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Enlarge cluster size Windows 7
Situation: yesterday I read a professional computing article which introduces the relation between cluster size and data read-write speed. It suggests setting the partition saving large file with large cluster size and setting the partition storing small files with small cluster size. Therefore, I decide to enlarge the cluster size from 4K to 32K for my data partition since it saves large files. However, Windows Disk Management does not provide such an option and I have to reformat the drive. I don’t want to lose any data, because all of them are needed. Can I increase cluster size in Windows 7 without reformatting?
Indeed, if we set the partition saving large files with small cluster size, system read-write speed will be reduced to some extent. Why?
As we know, cluster is the smallest unit system uses to read and write data, and one cluster can hold content of one file at most. If we set the partition with 4k cluster size but it saves a 16k file, system will read 4 clusters when we are accessing this file. However, if we set a 8k cluster, system only needs to visit 2 clusters. Thus, read speed is increased. Well then, how can we enlarge cluster size in Windows 7 without losing data? A partitioning program is needed, and here we suggest using MiniTool Partition Wizard. Next, let’s see how to do this change.
Enlarge Cluster Size in Windows 7 with MiniTool Partition Wizard
Start the program and we can see its main interface shown below:
Select the partition whose cluster size should be increased and choose the function “Change Cluster Size” from the left side to get the window below:
Here, we can view the current cluster size of the partition Of course, we are able to set a larger cluster size for this partition, too. Now, let’s set the partition with a 64k cluster size, so choose 64 from the list of “Please enter new cluster size in sectors”, and then click “Yes” to go back to the main window.
From the window above we can see all data are reserved completely. At this time, please click “Apply” button to make this change applied on our computer.
It is so easy to enlarge cluster size in Windows 7, right? If you also want to increase cluster size in Windows, no matter in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, or in Windows Server 2012, just try using MiniTool Partition Wizard, for it brings no damage to data and requires simple operations.
Tip: only the professional edition and more advanced editions support this function. For information about each edition, please see Compare Main Features.
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