I got a new external crucial X8 usb 3.0 ssd and it reports a very large blocksize.
Unfortunately, it seems to make playing videos over the network with samba have problems. It may also be suboptimal using it on a usb 2.0 port.
blockdev --report
shows most drives have 256 sector readahead
RO RA SSZ BSZ StartSec Size Device
ro 256 512 1024 0 205111296 /dev/loop0
ro 256 512 1024 0 204873728 /dev/loop1
ro 256 512 1024 0 4096 /dev/loop2
ro 256 512 1024 0 157855744 /dev/loop3
however, my crucial ssd gets a giant 131072 readahead value. I believe this is what's causing the problems with the network drive sharing.
sudo blockdev --setra 16384 /dev/sdb
sets it to a much better value and I don't see the audio dropouts.
You can also check the value by getting the readahead for a specific drive.
blockdev --getra /dev/sdb
LSI 9305-16i SATA SAS 12Gbs RAID Controller PCIe 3.0 x8 IT-Mode 4* 8643 SATA
$229.99
HPE 869102-001 Smart Array E208i-a SR Gen10 Storage Controller RAID SP: 871039
$116.99
Lot of 4 - Genuine Dell (62P9H) PERC H710 512MB Mini Blade 6Gbps SAS Raid
$44.99
Lot of 2 -Dell P2R3R PERC H330 Mini Mono 12Gbps SAS Non-raid Controller 0P2R3R
$35.99
Inspur LSI 9300-8i Raid Card 12Gbps HBA HDD Controller High Profile IT MODE
$15.98
LSI MegaRAID 9361-8i 12Gb PCIe 8-Port SAS/SATA RAID 1Gb w/BBU/CacheVault/License
$39.95
LSI MegaRAID 9361-8i 12Gbps PCIe 3 x8 SATA SAS 3 8 Port RAID + BBU & CacheVault
$39.00
ORICO Multi Bay RAID Hard Drive Enclosure USB 3.0/ Type-C For 2.5/3.5'' HDD SSDs
$82.49
ACASIS 2.5/3.5 inch 2 Bay SATA USB 3.0 Hard Drive Disk HDD SSD Enclosure 4 RAID
$58.99
DELL POWEREDGE R750 8 BAY SFF SERVER H755 PERC RAID 3KDWX XDC17 CABLE KIT
$599.00