The best/efficient way of writing a huge 3D array into a binary file

Hi Everyone,

I am working on saving and reading a huge 3D array to and from a binary file. Using intel fortran compiler, the size of the array varies from 128x128x128 to 1024x1024x1024.

As far as I know, this array can be saved:

1.) elements by elements;

2.) row by row (or column by column, if see this 3D array is composed by a sequence of 2D arraies), or

3.) be saved as a single record.

But I am confused with which one of those three methods is the best, or in other words the most efficient, considering the consuming time (spend on saving and reading), accuracy and size of stored file (if different way will bring differences).

Thanks for your answers, comments and discussions.