Physical Sector Size different between WD20EARS-00MVWB0 and WD20EARS-60MVWB0

Checking with FSUtility in Windows 7 i see their cluster size are both 4kb.

Checking the physical sector size the WD20EARS-00MVWB0 has 512 but the WD20EARS-00MVWB0 has 4096 instead. 

What is the difference?

You have a typo in the model numbers. Am I correct in assuming that the WD20EARS-60MVWB0 is the one that reports a 4KB physical sector size?

I suspect that the difference is in the 512-byte information block that the drives return in response to an ATA Identify Device command. These data should be accessible via the Text Copy function in CrystalDiskInfo. Hopefully this will tell us whether each drive is reporting 4KB or 512-byte LBA sizes.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Go to Edit → Copy. This will copy the disk information to the clipboard. Then open up NotePad or whichever word processor ships with your version of Windows, and choose Edit → Paste (or Ctrl-V) to input the clipboard data, or simply paste the data into your next post.

BTW, you could also redirect your FSUTIL output to a text file as follows:

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo d: > 60MVWB0.txt

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 4.0.2 (C) 2008-2011 hiyohiyo
                                Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
  Date : 2011/07/11 14:59:02

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
 + Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
   + ATA Channel 0 (0)
     - WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 ATA Device
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)
 - ATA Channel 2 (2) [ATA]
 - ATA Channel 3 (3) [ATA]
 + ATA Channel 4 (4) [ATA]
   - INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC ATA Device
 + ATA Channel 5 (5) [ATA]
   - WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 ATA Device
 - ATA Channel 0 (0) [ATA]
 + ATA Channel 1 (1) [ATA]
   - WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0 ATA Device
 + Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 2922 [ATA]
   - ATA Channel 0 (0)
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)
   - ATA Channel 2 (2)
   - ATA Channel 3 (3)
   - ATA Channel 4 (4)
   - ATA Channel 5 (5)
 - Virtual CloneDrive [SCSI]

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
 (1) WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0 : 2000.3 GB [0-1-0, pd1]
 (2) INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC : 80.0 GB [1-6-0, pd1] - il
 (3) WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 : 2000.3 GB [2-7-0, pd1]
 (4) WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 : 500.1 GB [3-2-0, pd1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (1) WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0
        Firmware : 51.0AB51
       Disk Size : 2000.3 GB (8.4/137.4/2000.3)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 3907029168
   Rotation Rate : Unknown
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ----
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 53 hours
  Power On Count : 10 count
     Temparature : 36 C (96 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 243 243 _21 000000000AF8 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 00000000000E Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 _51 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 100 100 __0 000000000035 Power-On Hours
0A 100 253 _51 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 253 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 00000000000A Power Cycle Count
B8 100 100 _97 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout
BE _64 _63 _40 000024200024 Airflow Temperature
C0 200 200 __0 000000000007 Power-off Retract Count
C1 200 200 __0 000000000006 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (2) INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC
        Firmware : 2CV102M3
       Disk Size : 80.0 GB (8.4/80.0/80.0)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 156301488
   Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA/ATAPI-7
   Minor Version : ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D version 1
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 8982 hours
  Power On Count : 1431 count
     Host Writes : 5662.69 GB
     Temparature : Unknown
   Health Status : Good (100 %)
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
03 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin Up Time
04 100 100 __0 000000000000 Start/Stop Count
05 100 100 __0 000000000001 Re-Allocated Sector Count
09 100 100 __0 000000002316 Power-On Hours Count
0C 100 100 __0 000000000597 Power Cycle Count
C0 100 100 __0 0000000000A8 Unsafe Shutdown Count
E1 100 100 __0 00000002C3D6 Host Writes
E2 100 100 __0 00000082B877 Unknown
E3 100 100 __0 000000000001 Unknown
E4 100 100 __0 0000CC3C057B Unknown
E8 100 100 _10 000000000000 Available Reserved Space
E9 _99 _99 __0 000000000000 Media Wearout Indicator
B8 100 100 _90 000000000000 End to End Error Detection Count

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (3) WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0
        Firmware : 51.0AB51
       Disk Size : 2000.3 GB (8.4/137.4/2000.3)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 3907029168
   Rotation Rate : Unknown
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ----
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 2472 hours
  Power On Count : 643 count
     Temparature : 36 C (96 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : 80FEh [OFF]

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 168 165 _21 00000000199E Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 000000000380 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 __0 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 _97 _97 __0 0000000009A8 Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 100 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 000000000283 Power Cycle Count
C0 200 200 __0 000000000168 Power-off Retract Count
C1 191 191 __0 000000006B22 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 114 109 __0 000000000024 Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (4) WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Model : WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0
        Firmware : 12.01C02
       Disk Size : 500.1 GB (8.4/137.4/500.1)
     Buffer Size : 16384 KB
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 976773168
   Rotation Rate : Unknown
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ----
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 15566 hours
  Power On Count : 1894 count
     Temparature : 37 C (98 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : 80FEh [OFF]

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 185 178 _21 00000000165D Spin-Up Time
04 _98 _98 __0 000000000853 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 _51 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 _79 _79 __0 000000003CCE Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _51 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 100 _51 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C _99 _99 __0 000000000766 Power Cycle Count
C0 199 199 __0 0000000004B3 Power-off Retract Count
C1 200 200 __0 000000000853 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 113 104 __0 000000000025 Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000381 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 _51 000000000000 Write Error Rate

Fsutility. 60MVWB0 was given E:.

