block size?

[Fistandantilis]

I noticed that SANDRA reported this about my 150g raptor "Current block size not optimal, i.e. not highest supported. This affects transfer performance."
can somebody tell me what I sould do about this, I cant find anything in my bios, but I may not be looking in the right places.
thanks

 

[Chernobyl1]

You can reformat the drive and select a higher block size.

 

[Fistandantilis]

ah I see, what should I use for a block size for this size drive?

 

[Chernobyl1]

this explains quite well why a large blocksize might not be a good idea.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Q_20705353.html

The bigger the block size the faster data can come off the drive but with a trade off between available space.
A larger size than you have might work well though if you arent bothered about losing a bit of space.

Bench it with Sandra and see what benefit you get.

 

[tdg]

I'd format with the default size, changing it rarely does much except in those odd scenario's and in many cases can cause disk tools to not work correctly.

 

[Fistandantilis]

right now I think that the size is 16, is that the default? thanks

 

[DougLite]

It has been my understanding that smaller block sizes are best for linear transfers while larger block size reduce the rotational latency hit when conducting localized seeks of typical desktop usage.

With a 16KB block size, both drives have to seek to find a file in the 32-64KB range, the most common size of transfer in typical desktop usage. With a 64 or 128KB block size, only one drive seeks to complete such a transfer. This reduces rotational latency significantly, as requests on both drives increase the chance of above average latency on a given request.

What are you using the array for?

 

[Fistandantilis]

it is just for general use, it really isnt an "array" it is just 1 raptor sATA drive, I play games from time to time and do the internet thing alot, I also do programming and misc school stuff.

 

[unhappy_mage]

What are you using the array for?

I think it's just a single disk - he only mentioned a Raptor 150.

Block size on filesystem doesn't matter much in my experience. I haven't benchmarked it, but (to take a page from the raid 0 crowd ) it feels just as fast.