smdev@csustan.UUCP (Scott Hazen Mueller) (09/12/86)
According to the *BM DOS technical reference, disk cluster addresses are
12 bits under MsDos 2.x and 16 bits under 3.x. Does this mean that if
I got 3.x for my 6300 with a 20 Mbyte hard disk and reformatted, I would
go from 8K clusters to .5K-2K (somewhere in that range, I calculated)
clusters? The reason I'm wondering is that I have 500+ files currently.
Some numbers:
8192 bytes/cluster implies 4096 bytes waste/file
4096 bytes/file * 500 files is about 2 Mbyte of
waste due to internal fragmentation.
Obviously, I'd like to reduce the waste that results from the 8K cluster
size. Does anyone know if my assumptions are true, and if so, whether or
not 3.1 (preferably; I hear 3.0 and 3.2 are bug-ridden) is available for
the 6300? If it is available, I'd need an address to which I could send
a purchase order - my organization doesn't believe in money :-).
Please email; if there exists enough interest, I'll summarize and post.
Thanx --- \scott
--
Scott Hazen Mueller lll-crg.arpa!csustan!smdev
City of Turlock work: (209) 668-5590 -or- 5628
901 South Walnut Avenue home: (209) 527-1203
Turlock, CA 95380 <Insert pithy saying here...>jle@inuxd.UUCP (John Le) (09/16/86)
> According to the *BM DOS technical reference, disk cluster addresses are > 12 bits under MsDos 2.x and 16 bits under 3.x. Does this mean that if > I got 3.x for my 6300 with a 20 Mbyte hard disk and reformatted, I would > go from 8K clusters to .5K-2K (somewhere in that range, I calculated) > clusters? The reason I'm wondering is that I have 500+ files currently. > Some numbers: > 8192 bytes/cluster implies 4096 bytes waste/file > 4096 bytes/file * 500 files is about 2 Mbyte of > waste due to internal fragmentation. > Obviously, I'd like to reduce the waste that results from the 8K cluster > size. Does anyone know if my assumptions are true, and if so, whether or > not 3.1 (preferably; I hear 3.0 and 3.2 are bug-ridden) is available for > the 6300? If it is available, I'd need an address to which I could send > a purchase order - my organization doesn't believe in money :-). > > Please email; if there exists enough interest, I'll summarize and post. > Thanx --- \scott > -- > Scott Hazen Mueller lll-crg.arpa!csustan!smdev > City of Turlock work: (209) 668-5590 -or- 5628 > 901 South Walnut Avenue home: (209) 527-1203 > Turlock, CA 95380 <Insert pithy saying here...> Sorry to break the news, but the folks at AT&T & Microsoft made a mistake on the AT&T MS-DOS 3.1. If You format your 6300 PC with a 20M HD with AT&T MS-DOS 3.1 format command, you'll still get 8k cluster size. There's at least one way to format the 20M HD on the 6300 with IBM PC-DOS 3.1 to get 2k cluster size, then you can not boot from the hard disk, because of different boot sector location I presume. If you can make the 6300 PC with 20M HD to boot from the HD and having 2k cluster size, the people at AT&T's HOTLINE would love to hear from you. John N. Le (AT&T Consumer Products Laboratories, Indpls, IN) ..!inuxh!jnl John