Disk Performance - NTFS Formatting

[aetius1980]

Hi,

I'm configuring an Exchange 2010 server on Esxi 5.1. I'm using thick provisioning eager zeroed for the VMFS5 disk, which is 2TB.

Within Windows, does it make a difference in terms of performance if I format the disk as a NTFS full format as opposed to a quick format?

I know a full format checks the disk consistency (brand new server), but it takes so long to do 2TB, I wondering whether  in terms of performance there's much difference?

Thanks

[vmroyale]

With eager zeroed thick on a new disk, I would think the quick NTFS format would be fine.

[jrmunday]

Agreed, a quick format will be fine. I did some IO testing comparing RAW disk to NTFS etc. and from a performace point of view there was no difference. If you have time to burn, then you can doi it for peace of mind, but if performance is your only concern then a quick format will be just fine.

[aetius1980]

Cheers for the tips guys :-)

[sparrowangelste]

like vmroyale said quick should be fine.

this is really a os issue not a vmware one, reason being if the vmdk is eagerthick or thin, the os doesnt know.

they only way it would be aware of the actual disk would be if it were a RDM

see the link for quick format vs full

If you choose             the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not             scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been             previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not             damaged.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302686

but since its a vmdk you wont find , or shoudlnt, bad sectors anyway

[krismcewan]

As long as you are not using a Thin provision on a san then performance as mentioned before is neglegable.

Windows doesnt care a jot about how the VMFS disk is created.

[jdptechnc]

You might want to check the Microsoft best practices for block size when  you format the drive with NTFS.  I don't remember offhand what, if  anything, they recommend for Exchange, but for SQL the best practice  that I found was 64K for data drives and 8K for logs.

Quick format should be OK.

[aetius1980]

Already done, 64K sir!