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CompactFlash, SD, MMC, USB flash storage. Anything that does not have moving parts inside.
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What is the internal "sector size" (page size?) of a SSD?

September 6th, 2026, 5:05

Hello,

is there something like a range or a common value describing how much data is written physically when I trigger a write operation on an SSD?

For example, I create a new file and write 1 byte at file position zero and close the file afterwards.
On my Windows NT filesystems which have a cluster size of 8 sectors, one free cluster of 4096 bytes will be used for the data.

How much space will the SSD use for that 1 byte of information internally when performing that incoming write command for the data?

Is that more or less space? Are there typical values?

Re: What is the internal "sector size" (page size?) of a SSD

September 7th, 2026, 0:06

It's more likely the SSD controller would buffer it and combine it with other writes, place it into part of a NAND page (~ 16K depending on the generation). It's a hard question to answer as your single write also creates filesystem metadata and such. And then there is garbage collection aspects to consider.

It's not a black and white answer...

Re: What is the internal "sector size" (page size?) of a SSD

September 7th, 2026, 17:35

For example, I create a new file and write 1 byte at file position zero and close the file afterwards.
On my Windows NT filesystems which have a cluster size of 8 sectors, one free cluster of 4096 bytes will be used for the data.


No, this will typically be resident data. Zero clusters allocated.

Re: What is the internal "sector size" (page size?) of a SSD

September 7th, 2026, 19:31

Joep,

thanks alot for pointing out my error! :D
My example was not precise.

Let it either be FAT32 or EXFAT so that a cluster will be allocated (and written) or be 4096 bytes written in case of NTFS so that it does not fit into the MFT alone anymore...

WebClaw,

thank you for providing me with an idea what the dimension of those flash pages is!
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