ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters

Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
restores the cluster size.

thanks, any thoughts?

8n20_C#
Thu May 08 13:08:06 PDT 2008

"Dattron" ha scritto:
> Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters.

I don't think it's possible.

> And are
> there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> dump the current os that is on the drive?

This is not possible for sure.
The dimension of the clusters can be modified only during a format.

Bye!

smbdymf
Thu May 08 13:28:24 PDT 2008


"8n20_C#" <enzoc73@msn.com> wrote in message
news:70273ED7-F742-4747-9A7D-D2520914B017@microsoft.com...
> "Dattron" ha scritto:
>> Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters.
>
> I don't think it's possible.
>
>> And are
>> there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
>> dump the current os that is on the drive?
>
> This is not possible for sure.
> The dimension of the clusters can be modified only during a format.
>
> Bye!
>
Ehhhhh Wrong again

8n20_C#
Thu May 08 13:39:44 PDT 2008

"smbdymf" wrote:
> Ehhhhh Wrong again

Sorry, can you tell me where i'm wrong?
Do you know some apps that can resize the clusters dimension?

Bye!

Dattron
Thu May 08 13:43:00 PDT 2008

Thanks for your thoughts however if anyone else has any more solid
information on the vista cluster\defrag issue below, it would be greatly
appreciated..........

Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
restores the cluster size.

thanks, any thoughts?




-----------------------------------------------------
"8n20_C#" wrote:

> "Dattron" ha scritto:
> > Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters.
>
> I don't think it's possible.
>
> > And are
> > there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> > dump the current os that is on the drive?
>
> This is not possible for sure.
> The dimension of the clusters can be modified only during a format.
>
> Bye!
>
>

Carey
Thu May 08 19:31:19 PDT 2008

16KB clusters would run Vista extremely slow. The default 4KB cluster
size is optimal for Vista.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Dattron" <Dattron@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:1EA799FE-A28C-477E-97CE-B470F7BA32FB@microsoft.com...
Thanks for your thoughts however if anyone else has any more solid
information on the vista cluster\defrag issue below, it would be greatly
appreciated..........

Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
restores the cluster size.

thanks, any thoughts?




-----------------------------------------------------
"8n20_C#" wrote:

> "Dattron" ha scritto:
> > Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters.
>
> I don't think it's possible.
>
> > And are
> > there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> > dump the current os that is on the drive?
>
> This is not possible for sure.
> The dimension of the clusters can be modified only during a format.
>
> Bye!
>
>

Dattron
Thu May 08 19:45:00 PDT 2008

Hi Carey,

Thanks for getting back to me I will look in to that, it's good info.
However I thought I read somewhere that larger clusters would speed things up
but hinder hard drive space. Anyway thanks for the feedback...

Mike

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:

> 16KB clusters would run Vista extremely slow. The default 4KB cluster
> size is optimal for Vista.
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Desktop Experience -
> Windows Vista Enthusiast
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Dattron" <Dattron@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:1EA799FE-A28C-477E-97CE-B470F7BA32FB@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for your thoughts however if anyone else has any more solid
> information on the vista cluster\defrag issue below, it would be greatly
> appreciated..........
>
> Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
> so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
> there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
> there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
> restores the cluster size.
>
> thanks, any thoughts?
>
>
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> "8n20_C#" wrote:
>
> > "Dattron" ha scritto:
> > > Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters.
> >
> > I don't think it's possible.
> >
> > > And are
> > > there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> > > dump the current os that is on the drive?
> >
> > This is not possible for sure.
> > The dimension of the clusters can be modified only during a format.
> >
> > Bye!
> >
> >
>

Nonny
Thu May 08 20:33:10 PDT 2008

On Thu, 8 May 2008 19:45:00 -0700, Dattron
<Dattron@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Hi Carey,
>
>Thanks for getting back to me I will look in to that, it's good info.
>However I thought I read somewhere that larger clusters would speed things up
>but hinder hard drive space. Anyway thanks for the feedback...
>
>Mike

Here's an article that says for optimal performance on an NTFS drive,
16kb is the best. Exact wording:

"The typical cluster's size for NTFS constitutes 4 KBytes. But with
the cluster of a big size, there isn't any more an opportunity of
compression of separate files. So, the optimal size is 16 KBytes. The
further increase is not effective. If you want to increase the
performance of NTFS (though you will lose possibility of compression),
make your disc formatted with the cluster's size more than 4 KBytes."

http://www.digit-life.com/articles/ntfs/index3.html

Synapse
Fri May 09 02:51:34 PDT 2008

"Carey Frisch [MVP]" <cnfrisch@nospamgamil.com> wrote in message
news:eqnEHzXsIHA.4876@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> 16KB clusters would run Vista extremely slow. The default 4KB cluster
> size is optimal for Vista.

