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#Format external hard drive windows 7 allocation unit size how to#
#Format external hard drive windows 7 allocation unit size full#

#Format external hard drive windows 7 allocation unit size full#

A full format will overwrite every sector of the drive, ensuring that the SMART information is accurate and correct before you start using the disk.

Thus, SMART at that moment in time will only be counting the a very small part of the disk. SMART gets updated once that happens.Ī quick format only write the start of the disk with the partition layout and basic file system structure. Bad sectors are only reallocated when they can't be read/written on the disk. SMART only updates the information based on what the drive accesses. Right-click the hard drive marked as "Unknown" and "Not Initialized" and select the Initialize Disk option.Search for Create and format hard disk partitions and click the top result to open the Disk Management console.To set up a new hard drive with raw space on Windows 10, use these steps: Usually, you can tell a hard drive doesn't have a partition, because it will not appear in File Explorer, and on Disk Management, it'll show up as unallocated space. In the case that you have a hard drive that was never partitioned and formatted, it will not appear in File Explorer, and you'll have to initialize, create a new partition, and then format it before you can use it.

#Format external hard drive windows 7 allocation unit size how to#

How to create and format partition using Disk Management

Once you complete the steps, the tool will format the selected partition on the drive, and then you can begin storing files.

Clear the Enable file and folder compression option.

Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central) Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. To find out what the cluster size is on an existing disk: For a windows boot partition I use the Windows default (which is 4K for any NTFS drive smaller than 16TB). 16x the block size means 1/16th the number of blocks to keep track of.įor a media disk where you photos, music and videos are stored, every file is at least 1MB I use the biggest AUS. With a 64K AUS there are a lot fewer blocks to keep track of and less fragmentation. With a 4K AUS the data needs to be split over two blocks – and they may not be together so you get fragmentation. Let’s say you have a 3K file which needs to grow 2K. Instead think about how the OS uses space. However, as Jonathon points out, modern drives are massive and a little wasted space is not worth fussing over and this shouldn’t be a determining factor (unless you are on a small SSD).Ĭompare 4K vs 64K average case waste (32K-2K = 30K), for 10,000 files that only comes out to 300,000KB or around 300MB. So 4K wastes 2K per file and 64K wastes 32K.

The average space wasted per file will be half the chosen AUS. In terms of space efficiency, smaller allocation unit sizes perform better. Suggest you just keep the default.Īlso keep in mind that the majority file are relatively small, larger files are large in size but small in units.Īndrew expands upon Jonathan’s answer with: If you have lots of large files, keeping it higher will increase the system performance by having less blocks to seek.īut again, nowadays hard drive capacity is getting higher and higher it makes small difference by choosing the right allocation size. If you have lots of small files, then it’s a good idea to keep the allocation size small so your harddrive space won’t be wasted. Basically, the allocation unit size is the block size on your hard drive when it formats NTFS. If you are a “Standard User” by Microsoft’s definition, you should keep the default 4096 bytes. SuperUser contributors Jonathan and Andrew offer some insight. While the default setting is usually the best choice for most users, let’s dig a little deeper.