What is the biggest partition size compatible with 4096-byte (4 KB) cluster size, cluster size being the minimum amount of space taken by a file however small?
I googled some years ago and found it to be about 8 GB, however now I wonder if that was wrong, and I can accommodate a bigger partition.
From what I read years back, minimum cluster size would go to 8 KB when partition size goes above 8 GB, 16 GB when partition size goes above 16 GB, 32 KB when partition size goes above 32 GB, meaning a lot of disk space wasted by small files.
I believe the best file system ReactOS can use so far is FAT32, true also for FreeDOS.
My first formatting might be done from FreeBSD, NetBSD or Linux, since I don't have ReactOS or MS-Windows installation currently.
Tom
On 07-12-2014 10:07, Thomas Mueller wrote:
What is the biggest partition size compatible with 4096-byte (4 KB) cluster size, cluster size being the minimum amount of space taken by a file however small?
I googled some years ago and found it to be about 8 GB, however now I wonder if that was wrong, and I can accommodate a bigger partition.
I'm not sure, but..... in FAT32, there are 28 bits to address the cluster number. (But FAT entries are 32-bit aligned.) So... 4*1024*(2**28) = 1TB So the maximum size of the filesystem with 4KB clusters is about 1TB; I say "about" because there are some reserved cluster numbers... It is possible that my math is bogus. :-)
I believe the best file system ReactOS can use so far is FAT32, true also for FreeDOS.
Off-topic: One can write file-system drivers for DOS, using the REDIRECTOR feature...
JJ
On 07-12-2014 10:07, Thomas Mueller wrote:
What is the biggest partition size compatible with 4096-byte (4 KB) cluster size, cluster size being the minimum amount of space taken by a file however small?
I googled some years ago and found it to be about 8 GB, however now I wonder if that was wrong, and I can accommodate a bigger partition.
I'm not sure, but..... in FAT32, there are 28 bits to address the cluster number. (But FAT entries are 32-bit aligned.) So... 4*1024*(2**28) = 1TB So the maximum size of the filesystem with 4KB clusters is about 1TB; I say "about" because there are some reserved cluster numbers... It is possible that my math is bogus. :-)
I believe the best file system ReactOS can use so far is FAT32, true also for FreeDOS.
Off-topic: One can write file-system drivers for DOS, using the REDIRECTOR feature...
JJ
I googled again, apparently what I got previously was MS recommendations for Windows.
Larger partition sizes on FAT32 with 4 KB cluster size could mean slow disk access, but I guess it would be OK to use FAT32 with 4 KB cluster size for 16 GB or 32 GB USB sticks, or hard-drive partitions should I order an old clearance-priced refurbished SATA hard drive.
I'm reluctant to do heavy compiling on a USB stick; or FreeBSD or Linux with Wine for ReactOS or DOSBox for FreeDOS. Then I could use BSD or Linux filesystem.
I've never actually run ReactOS. Closest I came was burning installation CD for 0.3.15 and finding it wouldn't boot.
Tom
Note that because flash drives tend to have larger sectors and specially much bigger erase groups, it's often more interesting to format flash drives as 16k rather than 4k, even if it can waste some space with small files.
On 8 December 2014 at 03:48, Thomas Mueller mueller6723@twc.com wrote:
On 07-12-2014 10:07, Thomas Mueller wrote:
What is the biggest partition size compatible with 4096-byte (4 KB)
cluster size, cluster size being the minimum amount of space taken by a file however small?
I googled some years ago and found it to be about 8 GB, however now I
wonder if that was wrong, and I can accommodate a bigger partition.
I'm not sure, but..... in FAT32, there are 28 bits to address the cluster number. (But FAT entries are 32-bit aligned.) So... 4*1024*(2**28) = 1TB So the maximum size of the filesystem with 4KB clusters is about 1TB; I
say
"about" because there are some reserved cluster numbers... It is possible that my math is bogus. :-)
I believe the best file system ReactOS can use so far is FAT32, true
also for FreeDOS.
Off-topic: One can write file-system drivers for DOS, using the
REDIRECTOR
feature...
JJ
I googled again, apparently what I got previously was MS recommendations for Windows.
Larger partition sizes on FAT32 with 4 KB cluster size could mean slow disk access, but I guess it would be OK to use FAT32 with 4 KB cluster size for 16 GB or 32 GB USB sticks, or hard-drive partitions should I order an old clearance-priced refurbished SATA hard drive.
I'm reluctant to do heavy compiling on a USB stick; or FreeBSD or Linux with Wine for ReactOS or DOSBox for FreeDOS. Then I could use BSD or Linux filesystem.
I've never actually run ReactOS. Closest I came was burning installation CD for 0.3.15 and finding it wouldn't boot.
Tom
Ros-dev mailing list Ros-dev@reactos.org http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev
-
David Quintana (gigaherz) -
João Jerónimo -
Thomas Mueller