

In fact, it is useful to improve read-write speed and make use of disk space. These defaults are selected to reduce the space that is lost and to reduce the fragmentation that occurs on the partition”.Īfter learning about some information about cluster size, you may want to know the reason to change it. If no cluster size is specified when you format a partition, defaults are selected based on the size of the partition. On the typical hard disk partition, the average amount of space that is lost in this manner can be calculated by using the equation (cluster size)/2 * (number of files).

When file sizes do not come out to an even multiple of the cluster size, additional space must be used to hold the file (up to the next multiple of the cluster size). “Cluster size represents the smallest amount of disk space that can be used to hold a file. Here is a detailed explanation from Microsoft: In Windows, file systems are used by organizing hard disk based on cluster size (allocation unit size). As you know, a cluster is the smallest file unit in the hard drive.

Before introducing the way to change cluster size, here I will tell you what cluster size is.
