gigabyte Free Space
21.1gigabyte Used Space

this is with NO files on it, just formatted it.. its a fairly bitter pill to swallow (20 gig is as big as my integrated PVR [sky+ for those in the UK] and isn't THAT small) ... is this about right.. is this due to the 64k clusters... takes a big chunk out of it.... anyone else with 160gig drives and 64k clusters care to say whether they came across a similar quantity of lost space right away.. or whether you guys are getting away with much more diskspace left free..

Thanks

[carlgar]

I have 3 160 GB disks formatted with 64k Clusters with no loss of disk space. A 160 GB disk will be shown by microsoft as 149 GB due to a different interpertation of a GB. What utility are you using to show the free and used space? The properties of one of my removable 160 GB disks shows Capacity: 160,039,239,680 bytes 149GB. I have not noticed any used space right after formatting and I have used formatting to recover space shown as used by the Disk Defragmented.

[jimbobuk]

I am just using the output in My Computer...

I get the byte/bit differences to explain the 149gig for 160gigabit drives but following a format i have 20gig used up... i have a folder in there that i can't access called

System Volume Information

It says there is nothing in it... I always thought there was some space used up on formatting... I'd definately rather there wasn't.. as ever windows doesn't really tell me anything about whats using it... I formatted it via Disk Administrator...

ANyone got any ideas... how can i find out about this kind of information..

[jimbobuk]

Ahh ok, found it...

System restore is using 18gig on that drive... great possibly will be having swop space on it too but i can take 2gig for system stuff on a 160gig drive... thats some relief...

Now i just need to get the backup server working.. but windows don't appear to want to share system directories... stopping me from backing them up... great..