Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Gentoo on a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook

[Alan McKinnon]

On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 23:33:20 +0700
Pandu Poluan <pandu@××××××.info> wrote:

> On Mar 5, 2012 11:04 PM, "Alex Schuster" <wonko@×××××××××.org> wrote:
> >
> > Grant writes:
> >
> > > > The performance is only impacted if the sector size is
> > > > something other than 512 bytes. The newer 4K sector size used
> > > > by some higher density drives requires that you start
> > > > partitions on a sector boundary or they will perform badly.
> > > > There isn't an actually performance need to actually start on
> > > > 2048 but the fdisk-type developer folks are doing that to be
> > > > more compatible with newer Windows installations.
> > >
> > > All my drives says this from fdisk:
> > >
> > > Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> > > Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> > > I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
> >
> > Neither fdisk nor hdparm seem to get the correct sector size, at
> > least not always. That's what I read somewhere (and not only once),
> > and it's true for my own 2TB drive which I know to have a 4K sector
> > size. I'd say you have to look up the specs on the vendor's web
> > size to be sure.
> >
> > > So it doesn't matter where the first partition starts?
> >
> > If you have 4K sectors (and not a Seagate drive with SmartAlign
> > [*]), it does.
> >
> > BTW, here's some benchmarks I just stumbled upon:
> >
> http://hothardware.com/Articles/WDs-1TB-Caviar-Green-w-Advanced-Format-Windows-XP-Users-Pay-Attention/?page=2
> >
> > [*] I don't want to sound like I'm advertising for Seagate here,
> > but at least it seems that with SmartAlign the performance impact
> > will be much less, so it might not be worth the trouble of
> > re-partitioning drives that are already being used.
> >
> >        Wonko
> >
>
> The problem with SmartAlign is that..*.* it's magic... once you run
> out of mana, you can kiss your data goodbye.
>
> In other words, I tried to find how it works, but Seagate seems to be
> mum; and that is ungood. Without knowing how exactly the technology
> works, how can we be sure that it won't blow up when encountering
> edge/corner cases?
>
> So, albeit nice (in the sense that one does not have to experience the
> headache in ensuring that partitions are properly aligned), I
> personally will stay away from magical things.

Heretic!!

Beleive the magic you muggle!!

:-)




-- 
Alan McKinnnon
alan.mckinnon@×××××.com