What is cluster size and how to change cluster size?

When using computer, we may ignore many problems. Most of the time we don’t realize these problems, because these key parameters are fixed or default. To manage our computers better, we must know about the specific meaning of these parameters and know their influences on our computers. Today, I tell you an important noun which we always easily ignore – cluster.  

A track on hard disk disc is divided into several arcs with equal size. The arc is called “sector”. Since the unit of “sector” is too small, sectors are tied together to form a bigger unit to facilitate our management. This unit is named “cluster”, which is the smallest unit for disk file storage management in Microsoft operating system.

In Microsoft operating system, a file is usually stored in one or multiple “clusters”. However, there is limitation that one file at least occupies one “cluster”. That is to say, two or more files can’t occupy one “cluster” at the same time. For instance, there is a file of 3KB, if the size of one cluster is 1 KB, this file needs to occupy 3 “clusters”. If the cluster is 2 KB, this file just need to occupy two clusters. But two clusters are 4KB while the file size is 3 KB. According to the principle that two files can not share one same “cluster”, even if there is a file with 1KB, the file just have to be stored in next cluster. Therefore, 1 KB storage space is wasted. Through the example above we can see that the bigger the cluster is, less cluster the file will occupy. However, the bigger the cluster is, the more disk storage space will be wasted.

If the cluster is smaller, will the storage situation be better? No. It is undisputed that the smaller the cluster is, the higher the computer disk utilization rate will be. But if the cluster is smaller, the computer needs to manage more clusters and plenty of computing resources will be consumed. Besides, if cluster is smaller, computer will produce more disk fragments. All these problems will have grate influence on computer performance. So, a reasonable “cluster” size is the best way to improve computer performance.

How to set reasonable “cluster”? In Windows, there are two kinds of existing file systems FAT32 and NTFS. In FAT 32 file system under Windows 2000, if the partition is 2GB ~8GB, the smallest cluster is 4KB; if the partition is 8GB~16GB, the smallest cluster is 8KB; and if the partition is 16GB~32GB, the smallest cluster reaches 16KB. In Windows 2000 NTFS file system, when partition size is within 2GB, cluster size is smaller than the corresponding FAT32 cluster size; when partition size is beyond 2GB (2GB~2TB), the default cluster size is 4KB. By contrast, we can see that NTFS can more efficiently manage disk space than FAT 32 does, and avoid wasting disk space to a large extent. Therefore, when choosing file system, we’d better choose NTFS file system. And the 4 KB cluster size maybe the most reasonable size. If you store large file such as movie in one partition separately, you can choose to adjust cluster size to bigger one.  

If we are not satisfied with cluster size, how can we adjust the cluster size？ We can turn to system disk management tool to re-choose cluster size through formatting partition. However, this method will cause all data to be lost. Therefore, we’d better use the excellent partition magic alternative MiniTool Partition Wizardto adjust partition cluster size. By this way, we can easily and fast perform operation without causing data loss. Besides, we can convert FAT 32 to NTFS without damaging data with this software, which facilitates performing optimization management for cluster. We’d better keep such a piece of excellent disk management software in our computer. 

A professional free Windows partition magic

MiniTool Partition Wizard is a free disk manager for all Windows operating systems including WIndows 2000 Server, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

As we all know built-in Disk Management in Windows OS always fails users in managing hard disk and partitions. In Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, Disk Management is only able to delete partition, format partition, change drive letter, finishing some basic partition management operations. Although Shrink Volume and Extend Volume funtion are added to Windows Server 2008, WIndows 7 and Windows 8, we still can not use them to manage partition well. Take Windows 7 for example. If we are going to extend a partition with Disk management tool in Windows, there must be free space behind the partition that will be extended. Otherwise, this operation can not be realized. Even if we can shrink a partition, the shrunk can only be used to create a new partition. It can not be used to extend other partitions.Having this kind of limitation, Disk Management always fails users.

