Allocation unit size on hard disk: what it is

Although it sounds a bit strange to you, you know what the allocation unit size is on hard disk. If you don't know, go in and discover it.

A priori, you may not know what it is, but it is the same as the size of the cluster, only it is called differently. This concept is necessary for you to understand because it allows us to enjoy some advantages or disadvantages

Index of contents

Allocation unit size

Also called cluster size, it is the minimum capacity in which information can be saved. However, this is not so easy to explain in a definition. You have to know the structure of a hard drive in relation to files.

Let's say that the information is stored in the sectors of the hard drives. For each group of contiguous sectors a cluster is formed. So the size of the cluster would be the number of sectors that make up a cluster.

Depending on the storage that the hard disk has, we will have an allocation unit size for the volume. Understand volume as " partition ", so we can have a hard disk with several volumes, or a hard disk with a single volume.

File System

Therefore, the volume size will serve as a guide to establish the most optimal file system. And now you will ask what is a file system?

The most common file systems are NTFS, FAT 32, FAT 16, or HFS + (Mac). Each one has its function, so there are no better and worse, but more suitable or less suitable. So, the size of the hard drive allocation unit will depend on the size of the volume and the file system.

These file systems will sound familiar to you because it is something that we are always asked when we are going to format a drive.

Conclusion about allocation unit size

In conclusion, the smallest allocation size is the best option because it will save us a lot of physical space. Therefore, the ideal is to have 4 Kb (4096 bytes) of it because it is the best capacity-performance option that we can have in Windows.

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We know that this topic is something complex to understand because it is abstract, so we hope that it has helped you. If you have any questions, let us know by commenting below.