NTFS Volume Serial Number :       0xba2cae6f2cae25fbVersion :                         3.1Number Sectors :                  0x00000000e8e077ffTotal Clusters :                  0x000000001d1c0effFree Clusters  :                  0x0000000016337a91Total Reserved :                  0x0000000000000000Bytes Per Sector  :               512Bytes Per Physical Sector :       4096Bytes Per Cluster :               4096Bytes Per FileRecord Segment    : 1024Clusters Per FileRecord Segment : 0Mft Valid Data Length :           0x0000000000940000Mft Start Lcn  :                  0x00000000000c0000Mft2 Start Lcn :                  0x0000000000000002Mft Zone Start :                  0x00000000000c0000Mft Zone End   :                  0x00000000000cc820RM Identifier:        B97886F7-AB66-11E0-BF41-0015172CE4A1

 edit: What’s the difference between Linear Layout Settings and Topic Layout Settings and Topic Layout Settings in my profile settings? Just curious. 

The Identify Device data are missing from CrystalDiskInfo’s report.

You need to go to Edit → Copy Option and select Identify Device.

If you could do this for both the 60MVWB0 and 00MVWB0, then this will enable us to compare them, byte-for-byte.


CrystalDiskInfo 4.0.2 (C) 2008-2011 hiyohiyo
                                Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/

    OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
  Date : 2011/07/13 17:00:45

– Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
 + Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller [ATA]
   + ATA Channel 0 (0)
     - PLEXTOR DVDR   PX-760A ATA Device
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)
 - ATA Channel 2 (2) [ATA]
 - ATA Channel 3 (3) [ATA]
 + ATA Channel 4 (4) [ATA]
   - INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC ATA Device
 + ATA Channel 5 (5) [ATA]
   - WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 ATA Device
 - ATA Channel 0 (0) [ATA]
 + ATA Channel 1 (1) [ATA]
   - WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0 ATA Device
 + Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 2922 [ATA]
   - ATA Channel 0 (0)
   - ATA Channel 1 (1)
   - ATA Channel 2 (2)
   - ATA Channel 3 (3)
   - ATA Channel 4 (4)
   - ATA Channel 5 (5)
 - Virtual CloneDrive [SCSI]

– Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
 (1) WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0 : 2000.3 GB [0-1-0, pd1]
 (2) INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC : 80.0 GB [1-6-0, pd1] - il
 (3) WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 : 2000.3 GB [2-7-0, pd1]


 (1) WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0

           Model : WDC WD20EARS-60MVWB0
        Firmware : 51.0AB51
       Disk Size : 2000.3 GB (8.4/137.4/2000.3)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 3907029168
   Rotation Rate : Unknown
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ----
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 96 hours
  Power On Count : 13 count
     Temparature : 26 C (78 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : ----

– S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 253 243 _21 00000000075B Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 000000000011 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 _51 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 100 100 __0 000000000060 Power-On Hours
0A 100 253 _51 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 253 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 00000000000D Power Cycle Count
B8 100 100 _97 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout
BE _74 _63 _40 00001A19001A Airflow Temperature
C0 200 200 __0 000000000007 Power-off Retract Count
C1 200 200 __0 000000000009 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

– IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 42 7A 3F FF C8 37 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00
010: 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 57 44 2D 57 43 41 5A
020: 41 34 30 32 38 36 32 36 00 00 00 00 00 32 35 31
030: 2E 30 41 42 35 31 57 44 43 20 57 44 32 30 45 41
040: 52 53 2D 36 30 4D 56 57 42 30 20 20 20 20 20 20
050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 80 10
060: 00 00 2F 00 40 01 00 00 00 00 00 07 3F FF 00 10
070: 00 3F FC 10 00 FB 01 00 FF FF 0F FF 00 00 00 07
080: 00 03 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F 05 06 00 00 00 4C 00 40
0A0: 01 FE 00 00 70 6B 7C 01 41 23 70 69 BC 01 41 23
0B0: 20 3F 00 B5 00 B5 00 00 FF FE 00 00 00 00 00 00
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 88 B0 E8 E0 00 00 00 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 60 03 00 00 50 01 4E E2 B0 2B 2E 98
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 1C
0F0: 40 1C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 29 04 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 3D 00 00
1A0: 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 1E 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 01 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 25 A5