However, MiniTool Partition Wizard is a powerful disk manager. We can use it to carry out many partition and disk management operations. For example, we can resize partition, move partition, copy partition, convert FAT to NTFS, merge partitions and so on. It possesses all functions of the Disk Management and dozens of functions that are not in the possession of it. All operations are very simple, so we can use it to manage partitions and disks easily.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is divided into five editions: Free (Home) edition, Professional, Server, Enterprise and Technician. For common users, Free(Home) edition is enough. Many disk management problems can be solved easily. For detailed information, please visit the official website http://partitionwizard.com/

a partition magic for Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 is the latest server operating system of Microsoft, which not only inherits excellent performance of Windows Server 2003, but also has many improvements and new functions on the basis of Windows Server 2003. For example, Windows Server 2008 has improved security by enhancing operating system and protecting internet environment, and by accelerating deployment and maintenance of IT system to simplify combination and virtualization of server and application, managing tool intuitively. Windows Server 2008 has many features, but as those who have used Windows Server series operating systems know, there are certain function flaws in partition managements of Windows Server series operating system developed by Microsoft. Although they can perform partitioning disk and other operations, these operations not only complicate, but also risk high danger. Once accidental operations occur when we perform partition management on disk, it will cause data loss. Even operation pause caused by power off or dead halt may give rise to data loss. To prevent these situations from happening, many server administrators will use disk partition manager to perform partition management operations.              

As for disk partition management software, we can find many different types of software, but most of them are single in performance, and they may have flaws, which can lead to data loss when we manage partition. So when we choose disk management software, we must choose a piece of perfect disk management software. And when we make choice, we should pay attention to following problems:

The software is released by a professional software development company.

1. Multiple operating systems and file systems are supported by the software.

2. Complete disk management functions.

3. Perform partitioning without data damage.

To sum up requirements above, I choose MiniTool Partition Wizard, the disk partition management software developed by MiniTool Solution Ltd. The software runs well under many operating systems of personal computers and server computers such as Windows XP. Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Sever 2008 and other operating systems. And it can also perform operations on file system partitions such as FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, and EXT series. At the same time, MiniTool Partition Wizard has very perfect disk management functions, mainly including create partition, delete partition, format partition, merge partition, delete all partitions, convert FAT to NTFS, convert Dynamic disk to Basic disk, Partition Recovery Wizard and so on.

I find the disk management function of MiniTool Partition Wizard is very powerful, and it can help me solve all partition management problems. So I usually visit the official website of MiniTool Partition Wizard. One of my purposes is to pay close attention to newer information of MiniTool Partition Wizard; the other is to learn more knowledge about disk partition management on the official website of MiniTool Partition Wizard. Now it has been updated to 7.5 edition which has further enhanced its original functions. To my surprise, its Wipe Partition (it is said that American important department use this technology to wipe data) can thoroughly wipe the whole disk, and even the data recovery software can’t recover the wiped data, thereby ensuring our data security to a large extent. What’s more exciting, when we use MiniTool Partition Wizard partition manager, we can gain technology support from its development company MiniTool Solutions Ltd. So when we encounter disk partition management operations problems, it can provide us with help.   

How to merge partitions in Windows 7?

It is a common operation for users of Windows 7 to merge partitions in Windows 7, which make the allocation of disk space more reasonable. But this operation is not very simple. Although partition magic of Windows 7 is much better than that of any other Windows operating systems, it has no function of merging partitions. Therefore, a professional partition magic must be employed to merge partitions. There is different partition magic software with different functions. Considering data security in Windows 7, MiniTool Partition Wizard is recommended for this partition magic is of high data security.

The Advantages of Using MiniTool Partition Wizard to Merge Partitions in Windows 7
There are many advantages to use MiniTool Partition Wizard to merge partitions in Windows7:
  1. The operation is simple and convenient. It is easy to use MiniTool Partition Wizard to merge partitions in Windows 7. Users just need to click the mouse by following the instructions and will be familiar with it soon.
  2. MiniTool Partition Wizard can support Windows 7 of 32 bits and 64 bits.
  3. MiniTool Partition Wizard is of high data security. Merging partitions in Windows 7, users concerns about data security most. And MiniTool Partition Wizard has solved this problem. In the process of merging partitions, MiniTool Partition Wizard will put the data of partitions into a folder, and when the merging process is finished, it will put the folder into the new partition and users can name it to avoid data cover caused by repetition of file name. MiniTool Partition Wizard is a professional partition magic with powerful function of merging partitions. And its disk management function is also excellent.

