NTFS Cluster size is set at 4k instead of recommended 64k.

We have found that our partition is not aligned and need to get some
feedback on a few things.
Here are our numbers:
Starting partition offset = 32,256
Stripe Size = 128k (131,072)
Cluster size = 4k (4096)
We are experiencing high "Avg Queue length" and high "avg disk usage"
in windows performance monitor...
My question is this: How important is the NTFS cluster size at 4k. I know
the recommendation is 64k but how bad would a 4k cluster size ALSO
affect performance given we know that our partition is mis-aligned ?
Thanks..
Ld

> My question is this: How important is the NTFS cluster size at 4k. I know
> the recommendation is 64k but how bad would a 4k cluster size
It's very important from performance perspective, especially when you're facing a huge database and quantity of disks. 64K is the rule of thumb as cluster package size for SQL server, can be considered a minimum size of unit at least in this case. Imagine if it's cut down to 4K which is 1/16, then the disk arms need to do 16 times to grab the same amount of data.
> Starting partition offset = 32,256
>ALSO
> affect performance given we know that our partition is mis-aligned ?
Starting offset has a similar impact as allocation unit size does, but usually it only happens on old fashion storage device as far as I know, not sure maybe I'm wrong here. Last time an issue related to that I know was on HP EVA 5000 4 years ago, and after that starting offset value is part of initial optimization when it's being installed by storage vendor provided, no manual change from customer needed. But to be on the safe side, please do check with your storage vendor to make sure.
In either case of allocation unit size or starting offset size, it would be very difficult to change as long as it's set and has gone live in production environment, from either downtime or transition storage device.
Regards,

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Hi OlegSmirnovPetrov,
Additional,
on Win 2008 and later versions, disk partition alignment is enabled by default. On win 2k3 and earlier versions you need to enable ,
more information please refer the following KB:
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http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816307
2. Disk Partition Alignment (Sector Alignment): Make the Case: Save Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jimmymay/archive/2009/05/08/disk-partition-alignment-
sector-alignment-make-the-case-with-this-template.aspx
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4.http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cindygross/archive/2011/03/10/general-hardware-os-network-guidelines-for-a-sql-box.aspx (please refer Storage specifications)
5.Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx
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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

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Message Edited by AndyP123 on 06-04-2008 11:42 AM

Small update. I have fixed size arrays in the clusters of data in the file and I have been using arrays in my typedefs in LabView and just defining x number of indexes in the arrays and setting them as the default value under Data Operations. LabView may maintain the default values, but it still treats an array as an unknown size data type. This is what causes LabView to expect the cluster size to be appended to the file contents during an unflatten. I can circumvent this in the most simplest of cases by using clusters of the same type of data in LabView to represent a fixed size array in the file. However, I can't go around using clusters of data to represent fixed size arrays BECAUSE I have several multi-dimentional arrays of data in the file. To represent that as a cluster I would have to add a single value for every element to such a cluster and make sure they are lined up sequentially according to every dimension of the array. That gets mighty hairy, mighty fast.
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Message Edited by AndyP123 on 06-04-2008 12:11 PM

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John.P wrote:
Hi Dave,
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John, I am having a hard time converting an array of greater than 256 elements to a cluster. I attempted to use the type cast node you suggested and didn't have any luck. Please see the attached files... I’m sure I’m doing something wrong. The .txt file has a list of 320 elements. I want to run the VI so that in the end I have a cluster containing equal number of integer indicators/elements inside. But more importantly, I don't want to have to build a cluster of 320 elements. I'd like to just change the number of elements in the .txt file and have the cluster automatically be populated with the correct number of elements and their values. No more, no less. One of the good things about the convert array to cluster was that you could tell the converter how many elements to expect and it would automatically populate the cluster with that number of elements (up to 256 elements only). Can the type cast node do the same thing? Do you have any advice? I posted this question with more detail to my application at the link below... no luck so far.
http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&thread.id=409766&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
Message Edited by PhilipJoeP on 05-20-2009 06:11 PM
Attachments:
cluster_builder.vi ‏9 KB
config.txt ‏1 KB

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I won't disagree with any of the previous posters, but would point out a conversion technique I just recently tried and found to work well for my own particular purposes. I've given the method a pretty good workout and not found any obvious flaws yet, but can't 100% guarantee the behavior in all settings.
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NTFS Cluster size is set at 4k instead of recommended 64k.

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