 (3) WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0

           Model : WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0
        Firmware : 51.0AB51
       Disk Size : 2000.3 GB (8.4/137.4/2000.3)
     Buffer Size : Unknown
     Queue Depth : 32
    # of Sectors : 3907029168
   Rotation Rate : Unknown
       Interface : Serial ATA
   Major Version : ATA8-ACS
   Minor Version : ----
   Transfer Mode : SATA/300
  Power On Hours : 2514 hours
  Power On Count : 646 count
     Temparature : 27 C (80 F)
   Health Status : Good
        Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
       APM Level : ----
       AAM Level : 80FEh [OFF]

– S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 200 200 _51 000000000000 Read Error Rate
03 169 165 _21 000000001996 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 000000000383 Start/Stop Count
05 200 200 140 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 200 200 __0 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
09 _97 _97 __0 0000000009D2 Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 __0 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 100 __0 000000000000 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 000000000286 Power Cycle Count
C0 200 200 __0 000000000168 Power-off Retract Count
C1 191 191 __0 000000006C72 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 123 109 __0 00000000001B Temperature
C4 200 200 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 200 200 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 200 200 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 200 200 __0 000000000000 Write Error Rate

– IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
     +0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 42 7A 3F FF C8 37 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00
010: 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 57 44 2D 57 4D 41 5A
020: 41 30 37 36 36 36 31 34 00 00 00 00 00 32 35 31
030: 2E 30 41 42 35 31 57 44 43 20 57 44 32 30 45 41
040: 52 53 2D 30 30 4D 56 57 42 30 20 20 20 20 20 20
050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 80 10
060: 00 00 2F 00 40 01 00 00 00 00 00 07 3F FF 00 10
070: 00 3F FC 10 00 FB 01 00 FF FF 0F FF 00 00 01 07
080: 00 03 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 00 00 00 00 00
090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F 17 06 00 00 00 44 00 40
0A0: 01 FE 00 00 74 6B 7F 61 41 23 74 69 BC 41 41 23
0B0: 00 7F 00 BE 00 BE 00 00 FF FE 00 00 80 FE 00 00
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 88 B0 E8 E0 00 00 00 00
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 01 4E E6 00 6C 06 47
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 1C
0F0: 40 1C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
100: 00 29 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 35 00 00
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1B0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 1E 00 00
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 01 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4F A5

Thanks again.

I have reorganised the Identify Device data so that they can be more readily compared against section 7.16.4 of the ATA standards document below.

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/WD20EARS/00MVWB0.TXT
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/WD20EARS/60MVWB0.TXT

Here are the differences:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/WD20EARS/00diff60.txt

Working Draft AT Attachment 8 - ATA/ATAPI Command Set (ATA8-ACS):
http://www.t13.org/documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2008/D1699r6a-ATA8-ACS.pdf

As expected, there are differences in Advanced Format words 106 and word 209.

The 00MVWB0 drive has zeros for all the Advanced Format words, so it is unable to report its AF capabilities.

Words 117 and 118 indicate that the logical sector size is still only 512 bytes for both drives.

Word 106 for the 60MVWB0 drive indicates that the ratio of Physical sector size to Logical sector size is 8:1 (0x6003), meaning that the drive has 4KB physical sectors.

Word 209 (Alignment of logical blocks within a physical block, 0x4000) indicates that there is no alignment jumper installed. The jumper at pins 7 and 8, if installed, adds a +1 sector offset to the LBA value. For example, if Windows XP accesses LBA 63 (ie the boot sector of the first partition), and if the jumper is present, then the drive transparently accesses LBA 64 instead.

Among the other differences, I notice that the 60MVWB0 supports SCT Error Recovery Control (word 206) whereas the 00MVWB0 does not. This suggests that the 60MVWB0 would be a better choice for RAID-ing, at least in software RAIDs where the ERC timeouts could be set at bootup. Otherwise the ERC settings are volatile, ie they do not survive a power cycle.

The 00MVWB0 supports the HPA feature set (words 82 and 85) whereas the 60MVWB0 does not. This means that the 00MVWB0 can be configured with a smaller capacity.

The 00MVWB0 supports Power Up In Standby (PUIS, words 83 and 86) and AAM (word 83).

As well as the Identify Device data, I notice that there are differences in several SMART attributes.

For example, instead of reporting both temperature attributes (C2 and BE) as is usually the case for most HDDs, the 00MVWB0 uses only C2, and the 60MVWB0 uses only BE. Some users have reported that this causes problems for some RAID controllers which rely on one particular attribute for their temperature reporting.

The following SMART attributes were added for the 60MVWB0:

End-to-End Error
Reported Uncorrectable Errors
Command Timeout

2 Likes

So you’ve explained why these drives report differently but I didn’t see the part about WHY?  Why the differences?

One fundamental difference between the drives is: The patch http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=982018 won’t have any effect for the drive that doesn’t report the 4K sector size.