Specialist of Disk Management-----MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is very powerful. Adopting the advantages of peer software and developing independently and creatively, MiniTool Solution Ltd. released MiniTool Partition Wizard. And it has got a lot of attention from users since its publish. MiniTool Partition Wizard has perfect functions of managing disk. For example, it can create, delete, merge, format, copy, wipe, recover partitions and convert file systems and test surface. It makes disk management simple and convenient and reduces the probability of misoperation. If users desire more information about, please visit the official website:http://www.partitionwizard.com/

Considerations of using MiniTool Partition Wizard to Merge Partitions in Windows 7
MiniTool Partition Wizard can be employed to merge partitions in Windows 7 under the condition that both partitions are NTFS and adjacent. If the condition is not satisfied, merging partitions in Windows 7 will not be accomplished. But MiniTool Partition Wizard can create the conditions for merging partitions. If users want to merge partitions of FAT12/16/32, the function of "Convert FAT to NTFS" can change file system. And if the two partitions are not adjacent, the function of "Move/Resize" can change the locations of partitions as the following picture shows:



When the two NTFS partitions are adjacent, merging partitions can be executed. Just as the following picture shows:



Follow the instructions to click the mouse, and merging partitions in Windows 7 will be accomplished.

MiniTool Partition Wizard is an excellent and professional partition magic and it can meet all demands of partition management in Windows 7. And the home edition is totally free for personal and family users.

what does Famous persons' privacy leak remind us of?

The famous person, such as political leaders, business elites and super stars who are active in entertainment field or sports field, are always the center of people’s attention. However, while the high attention brings great splendor and glory to them, it also brings them much trouble. That is because all their words and behaviors are concerned by people, so many people with malicious thoughts try their best to expose the super stars’ privacy to make exorbitant profits or raise awareness. This can be found from constant exposure events of super stars privacy photos or privacy words. In fact, not only super stars encounter such a situation, our common person also may encounter such things, because stealing others’ privacy has been a kind of bad society atmosphere.        

Seeing this, maybe some people will criticize the ugly human nature, but nobody can stop such things. Just like every country is seriously fight against criminals, but various kinds of criminals still frequently happen. Actually, our evaluation and improvement on human nature just consider about long-time human development, but can’t efficiently improve the current bad atmosphere of stealing privacy. Maybe it can’t be changed during a long time. In order to efficiently improve the bad atmosphere of stealing privacy, we should keep our privacy data in safe first, avoiding giving malicious person chances. Let the time improves the human nature.   

Actually, the security work of personal privacy data is always a problem needing to be thought. With the constant science technology improvement and constant birth of high technology products, we not only gain material and spiritual enjoyment, but also face many potential risks. For example, the birth of digital camera, DV, computer and other high-technology products facilitate us to record our privacy lives that includes many touching things. However, the common privacy data leak events are usually caused by the security problems of the high technology products. Maybe many of the computer users have encountered such situations – the hard disk with privacy data and important data was damaged, or the important data got lost. At this time, we usually thought of turning to professional to recover the lost important data. However, it usually included personal privacy problems, so we felt it was a headache. Finally, many users still chose to pay high fees to professional to recover lost important data, and this action made it possible to leak privacy data.      

So is there any method that can help us find the lost important data and prevent our privacy data from leaking? Yes. As people pay more and more attention to privacy data security, currently there are two popular data recovery methods. The first one is to use professional data recovery software (like MiniTool Power Data Recovery) by yourselves to recover lost important data. By this way, we can prevent others from contacting the privacy data and avoid privacy data leak. The second, after thoroughly smashing the privacy data in hard disk, we pay high fees to data recovery company to recovery important data. Thus we can protect the privacy data from being leaked to large extent.    

In fact, when we use computer, it is very common to encounter privacy data security and recovery of lost important data. Once encountering such a situation, we should be calm. According to the real situation, we choose the data recovery method above, because timely recovering lost important data to large extent is the most significant. 

How to convert FAT 32 to NTFS without damaging data?

Both FAT file system and NTFS file system are released by Microsoft, and they are used under Windows operating system. We can see many file systems on the market, but Windows operating systems occupy the largest market share, so the FAT and NTFS certainly become the most widely used file systems at present. FAT is the earliest file system used under MS-DOS. With our demands for computer storage devices constantly improving, FAT has also derived different versions such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, etc. NTFS is a standard file system released by Microsoft for Windows NT and subsequent operating systems. By now, NTFS has taken place of FAT and becomes the most common file system. So, compared with FAT, what advantages does NTFS have? Why do so many computer users convert FAT to NTFS?       

