Winblows XP FAT size and memory usage

[ptek]

Hello all !

I read somewhere on the web that the file allocation table (FAT) for the winblows OS is kept on the precious (hi Gollum) memory, and the amount of RAM it used depends on how long the partition is and number of clusters ...

Unfortunably, I lost the track of that web page which had some nice calculation examples and now I wonder if some of you have experience on this subject...

I'm worried by this since lately I bouhgt a 160GB HD (yes!) for downloads and DVD authouring and since i have "only" 256MB of RAM and I made a HUGE partiotion of the all 160GB space, I noticed that the system does now more virtual memory than before... The XP craws more.

I know its stupid to use all the disk space for a partition(i'm willing to make some small partiton, I really don't need the 160GB até once) but I would like to tweak the cluster size of a smaller partition, like 60 GB or less... As I said, at the moment I dont' need all the 160GB - I will resize the huge partition to something smaller and forget the disk free space until I need some more  :-D

Can anyone help me to set the cluster size and compute memory usage? I plan to format it in NTFS.

Thanks

[fx]

sorry for not being able to help you with your problem but why not go for the easy but slightly more expensive solution and buy some more memory?

[ptek]

by fx on 2005/4/16 19:40:17

sorry for not being able to help you with your problem but why not go for the easy but slightly more expensive solution and buy some more memory?

That's the ea$y way  :-D

The M$ way! M$ tells you: buy more RAM!

[seer]

The M$ way! M$ tells you: buy more RAM!

Well, having run XP in 256, 512 and 1Gb systems, I can safely say 1Gb is where XP is most comfortable in. I was tempted to get another 1Gb but decided against it. 1GB physical RAM and a 768MB pagefile are enough for most games an apps for a year orso.. (Hello longhorn.. ;-))

Not sure about the question.

Using FAT with XP is a bit weird, formatting the drive during setup as NTFS (quick format is enough) should give the best results. The default settings are ok. No need to play with them.

Just make sure you setup the pagefile correctly. Forget the 2.5 or 3 times RAM rule, it's bogus and at best used for Win3.x of Win98 with 16MB ram. What's the best pagefile size ? Depends on the usage..

Also turn of the Bubbly look of XP, but not just by sellecting the classic look. If you right click my computer then sellect properties and go to the advanced tab, then sellect "performance"and turn off as many unneeded candy effects as needed (fade in and fade out). Gives a nice boost.

There are many tweaks to boost XP performance. Some work, some don't. Some need more RAM to be of any effect. Like TweakXP or TuneUp Utilities 2004 but user beware.... (IIRC they also offer Filesystem boost tweaks)

[blobrana]

Hum,
i created this page just for you....

http://www.geocities.com/amigarana/pagefile.htm


(strangly, certain programs, ie open gl, are slower with one gig mem than 512mb...)

[ptek]

OK, I appreciate all your attention, but my main question was how to set the partiton size and cluster size in order to tune RAM usage ...
 :-)

[patrik]

@ptek:

If you are low on memory I would advice you to run Windows 2000 instead of Windows XP and just use NTFS with the default cluster-size the os selects for you. It will save you much more ram than any cluster/partition-tuning in the world.


/Patrik

[seer]

but my main question was how to set the partiton size and cluster size in order to tune RAM usage

Partition size is IMHO a personal preference and hardly has an effect on "performance" (IMHO and experience).

I would leave the cluster size to the OS but have a look at these links.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/archCluster-c.html
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/search.php?searchid=462590
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4597

Personally, I hardly ever partition my drives. At the moment, I have a 60Gb, a 120Gb and a 200Gb disk. Only the 60 GB is split because I wanted a FAT drive storage that would be accesable with a MS-DOS bootdisk. (I also use it for my "temp" files, the 60 GB is my boot drive but has only a Windows install for rescue needs, the 200GB is my windows install, the 120GB is for data)

I've found that when using windows, the best bet is to set the system partition as big as possible, forget about a programs partition, except if you're willing to set the default program files path towards another partition or keep changing it with every install..

Sorry, couldn't find a link about FAT cluster size and RAM usage..

If you want to tune your Windows RAM usage, look for some registry settings (either by tweak tools or by regedit) to  force Windows XP to use real RAM instead of the Page file (Or is it Swap) as much as possible.

Then again, with "only" 256 MB...

[blobrana]

 Hum,
You can allocate any amount of memory...(see my link about virtual memory etc)
It isn’t tied into the size of the HD partitions....(it`s better to choose your partition size on your needs rather than the computers memory needs)
The clusters are just `unit` blocks on the cylinders. And only are important to the speed and physical space they require...

"By partitioning, you decrease wasted space by files using larger clusters. If you partition a 20GB drive to one 20GB partition, you'll end up with 16KB clusters. If you split it to say two 10GB's you'll use 8KB clusters. Less than 8GB's will give you 4KB clusters.
Example:
2KB file on a 4KB cluster = 2KB's wasted space.
2KB file on 8KB cluster = 6KB's wasted space.
2KB on 16KB cluster = 14KB's wasted.

Here is a chart for FAT32:

512MB-8,191MB = 4KB clusters
8,192-16,383MB = 8KB clusters
16,384MB-32,767 = 16KB clusters
32,768- greater = 32KB clusters"

From here: