ParbreastionCluster SizeWasted Space 2213

Hi!

That is generally correct, and no matter the file system type you use, there will always be some waste. Most, if not all, file systems have one "smallest unit of storage" that they recognize-define, and the size of this smallest unit can change as the total disk or parbreastion size goes up. As an example, let's say that a file is 5 kilobytes in size, and the disk is formatted so that 4 kilobytes is the smallest unit of storage available. This means that the 5KB file is going to take up 8KB of disk space. Even though it is only 5KB in size, the clusters are laid out in 4KB...so the 5KB file must use two of them and leave 3KB of space "unused".

Modern file systems do a lot to alleviate this issue, but there is still some waste.

As an aside, but on a related note, it is possible with some file systems to actually define the minimum cluster size. This is done for performance or efficiency reasons. If you plan to store a lot of large files, using larger clusters will reduce the overhead encountered each time a cluster must be found, prepared for use and finally read or written to. With many small files, however, this method would be very wasteful of disk space...so smaller clusters are defined in this case. These are slower to access, but offer more efficient usage of the storage that is available.

Yes, but only in a way. If you have several parbreastions, they will all be smaller than the total size of the drive. After all, the partions must all fit on the drive and cannot overlap one another. They can (but do not necessarily have to) all add up to the total size of the drive. (It is possible, though usually not done, to leave a portion of a drive totally unparbreastioned.)

Yes, it generally is true. See the beginning paragraph for an example.

A few big files will waste less space than many small files because there will not be a lot of partially filled clusters with the large files. There will be a few, but they will appear at the end of the file.

Today the biggest advantage of having separate parbreastions is just to keep things separated. Some people like to maintain a separate parbreastion to store their personal data. Their programs live on another parbreastion. Doing things this way can provide a little extra protection for data files in the event that the operating system or a program fails and does some degree of damage.

Hope this helps to explain things a little better.

William