New versions of the Linux kernel expose the physical and logical block
size, and minimum and recommended I/O size.
-For a typical hard drive with 512 byte sectors:
+For a typical consumer hard drive with 512 byte sectors:
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/hw_sector_size
+ 512
$ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/physical_block_size
512
$ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/logical_block_size
$ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/optimal_io_size
0
+For a new consumer hard drive with 4Kbyte sectors:
+
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/hw_sector_size
+ 4096
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/physical_block_size
+ 4096
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/logical_block_size
+ 4096
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/minimum_io_size
+ 4096
+ $ cat /sys/block/sda/queue/optimal_io_size
+ 0
+
For a NetApp LUN:
$ cat /sys/block/sdc/queue/logical_block_size
For detailed information about what these numbers mean, see
L<http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Storage_Administration_Guide/newstorage-iolimits.html>
-[Thanks to Mike Snitzer for providing NetApp data and additional
-information.]
+[Thanks to Matt Booth for providing 4K drive data. Thanks to Mike
+Snitzer for providing NetApp data and additional information.]
=head2 1 MB PARTITION ALIGNMENT