/A: Switch Added to FORMAT.COM

Last reviewed: May 5, 1997
Article ID: Q95207

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1

SUMMARY

Microsoft has added an /A: switch to the FORMAT.COM file for Windows NT. This switch allows you to specify an NTFS volume's allocation unit size (cluster size).

MORE INFORMATION

Using a larger allocation unit size speeds up bitmap searches and reduces external fragmentation, at the cost of greater internal fragmentation.

The syntax of this switch is:

   /A:xxx

where xxx may be 512, 1024, 2048, or 4096.

The default for xxx is 512 bytes per allocation unit. In the retail release of Windows NT, the default allocation unit size will be a function of the disk size:

    512 bytes for disks less than 512 MB
   1024 bytes for disks from 512 MB to 1 gigabyte (GB)
   2048 bytes for disks from 1 GB to 2 GB
   4096 bytes for disks greater than 2 GB

Additional query words: prodnt
Keywords : kbtool ntutil
Version : 3.1
Platform : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: May 5, 1997
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