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Allocation Unit Size for an External SSD Drive

Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member -  
flo88 Posted messages 28493 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   -

Hello,

I have a 2GB external hard drive where I want to store videos.

The files are mostly between 2 and 5GB.

What should be the allocation unit size for exFAT?

Some of my files have lost metadata (when copying from another non-SSD hard drive).

All my files on the other hard drives have minimal metadata.

What is happening?

Thank you to anyone who can help me.

3 answers

  1.
    steph810 Posted messages 1865 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   152
     

    Hello,

    unless I'm mistaken, the 2GB external hard drive ??? video files 2GB to 5GB, is there a potential space issue or a typo?

    1
    1. Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
       

      Hello,

      No, that's right.

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      1. flo88 Posted messages 28493 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   5 170 > Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
         

        Hello

        Except that it's impossible, steph810 is right, the disk actually has about 2 TB.

        1
  2. jee pee Posted messages 31890 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   9 984
     

    Hello,

    ExFAT does not retain file metadata. You should stick to NTFS.

    1
    1. Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
       

      Hello,

      Thank you for your response. I didn't know that.

      Fortunately, I didn't have many files. I will soon be able to reformat the hard drive.

      What do you recommend for the allocation unit?

      Default or a bit more?

      According to what I found on the internet, you can use the maximum unit given the size of the files.

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    2. brucine Posted messages 24969 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 180
       

      Hello,

      Is it that simple?

      For FAT32, which can be forced on a large drive, I don’t know; I haven’t checked, if the answer is different and we refuse NTFS for some reason (for example, MacOS compatibility), we would just need to split anything over 4 GB in two (which I do to read on the drive connected to my TNT recorder that won’t accept anything else).

      It seems to me that the "volatile" metadata involved are the usual Windows attributes, but if a photo or video contains Exif data, they are stored directly regardless of the format and can be hidden there; in that case, it would be necessary to use a dedicated utility to view them.

      The need to keep this Exif data on an internal or external drive escapes me; isn’t it enough to properly describe the filename? But everyone has their own ways.

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  3. flo88 Posted messages 28493 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   Ambassadeur 5 170
     

    According to what I found on the internet, we can use the maximum unit considering the size of the files.

    I think you're talking about the cluster size during formatting... by default.

    In any case, it has no impact on an SSD; the cluster size no longer affects modern systems and only concerns spinning disks.

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    1. brucine Posted messages 24969 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 180
       

      Hello,

      In any case, regarding large files, the size of the clusters only has a potential influence on the hypothetical reading speed of these files, not much on the disk space they occupy.

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    2. Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
       

      Hello,

      Thank you for your comment.

      I had a feeling about that.

      My SSD helps me free up space on the other hard drives that are full.

      0
    3. Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
       

      Hello,

      Yes, that's the cluster size.

      I reformatted my hard drive, but even after changing the size, the default value is still saved.

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      1. flo88 Posted messages 28493 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   5 170 > Bertrand3765 Posted messages 30 Status Member
         

        It's normal with an SSD.

        0