Cluster size really a problem?

[Sillyname]

Is having a standard 32k cluster size better than having a 16k (or was it 4k?) cluster size in regards to increasing hard drive capture speed?

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.

[Pertti]

Sillyname,

The story begins with Micros**t wanting to fill everyones HD:s with millions of less than 1kB files.
This of course was wasting a lot of available space (15/16 wasted per each one 1kB file on 16kB clusters).

To fix the situation, they invented the FAT32, which was using as small as 4kB clusters, which was much more efficient in storing those (unnecessary) files.

Now you had millions of small boxes to store those 1kB MS files efficient, but what about the large files...???
Of course they are being efficiently stored, but the wasted space was never an issue with these files, since only the space in one cluster was partly wasted, and at worse that was less than the cluster size (what's the ratio with 100MB or 2GB file...Nothing!!!).
But with the small cluster size, the system has to keep track of the millions of small boxes where that one big file is stored.

Do you see the picture

[Sillyname]

So "the system" would have to flag each 4k cluster within the stream of video you are capturing or playing back? So that would be approximately 25,600 flags for a 100 MB file. Considering the rather large amount of data, is the savings worth it in ms?

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.

[Grigory]

Actually the life is not so bad.

For linear writing of huge files Fat 32 with 32 K clusters is only 2-3% faster than for 4 K (default size) clusters.

There is difference in managing a lot of small files, especially while defragmenting the file system. But for video applications do not expect anything very different after changing the cluster size with say Partition Magic program.

Grigory

[Sillyname]

How's your TV reception Grigory?

I was listening to some kind of BBCish news broadcast on how some people in Moscow feel liberated from television now that they are forced to play outside. And here we MURC Desktop Video World people are trying to eventually create the next best thing in video entertainment.

You should be ashamed of yourself!

Go play outside! You are absolved from your duties!

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.

[This_Idiot]

Can I point out some minor statistics here ?

Sillyname 52 ---- Grigory 259

That's since the last time that out wonderful system managed to lunch all posting statistics, let alone Grigory's prior non-de-plume.

Grigory is a well-known poster at this forum, although (to our loss) he hasn't posted much since the spring. I've personally knocked heads with him on a number of issues, as have many other senior members (Doc M, Elie, etc). He puts the science into our "gut feelings".

Now if you have a serious point to disagree with Grigory on, then please do so - I'll be watching avidly. But if all you want to post opinions based on a "BBCish" report about the tech level in the (ex) USSR, then please check your ettiquete first. All opinions are welcome here, as is serious discussion - but don't put another guy down through ignorance, I hate having to sweep up the teeth.

ding ding, round 2. Grigory, your hit (Hey, we never did work out a visit)

Chris
(This_Idiot & da damned webmaster)

[Sillyname]

I suppose that post could've been taken as caustic but it wasn't meant to be so, in the least. I was just trying to stir up a little mischievious prattle, Mother Hen.

As for anyplace being inferior to where I am currently living, I've had people from other lands visit me here and they think it sucks, so I'm not knocking technogeographics. It's not in my nature. I'm not a Cybersnob...

Some of my best friends read books still!!! Weird, huh?

------------------
Deep is not the root word of depression.

[This_Idiot]

He he

Mother hen is an understanding sort. No probs.

Hey, I knew the Houston Bay area a bit some years back, when I was a wee lad serving on tankers. Damned if I can remember all the ports now (Jeez, there are so many), but Houston, Freeport, and all points up the Mississippi were well frequented. Some of the best burgers I ever ate...

[Grigory]

Well, TV reception in Moscow.

I am living in downtown area. TV reception was not good there because of a lot of high buildings. Cable TV network is present, but I never used it. Satellite TV can deliver up to 60 channels for only single provider. The others are available too.
So, the disaster you are talking about was only with TV broadcasting, which is important, but not critical. Most Moscow districts got nation-wide TV channels via TV networks in two days, after the network providers switched from ordinary antennas to satellite receivers for primary reception.
BTW, indoor antenna reception in Colorado was aufull this February , much worse than now in Moscow.
I am not TV-man at all, so my presence on the forum is not because of nothing else to do

As of technical, Moscow TV studios are the same digital studios as are used elsewhere. The problem we got is because for a long time everything that transmitt TV in Moscow area was placed on Ostankino tower, over 500 meters high (1600 feet, if you like these units ). This was reasonable solution, used in Toronto too, I suppose. However, such approach is not 100% reliable.
I am not sure that your definitely great country did not have similar disasters in its history. Some stories from my friends in our Colorado office gave me feeling that the reliability of many things in USA is of the same order of magnitude. Even for the cars and servicing...

Unfortunately, this TV disaster happened in the capital city of Russia, that is why all the world knows about it. But nobody tells on BBC about byke that was broken on the ride under my friend in Colorado - now he is OK, two months later.
I wish you to escape any troubles of such kind.

Grigory

[Brian Ellis]

To wander even more off-topic. Here, in Cyprus, I live in a village about 20 km from Larnaca, the third largest city, and 30 km from Nicosia, the largest. The village is in a valley with another half-a-dozen villages, probably with about 10,000 aggregate population, about 5% of whom are very wealthy and influential (count me out ). From the window in front of me, I can see the Tx antenna watering Larnaca with the CyBC VHF and TV programmes. Unfortunately, it is directional and our valley runs along the minimum. The antenna transmitting various commercial programmes is in the opposite direction, but behind a mountain. Result: the reception is atrocious with signal levels so low that we have difficulty maintaining synch. Even worse, the frequencies are shared with Lebanese, Israeli and Egyptian stations which interfere further with reception under temperature inversion conditions (frequent). In fact, I can often receive Lebanese TV better than local! However, there is one station I can receive very well, in fact perfectly: the illegal Turkish Cypriot TV. I'm not sure that President Clerides would be happy to know that we can see the propaganda from Mr Denktash better than his own utterings, although all of us on this island hope that the proximity talks being held in New York will yield a step in the right direction towards settling the problem, whilst not being optimistic. (Nicosia is the only divided capital city in the world with a wall more watertight than the Berlin wall used to be). Sorry to introduce politics.

Anyway, we sometimes try to watch the local news (10 min/night): the rest of the time, we rely mostly on BBC World and BBC Prime for news/info and entertainment resp. via satellite. However, in the valley, we have many old persons and subsistence-level peasants who cannot afford satellite TV. Naturally, hundreds of the locals have complained to the powers that be about the reception of Cypriot programmes, to no avail. Now we have had our feet cut from under us. Up to recently, the CyBC was largely financed from a percent levy added to electricity bills (grossly unfair, because large consumers, such as factories and large all-electric houses, paid through the nose, even if they had no TVs, while the small consumer whose main electricity requirement was for his TV and light paid next-to-nothing). Now they have abandoned this for the CyBC to be financed from general Government funds (accompanied by a VAT hike from 8 to 10%).

So, you Muscovites, a couple of days or even weeks without TV is nothing, compared to the thousands here who are permanently deprived of TV with a reasonable, viewable quality.

------------------
Brian (the terrible)

BTW, set your cluster size to the maximum for your video drive: the little extra can help.

[This message has been edited by Brian Ellis (edited 06 September 2000).]