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
Vintage DEC Digital Equipment Corp. Digital PC752 DEC PC LPv 433SX 486 Computer
$250.00
*NEW UNOPENED* Vintage DEC LB-5923 Keyboard
$40.00
Vintage DEC/The Redac mini cabinet front panel Digital Equipment Corp. 19"
$269.99
Vintage DEC Digital Equipment Corp PDP 11/40 G114 16K SENSE/INHIBIT (B10)
$269.99
Vintage DEC DIgital MicroVAX 2000 Hardware Information ST533B11
$35.00
Vintage Digital Equipment Co RP04p hard drive DEC VAX mini computer 11 14” disks
$250.00
DEC 54-21673-04 Vintage 8200 Power Supply Module 50-21670-03
$1500.00
Vintage DEC Starion 960 (FR-904AA-A8) Desktop Computer Intel Pentium 166MHz
$88.96
Vintage Digital Equipment DEC Medical Systems Front Control Panel Bezel
$449.10
VINTAGE DEC DIGITAL M5903 DRIVE TRANSCEIVER 5010502 H-P3
$74.99