<chuckle>

ss.

Synapse
Fri May 09 02:53:37 PDT 2008

"8n20_C#" <enzoc73@msn.com> wrote in message
news:30AEF5EB-3D92-4E5E-80DF-03AD40A1DA5A@microsoft.com...
> "smbdymf" wrote:
>> Ehhhhh Wrong again
>
> Sorry, can you tell me where i'm wrong?
> Do you know some apps that can resize the clusters dimension?

Yeah, Acronis Disk Director can. Partition Magic could as well, IIRC.

ss.

8n20_C#
Fri May 09 03:09:54 PDT 2008

"Synapse Syndrome" wrote:
>> Sorry, can you tell me where i'm wrong?
>> Do you know some apps that can resize the clusters dimension?
>
> Yeah, Acronis Disk Director can. Partition Magic could as well, IIRC.

Without reformatting? Sorry, didn't know.
Thanks for the feedback.
Bye!

andy
Fri May 09 17:24:25 PDT 2008

On Thu, 8 May 2008 12:49:04 -0700, Dattron
<Dattron@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
>so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
>there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
>there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
>dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
>restores the cluster size.
>
>thanks, any thoughts?

The system partition, which is on the disk that the BIOS boots from
and contains Vista boot manager, must have 4K clusters. Otherwise,
you'll see the following message if you try to install Vista on it:

! Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its cirteria
for installation.

However, it is possible to install Vista on a partition that is not
the system partition and is formatted with 16K clusters.

Open a command prompt window (shift F10) and use the format command.
If you have existing partitions, use the dir command to find the
correct partition to format.

L:\sources\x64\Sources>dir q:
The volume does not contain a recognized file system.
Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and
that the volume is not corrupted.

C:\Windows\system32>format q: /fs:ntfs /v:Vista64 /q /a:16k
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is NTFS.

WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE Q: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)? y
QuickFormatting 20000M
Creating file system structures.
Format complete.
20479984 KB total disk space.
20414016 KB are available.

L:\sources\x64\Sources>

Dattron
Sat May 10 05:36:00 PDT 2008

Hi Andy,

Thank you, that is exactly what I was looking for.

Mike

"andy" wrote:

> On Thu, 8 May 2008 12:49:04 -0700, Dattron
> <Dattron@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Can vista 32 pro install on an ntfs partition formated with 16k clusters. If
> >so how can I format the drive to 16k clusters using the vista boot cd, are
> >there any steps or commands I need to do during the boot sequence? And are
> >there any "stable" third party programs or suggestions so I don't have to
> >dump the current os that is on the drive? As I believe that the image file
> >restores the cluster size.
> >
> >thanks, any thoughts?
>
> The system partition, which is on the disk that the BIOS boots from
> and contains Vista boot manager, must have 4K clusters. Otherwise,
> you'll see the following message if you try to install Vista on it:
>
> ! Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its cirteria
> for installation.
>
> However, it is possible to install Vista on a partition that is not
> the system partition and is formatted with 16K clusters.
>
> Open a command prompt window (shift F10) and use the format command.
> If you have existing partitions, use the dir command to find the
> correct partition to format.
>
> L:\sources\x64\Sources>dir q:
> The volume does not contain a recognized file system.
> Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and
> that the volume is not corrupted.
>
> C:\Windows\system32>format q: /fs:ntfs /v:Vista64 /q /a:16k
> The type of the file system is RAW.
> The new file system is NTFS.
>
> WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
> DRIVE Q: WILL BE LOST!
> Proceed with Format (Y/N)? y
> QuickFormatting 20000M
> Creating file system structures.
> Format complete.
> 20479984 KB total disk space.
> 20414016 KB are available.
>
> L:\sources\x64\Sources>
>
>