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
Extron RGB-160XI Analog Computer Video 60-378-01
$187.06
Vintage Gateway 2000 Computer Intellimouse PC Mouse Pad Excellent NOS Analog Era
$17.49
NEW Aquarius+ Computer Signature Edition - 8Bit Retro System
$209.00
CapSure Full-Motion Zoomed Video Capture Card for the Macintosh 3400/2400 (iREZ)
$119.99
Analog Computing The Magazine Atari Computer Owners February 1984 No. 16
$12.00
Apple II V2 ANALOG VGA & Z80 PCPI Applicard Softcard PicoPal IIe Ralle version
$69.00
$18.00
Vintage Goodyear Electronic GEDA Analog Computer Plug -- Extremely Rare
$195.00
Apple 661-0287 5.25" Unidisk Analog CD Card Vintage 1986 820-0190-A
$154.00
ION VCR 2 PC USB VHS Video to Comp. Conversion System,Digital Transfer *Open Box
$75.00