IBM ATA-3 manual Enter, Size, FAT-16, Online, means

file	uses	one		full cluster.		The following	table shows	how the cluster
size	is	incremented			as the	partition size	16
							increases.
Partition		Size					Cluster Size	(FAT-16)
0	MB	-	16MB				4	KB
16	MB	-	128		MB		2	KB
128	MB	-	256		MB		4	KB
256	MB	-	512		MB		8	KB
512	MB	-	1		GB		16	KB
1	GB	-	2	GB			32	KB

can

result

in

slower

performance.

Therefore,

small

partitions

are

well

suited

for

small

files

while

large

clusters

are

well

suited

to

large

files

for

optimal

capacity

and

performance.

If

you

replace

a

hard

disk

drive

with

a

much

larger

capacity

drive,

normally

you

will

create

a

larger

partition

size

on

the

new

drive.

When

you

copy

files

from

a

smaller

partition

to

a

larger

partition,

the

same

files

require

surprisingly

more

space

on

the

disk

because

of

the

increased

cluster

size.

The

latest

releases

of

Microsoft

operating

systems,

originally

available

only

to

systems

manufacturers,

have

an

option

for

a

32-bit

file

allocation

table

called

FAT32.

FAT32

supports

partitions

as

large

as

2

terrabytes

(2,048

GB)

and

cluster

sizes

of

4

KB

for

partitions

up

to 8

These

examples

illustrate

the

effect

of

cluster

size

on

hard

disk

space

GB.

If

you

have

FAT32,

you

will

be

able

to

set

up

your

drive

without

concern

for

partition

size

limits

or

storage

efficiency.

To

tell

if

you

allocation.

have

FAT32

installed,

select

your

existing

drive

under

"My

If

you

create

a

2.14

GB

partition,

each

disk cluster

is

17

AKB.

Computer

"

and

choose

"Properties

".

The

"General

"

tab

should

say

32

"FAT32

under

the

drive

label.

one

KB

file

takes

one

cluster

or

32

KB

of

disk

space.

"

If

the

partition

size

is

1.00

GB,

the

cluster

size

is

16

KB.ForA

moner

information,

see

your

operating

system

user's

guide.

Also,

KB

file

takes

one

cluster

or

16

KB

of

disk

space.

A

normal

mix the

Disk

Manager

Online

Manual

contains information about clusters

of

application

and

data

files

can

include

thousands

of

small

files.

and

how

to

assign

hard

disk

drive partitions.

To

open

theDisk

Smaller partitions

(cluster

sizes)

save

hard

disk

capacity,

particularly

Manager

manual

from

the

DOS

prompt,

type

A:

and

pressEnter

to

go

to

the A: prompt,

insert

Diskthe Manager

Diskette,

typedm/h ,

and

when

the

partition

contains

many

small

files. However,

when

a

large

press

Enter .

file

is

placed

in

small

partitions,

the

file

must

be

spread

over

many

clusters,

causing

it

to

be

fragmented

(scattered

around

the

disk)

which

17

When

referring

to

hard-disk-drive capacity,

KB

means

1 000

bytes;

total

user-accessible

capacity

may

vary

depending

on

the

oper

ating

environment.

Part 2: Installation Guide 2-5