Article: Alfred Poor's computer cures. (Question and Answer)(Column)

Cluster Confusion

Dear Alfred:

I want to partition my new hard drive to make the most effective use of the space. I remember reading about a way to determine how much space is lost due to cluster size in different partitions, but I can't find the article. Can you provide some information about this?

 
Dick Derks 
Crestwood, IL 
 
 

Dear Dick:

The root of the problem is that the DOS and Windows operating systems have a fixed number of entries in their File Allocation Table (FAT). The sectors available in a partition are divided equally among the entries, creating "clusters" or "allocation units" that are reported by CHKDSK.EXE when you run ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!