Faulty drive geometry reported: logical 512 but physical 4K
This review is from: WD BLACK SERIES WD2003FZEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Pros: On Linux, do a smartctl -a, display the real physical geometry of this drive: it is advanced format, 4K sectors.
Now do a fdisk, and you'll see it is masquerading a logical 512, so WD can force these drives on all these machines with OS prior to 2012.
WD alliance to Microsoft Windows 8 has made such a false geometry a killer for other OS that understand the 512 NOrrmal Format that has been known for the past 27 years.
Cons: Faulty drive geometry that will render the drive work harder. Known and classical OS are using the geometry mistakenly because WD lies about the drive format.
Stick to Normal Format as there is almost no gain in performance, rather a mess and a faulty transparent format that penalize the drive seek sector, more rotation, cause of drive premature aging.
WD is forcing Adanced Format drives to support large capacity drives, typically used for media content. If you care about your data, go with Normal Format and <2TB drives.
Other Thoughts: I do not know much about these eggxperts, but one thing for sure: there is nothing scientific about their reviews, and WD is pushing AF drives with false geometry.
Western Digital, THE END CONSUMER IS NOT A BETA TESTER, AND DO NOT FOOL THE NOVICE WITH FAULTY DISK GEOMETRY.