Skip to main content

ABA12.5 Storage Node data volume recommended cluster size (Windows)

Thread needs solution

The default cluster size is still 4K on NTFS volumes in Windows. My storage nodes in testing are running pretty good on 8 x 600GB 10k SAS drives in RAID5. But as always, I want to do it right the first time.

Does Acronis have a recommendation for NTFS cluster size for a storage node? E.g. for MS SQL server, it writes pages in 64k size so MS recommends 64k cluster size for DB and log volumes so it matches up. What is the typical write block size for Acronis storage node and therefore the recommended cluster size?

thanks

Pete

0 Users found this helpful
frestogaslorastaswastavewroviwroclolacorashibushurutraciwrubrishabenichikucrijorejenufrilomuwrigaslowrikejawrachosleratiswurelaseriprouobrunoviswosuthitribrepakotritopislivadrauibretisetewrapenuwrapi
Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Pete,

Acronis Storage Node uses variable block size when splitting the original data chunks into deduplicated blocks. The data block size varies from 1 byte to 256KB for disk-level and file-level backups. Each file that is less than 256KB is considered a complete data block. Files larger than 256KB are split into 256KB blocks.

There are some more details in our technical white paper which contains additional information and recommendations, but there is no direct answer to your question, so I'll check for it with our developers and update the thread once I get the answer.

Thank you.

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Vasily, thanks for the honest explanation and the link the tech whitepaper. Good info.

I look forward to anything else Acronis can provide for guidance with regards to the cluster size for the deduplication DB location.

Thanks again.

Pete

frestogaslorastaswastavewroviwroclolacorashibushurutraciwrubrishabenichikucrijorejenufrilomuwrigaslowrikejawrachosleratiswurelaseriprouobrunoviswosuthitribrepakotritopislivadrauibretisetewrapenuwrapi
Posts: 22
Comments: 3800

Hi Pete,

I've got a reply from our developers: the cluster size beyond default 4k for NTFS volumes won't give any significant improvement to Acronis Storage Node performance when saving deduplicated data to these volumes. In other words there are no specific recommendations here, besides keeping the cluster size at values divisible by 4k (4k, 8k, 16k, etc.).

Thank you.