What Is The Fastest Fromatting Cluster Size? [closed]

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I've bought a new USB 3.0 stick and I would like to optimize it for speed. Currently, I'm struggling with the cluster size or block size. I've read a lot about it but I could not find a clear answer on what the fastest cluster size would be. Does anyone know what the fastest cluster size is?

Answer 1

Short answer: don't worry about cluster size. You won't notice a difference.

Deeper answer: logic would dictate that the larger the cluster, the fewer the number of requests for data would be necessary since it would be larger chunks. However, with a proper USB 3.0 stick you're honestly not going to see a difference worth fussing over. FWIW, the cluster size is traditionally more of a space optimization than anything else; fewer clusters means a smaller disk usage table, less overhead bits, etc. However, larger clusters means more wasted space since you a file 3 bytes in size is still going to take up a whole 4K cluster.

Since you're on a Mac (you ARE on apple.stackexchange.com), you'd probably use FAT32 and not NTFS. Don't use FAT12/16. HFS+ will limit you to a Mac. NTFS isn't really supported on OSX and you might trip on permission ACLs. FAT32 will be the fastest since NTFS keeps nagging the disk whereas FAT doesn't.