[sf-lug] partitioning/formatting USB memory stick

[Akkana Peck]

Alex Kleider writes:
> On a Raspberry Pi I'd like to use a USB memory stick (Kingston 64GB DataTraveler Micro) for extra storage space and am seeking advice as to how best to do this.
> 
> The first question is how to format it.  It's currently formatted for FAT:

Dave North (my husband) did an evaluation of performance of various
filesystems on cheap flash drives a few years ago:
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/7208/1
Quick summary: use ext4.

> Another question has to do with partition boundaries.  I've read that it is best to have them line up with the way the read/writes are done and although this is not predictable, using a number such as 2048 is usually a good bet.
> The question more specifically then is whether it is best to "Start" at 63 or to start at 2048 or some other number?

I don't know, and Dave didn't have much luck finding details on how
the blocks were laid out on any commercial flash media.  The optimal
numbers probably vary from flash stick to flash stick, and you might
have to run a lot of tests to find out the optimal values for your
stick. If you do such tests, or if you find anyone who's done them,
please post! I'd be very interested to hear and I'm sure others
would too.

	...Akkana