1. For Exchange 2010 Database, it is recommended that the size of elements within a RAID stripe be set 512K for best performance.
2. Windows NTFS allocation unit size for Exchange 2010 database partitions should be set to 64K for best performance. For log partitions, if separated from database, the default allocation unit size should be used.
3. To see current settings run the following command, check bytes per cluster
fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo <drive letter>
4. How to format a new disk:
Make sure your RAID stripe is 512K
and run this command on command prompt
Diskpart
list disk
select disk
create partition primary align=1024
assign letter=
format fs=ntfs unit=64K label="
Example:
C:\>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6001
Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: ASPIRINGGEEK
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn GPT
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 186 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 100 GB 0 B
Disk 2 Online 120 GB 0 B
Disk 3 Online 150 GB 150 GB
DISKPART> select disk 3
Disk 3 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> create partition primary align=1024
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
DISKPART> assign letter=F
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
DISKPART> format fs=ntfs unit=64K label="MyFastDisk" nowait
References:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814(SQL.100).aspx
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/solutions/security/Dell_PV_MD1200_7200_Mailbox_Resiliency_Exchange_2010_Storage_Solution.pdf
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee832792.aspx
