New HDDs - New 4KB Sector Format

[TVeblen]

Just found out about this myself. Guy was trying to get one of these new 2TB drives to work on XP. W7 can handle it natively, but thought I would share anyway. Good to know if you build or repair as I do.

[FONT=&quot]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-4k-sector,2554.html[/FONT]

 

[strollin]

Thanks. That's news to me and I'll have to remember it. I haven't yet installed any 2TB drives so haven't encountered this. I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

 

[stormy13]

Posted in the News section a couple of weeks ago,

http://www.sevenforums.com/news/70138-ignore-windows-7-stick-xp-will-cost-you.html

 

[CommonTater]

Just found out about this myself. Guy was trying to get one of these new 2TB drives to work on XP. W7 can handle it natively, but thought I would share anyway. Good to know if you build or repair as I do.

[FONT=&quot]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-4k-sector,2554.html[/FONT]

As I understand it from reading up on it (I recently took my HTPC back to XP to solve some problems that defied my every effort.) there is a utility from the manufacturers that will re-align partition boundaries to the 4k steps they will need to be on, allowing win 2000 and later machines to access the new drives normally.

Needless to say these will become a standard part of my tool kit from now on.

Since WD is the only company currently releasing 4k hard disks, here's a link to their info and download page for their software...

Advanced Format Hard Drive Download Utility