The space of any information medium (hard drive or flash drive) is not a whole piece, but a system of memory cells called clusters. Each of them is assigned a unique serial number. In other words, all memory is divided into blocks.
Now let's see what the cluster size is. It's simple, this is a certain size of one disk cell. With the help of modern tools you can set absolutely any value. Sets the cluster size during formatting. It can be at least five hundred and twelve bytes and above. It will already depend on your goals.
Now let's figure out why this cluster size is set. This is done to properly store your information on a particular medium. It also affects the optimization of the device. You must always proceed from what the device will be used for. As mentioned earlier, the cluster size is determined during the formatting of the information storage device. The first to enable users to do this on their own is the Windows XP operating system.
Before starting this process, you must select the type of file system. For removable drives, it is better to always set FAT 32. This is done so that they are perceived by any device. It is also worth leaving the standard cluster size. NTFS is more suitable for hard drives. True, in this case, your device will not be available on operating systems such as Windows 98 and the like.
After you decide on the file system, you need to set the cluster size. If this is not done, the system will set the standard size to four kilobytes. What to consider when choosing a size? The smaller the cluster, the more data you can put on your media. For example, if you make the cluster size large enough, a file with a smaller volume will still occupy the entire cluster. True, in this case, the speed of reading all data from the disk will increase significantly. If you set the size to one kilobyte, then files of similar sizes will occupy only this cell and no more. This will also be advantageous in cases where you remove the flash drive without using safe mode. In this situation, fewer clusters will be damaged. However, the speed of reading information will decrease significantly.
Therefore, you should proceed from what you will use the device for. If you plan to keep a movie library on one of the sections of your hard drive, then it can be formatted with maximum cluster sizes. This will enable the disk to process and reproduce the data recorded on it much faster. If it is a system disk, then its clusters should not exceed the standard size. Otherwise, you will lose a lot of useful space, because operating systems contain a lot of small files. In addition, this will lead to the fact that the disk will spend a large amount of time processing data.