I must have missed this the first time around ...
On Sat, 2 Dec 2000 03:44:09 -0500 (EST), Thomas Mueller wrote:
> TM> cluster size/allocation unit for FAT32?
> Ricsi> it could be 512 bytes ... but than MUCH RAM would be wasted ...
> so M& has chosen to use 4KB for sizes up to 8 GB and 8 KB for larger
> partitions ... and maybe even larger clusters for huge partitions
Would someone explain to me please how cluster/sector size on a HDD has
any effect on RAM usage? ... even when a piece of non-recyclable
garbage like dozerware is concerned?
Am I to assume that RAM "stores" instructions and data in active memory
by "sector" rather than by byte?
Thus 1Mb SDRAM can only store x number of sectors even if those sectors
don't add up to anywhere near 1 MegaBYTES of datapoints??
I don't see how that could be the case. If it were, then every memory
mapping piece of software ever released to the public would be a tissue
of lies ...
I have an idea that the only reason M$ might have decided to use
unrealistically large sectors would be so there would be less HDD
thrashing when dozerware makes all those diskwrites, even when maximum
cache is allocated to it. If sector size were set to 512, then there
would be better HDD usage but the already flawed files in dozerware
would be fragmented all over the HDD, just inviting one of those
1,000,000+ unfixed bugs to walk in and take a bite[byte].
> That somewhat dilutes the advantage of FAT32. No advantage to FAT32
> on anything < 256 MB, including the Zip 250.
Somewhat? I'd say more than somewhat. Even with dozerware a
significant number of files are under 4Kb in size, which mean waste ...
Didn't I see somewhere, out of the corner of my eye, that Linux uses
something like FAT32? It has something going on, since it allows for
long files name [I've yet to find out just how long they can be]. What
sector sizes does Linux allow?
l.d.
[Still technically challenged]
[Still masochistically using 1.67]
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