storage configuration for Advanced Format

[Oliver Fromme]

Zeus V Panchenko <zeus at ibs.dn.ua> wrote:
 > Bruce Cran (bruce at cran.org.uk) [10.09.14 18:35] wrote:
 > > On Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:23:52 +0300
 > > Zeus V Panchenko <zeus at ibs.dn.ua> wrote:
 > > 
 > > > 2. gpart add -b 2048 -s 1953521664 -t freebsd-ufs /dev/ad4
 > > 
 > > You can use suffixes to specify the size if you want - e.g. "-s 500G".
 > > Or, omit it altogether to use all available space.
 > 
 > what i wanted to detalize is `-b 2048' option ... am i correct,
 > it causes the data ajustment to benefit 4k blocks peformance?

It lets the partition start at 1 MB offset, which is of
course aligned to 4k.  1 MB is also standard in Windows,
I think, although I'm not sure why.  I usually let the
first partition start at 64K, because the fdisk(1) default
is a "geometry" with 63 sectors per track, so I let the
first partition start at sector 65 in the first slice
(63 + 65 = 128 sectors = 64Kb).

By using a fragment size of 4KB with the newfs command,
you make sure that there will be no misaligned accesses.

Regarding your mentioning of "performance":  You are aware
that the WD "green" drives are pretty slow, aren't you?
If you need good performance, you can get much faster
drives for just a few Dollars/Euros/whatever more.

Best regards
   Oliver

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