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Date:      Mon, 24 Nov 1997 21:13:47 -0800 (PST)
From:      Simon Shapiro <shimon@simon-shapiro.org>
To:        "John S. Dyson" <toor@dyson.iquest.net>
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, reyesf@super.zippo.com
Subject:   Re: Optimizing HD I/O. What size to use to read/write?
Message-ID:  <XFMail.971124211336.shimon@Simon-Shapiro.ORG>
In-Reply-To: <199711180932.EAA01115@dyson.iquest.net>

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On 18-Nov-97 John S. Dyson wrote:
> Francisco Reyes said:
>> I am going to start working on a program which will be heavy on I/O.
>> I was wondering what would be a good size to read/write at a time.
>> 
>> What is the minimun block size FreeBSD allocates? 4K? 8K? Is it HD
>> dependent?
>> 
> One more comment, if you are doing sequential I/O, you really don't
> want
> to do read/writes less than 4K-8K.  You are likely into diminishing
> returns beyond 8K.

I'd say it applies to random access even more.  Especially if there is
more than one client for the disk I/O.  On SCSI, up to about 8K, the
dominant factor is bus handling, data is a small fraction.  After 8K
data starts showing up (and this is where wide/ultra/shmultra start
making a difference).

> 
> -- 
> John
> dyson@freebsd.org
> jdyson@nc.com


If Microsoft Built Cars:

There would be an "Engine Pro" with bigger turbos, but it would be
slower on most existing roads.


Sincerely Yours, 

Simon Shapiro
Shimon@Simon-Shapiro.ORG                      Voice:   503.799.2313



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