Best Allocation Unit Size for Reading 42K Files

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.file_system,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

I have an application reads large numbers of contiguous 42K files
(we took the time to arrnage them physically on an NTFS file
system as contiguous, and they have not become fragmented).
What would be the best sizes for allocation units when doing the
low level format on the storage system that creates the logical
volume, and then separately what would the best allocation unit
size for Windows 2000 NTFS format?

If I want to optimize performance, I assume I would make both the
storage system and the NTFS allocation unit 64K? That would
result in each I/O grabbing a single file, and would minimize the
number of physical I/O required to read - for example - 40 files.

If I wanted to get good performance, but make better use of disk
space, I assume that my storage system and NTFS allocation units
around 16K, and then three IOs would retrieve one file.

If anyone can clarify this for me I would appreciate it.

--
Will
Internet: westes at earthbroadcast.com