This content has been archived, and is no longer maintained by Indiana University. Information here may no longer be accurate, and links may no longer be available or reliable. Like the FAT file system, the NTFS file system uses clusters as the fundamental unit of disk allocation. The default cluster size for the NTFS
file system depends on the volume size. Using the Disk Administrator, you can specify a cluster size up to 4KB. (To access the Disk Administrator in Windows XP, from the menu, select either , or and then . Double-click , and then . Then, on the right, click . In Windows NT, click the button and select , then , then .) However, if you format your NTFS volume from the command prompt, you can specify any cluster size shown in the table below. You can
change the cluster size only when formatting a partition or drive. The default cluster sizes for the NTFS file system are shown in the following table:
| Partition size | Sectors per cluster | Cluster size |
|---|
| 512MB or less
| 1
| 512 bytes
| | 513MB-1024MB (1GB)
| 2
| 1KB
| | 1025MB-2048MB (2GB)
| 4
| 2KB
| | 2049MB-4096MB (4GB)
| 8
| 4KB
| | 4097MB-8192MB (8GB)
| 16
| 8KB
| | 8193MB-16,384MB (16GB)
| 32
| 16KB
| | 16,385MB-32,768MB (32GB)
| 64
| 32KB
| | Greater than 32,768MB
| 128
| 64KB
|
This information comes from Microsoft's Windows NT Resource Kit. For more information, see article 314878 in Microsoft's knowledge base. This is document ahwd in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 12:43:44. Operating System support
| File System | Operating System |
|---|
| NTFS
| Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008Windows Vista, Windows 7
| | NTFS5
| Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7
| | exFAT
| Windows CE 6.0, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7, WinXP+KB955704
| | FAT32
| DOS 7.0 and higher, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista, Windows 7
| | FAT16
| DOS, All versions of Microsoft Windows
| | FAT12
| DOS, All versions of Microsoft Windows
|
Limitations
| NTFS5 | NTFS | exFAT | FAT32 | FAT16 | FAT12 |
|---|
| Max Volume Size
| 264 clusters – 1 cluster
| 232 clusters – 1 cluster
| 128PB
| 32GB for all OS, 2TB for some OS
| 2GB for all OS, 4GB for some OS
| 16MB
| | Max Files on Volume
| 4,294,967,295 (232 - 1)
| 4,294,967,295 (232 - 1)
| Nearly Unlimited
| 4194304
| 65536
|
| | Max File Size
| 264 bytes (16 ExaBytes) minus 1KB
| 244 bytes (16 TeraBytes) minus 64KB
| 16EB
| 4GB minus 2 Bytes
| 2GB (Limit Only by Volume Size)
| 16MB (Limit Only by Volume Size)
| | Max Clusters Number
| 264 clusters – 1 cluster
| 232 clusters – 1 cluster
| 4294967295
| 4177918
| 65520
| 4080
| | Max File Name Length
| Up to 255
| Up to 255
| Up to 255
| Up to 255
| Standard - 8.3 Extended - up to 255
| Up to 254
|
File System Features
| NTFS5 | NTFS | exFAT | FAT32 | FAT16 | FAT12 |
|---|
| Unicode File Names
| Unicode Character Set
| Unicode Character Set
| Unicode Character Set
| System Character Set
| System Character Set
| System Character Set
| | System Records Mirror
| MFT Mirror File
| MFT Mirror File
| No
| Second Copy of FAT
| Second Copy of FAT
| Second Copy of FAT
| | Boot Sector Location
| First and Last Sectors
| First and Last Sectors
| Sectors 0 to 11 Copy in 12 to 23
| First Sector and Copy in Sector #6
| First Sector
| First Sector
| | File Attributes
| Standard and Custom
| Standard and Custom
| Standard Set
| Standard Set
| Standard Set
| Standard Set
| | Alternate Streams
| Yes
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Compression
| Yes
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Encryption
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Object Permissions
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| | Disk Quotas
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Sparse Files
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Reparse Points
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| No
| | Volume Mount Points
| Yes
| No
| No
| No
| No
| No
|
| NTFS5 | NTFS | exFAT | FAT32 | FAT16 | FAT12 |
|---|
| Built-In Security
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes minimal ACL only
| No
| No
| No
| | Recoverability
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes if TFAT activated
| No
| No
| No
| | Performance
| Low on small volumes High on Large
| Low on small volumes High on Large
| High
| High on small volumes Low on large
| Highest on small volumes Low on large
| High
| | Disk Space Economy
| Max
| Max
| Max
| Average
| Minimal on large volumes
| Max
| | Fault Tolerance
| Max
| Max
| Yes if TFAT activated
| Minimal
| Average
| Average
|
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What is the cluster size for NTFS?
By default, the maximum cluster size for NTFS under Windows NT 4.0 and later versions of Windows is 4 kilobytes (KB). This is because NTFS file compression is not possible on drives that have a larger cluster size.
What is the standard maximum size drive supported given a cluster of 4kb in NTFS?
Using the default cluster size of 4 KB, the maximum NTFS volume size is 16 TB minus 4 KB.
What is the maximum possible disk space for a cluster size of 2 Kbytes for a MS DOS disk system?
For most DOS-based operating systems, the maximum cluster size remains at 32 KB (or 64 KB) even for sector sizes larger than 512 bytes. For logical sector sizes of 1 KB, 2 KB and 4 KB, Windows NT 4.0 supports cluster sizes of 128 KB, while for 2 KB and 4 KB sectors the cluster size can reach 256 KB.
What is the approximate size bytes of the NTFS partition?
If you are a "Standard User" by Microsoft's definition, you should keep the default 4096 bytes. Basically, the allocation unit size is the block size on your hard drive when it formats NTFS.
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