Does Ghost change Cluster Size?

[chee]

1. problem description:

suppose a fat32 partition is with cluste size 2k, ie, 512b*4, and, ghost this partition into an image, now, dump this image back to the source partition, will the original cluste size be reserved??

2. why this bothers:

since storing small files with larger cluster size will result in bigger space waste, and it's alway true that the operating system constains many files of small sizes, hence to be space-efficient, a small cluster size is favored, though this will lead to longer defragmentizing time.

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any suggestion would be appreciated.

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test results: PQ magic could resize cluster size without data loss and partition table change

Edited June 2, 2006 by chee

[IcemanND]

from Symantec's support site:

Ghost automatically changes the cluster size as needed while restoring an image

Situation:

You want to change the cluster size of a partition you are restoring.

Solution:

Ghost does not provide an option for you to change the cluster size.

For FAT file systems, Ghost automatically makes any cluster size changes required by a change in the partition size. For NTFS file systems, Ghost does not change the cluster size.

[chee]

Thanks to ICEManND!

cause these days i've noticed this subtle change when dumping an image with ghost.

my 1st primary partition is with cluster size 2k, but the restored partition is with cluster size 4.

since i've never tried to partition the 1st primary partition not according to the default size, i'm not sure whether ghost made this change.

also, could i be told how PQ magic resizes the cluster size? does pq magic only change the info in both two copies of fat32 located at CHS: 011 (while MBR is reserved at CHS=001) without rearranging the data on the target partition?