AS a matter of fact, compared with FAT, NTFS has very obvious improvement no matter in performance or data security. Among these advantages, NTFS has faster file-reading speed than FAT. And NTFS uses smaller cluster than FAT, thus it efficiently improve the hard disk space utilization ratio. At the same time, NTFS can support single file which is as large as 64 GB, so it’s more practical than FAT32 which has the best performance among FAT series but can only support files within 4GB. Because the sizes of many files have exceeded 4GB, FAT can’t store such kind of files. Our best choice for storing these large files is to convert FAT to NTFS. As for data security we concern most, NTFS also has very great improvement. Firstly, we can share resources and folders and set files access permission on NTFS partition, which greatly enhancing privacy data security of NTFS partition. What’s more, NTFS has disk self–healing function and error warning functions, which ensure NTFS partition data security to a highest degree when fault occurs on disk. To sum up above points, NTFS file system is superior to FAT file system. And compared with FAT, the advantages of NTFS are far beyond these, and I don’t introduce them one by one.      

        

How to convert FAT to NTFS perfectly? There are two ways. Firstly, re-format the partition to NTFS file system. By this way, we will lose all the file data on the partition, so it is not recommended. The second way is to download third-party disk management software like MiniTool Partition Wizard. The “Convert FAT to NTFS” of MiniTool Partition Wizard can be used to convert FAT32 to NTFS directly without any effects on partition data. This method is so perfect that I strongly suggest that you use the second way to convert FAT to NTFS. Besides, MiniTool Partition Wizard is powerful I and easy to operate. It’s just the main reason why I choose MiniTool Partition Wizard.

We are not required to learn much computer knowledge when using MiniTool Partition Wizard. Just click mouse and the software can perfectly help us complete converting FAT file system to NTFS file system. What’s more, MiniTool Partition Wizard has many other disk management functions. Once you own it, you can do well in disk management with very simple operations. Don’t you want such powerful software? Hurry to download MiniTool Partition Wizard to manage your hard disk like I do.

How to safely merge partitions on Vista?

The key to merging partition in Vista is to select some suitable partition magic. Similar to Windows operating systems, Vista provides users with multiple editions like Home Basic edition, Home Premium edition, Enterprise edition, Ultimate edition, etc. Judging from the edition names, we can know that different editions are used in different environments. What's more, every edition consists of 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and there are differences between 32-bit Vista and 64-bit Vista. Is it necessary to select suitable partition magic according to different Vista editions in order to merge partition? For some partition magic, it is. However, we can ignore it if we use MiniTool Partition Wizard which supports all Vista editions.

What if partition magic is not compatible with Vista?
Microsoft has announced that Vista operating system is of excellent compatibility. But many users have encountered the situation where some software is not compatible with Vista.
1. When we use partition magic to merge partition in Vista, some can enter the operation window normally. But in the operating process, Vista may show error prompt, which stops merging partition.
2. Some partition magic is said to run perfectly in Vista. But after users update or change Vista operating system edition, the partition magic can not operate in Vista, let alone merging partition in Vista.
3. Some unprofessional partition magic is not compatible with Vista at all. When we launch it, the system reminds us of compatibility failure and merging partition in Vista can not be carried out.
Whether the partition magic is compatible with Vista must be considered when Vista users choose partition magic. No matter how powerful the partition magic is, it is useless if it can not run normally in Vista. However, MiniTool Partition Wizard gets rid of our worries about compatibility. According to Vista users' feedbacks, MiniTool Partition Wizard is highly compatible with all Vista editions, so we can use it to merge partition in Vista.

How to merge partition in Vista with MiniTool Partition Wizard?
It is not difficult to merge partition in Vista. Only if we follow the prompts of MiniTool Partition Wizard in every step can merging partition be finished easily.



Select any partition in the main interface and click "Merge" on tool bar.



Select the disk where merging partition are to be performed and select the partition that will be merged and click "Next>".



Select another partition that will be merged to the previous selected partition and all files in this partition will be stored in a folder in the new partition (we can set folder name by ourselves). Then click "Finish" to return to the main interface.



In the preview, we can see that the two partitions have been merged to a new partition and partition capacity is changed correspondingly. Last, click "Apply" to execute all operations contained in "Operations Pending". Until now, we have finished merging partition in Vista.

Tips on merging partition in Vista
1. The two partitions that will be merged must be adjacent. If not, we can explore "Move/Resize Partition" to make it.
2. Both of the partitions that will be merged must be NTFS file system. If we want to merge FAT partitions, we must change file system into NTFS by employing the function "Convert FAT to NTFS".

In daily disk management, Vista users not only need to merge partition, but also need to create partition, copy partition, delete partition, recover partition and so on. MiniTool Partition Wizard has all those functions as well as some other partition management functions which are rarely used but practical. More information can be obtained on the official website http://www.partitionwizard.com.