read file variables methods

I got a large data matrix (3Gb) of signal data which I saved to a .mat file. Since the data size is large I figured out it will be wiser to access the file and read each time a block of data, process it and move to the next block instead of loading the complete file. I'm wondering should I use the matfile method, fopen and fread or should I use a datastore and read command. What is faster from the processing point of view and easier to work with? Or any other considerations? Thanks

[per isakson]

"data set" &nbsp is that one numerical array?

"fairly large data set" &nbsp how large compared to the physical memory?

[Talmon Alexandri]

data set - plain numerical array 10 million lines by 48 columns Total RAM size - 3G

[per isakson]

Given

1. "large data matrix (3Gb) of signal data which I saved to a .mat file"
2. "Total RAM size - 3G[B]"
3. "[one] plain numerical array 10 million lines by 48 columns"

I assume the mat-file is version 7.3, because that's needed to store an array of that size.

I would say this a a perfect case for matfile, Access and change variables directly in MAT-files, without loading into memory.

It's the easiest to work with and I don't think there is any other way that is significantly faster.

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

I think maybe using memmapfile and a binary file might be easiest for access.