1 TB Caviar Green 64 MB Cache (WD10EARS)

or2010 · September 6, 2010, 6:29pm

Hello ,

I have bought 1 TB Caviar Green 64 MB cache (WD10EARS) hard drive recently . I partitioned it into two parts using Windows XP installation . After running Acronis Align utility I can see in Windows Disk Management that small unallocated space has appeared before and after the C and D partitions . Is it normal ? Norton Partition magic 8.0 finds error with the drive and marks it as bad but it is ok in Acronis Disk Director Home .

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romitL · September 7, 2010, 5:52am

please post a screenshot of windows disk management showing the unallocated spaces.

fzabkar · September 7, 2010, 8:50am

I can’t see your photo. In any case, better information would be provided by Sector Inspector:

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/SecInspect.zip

Extract the above archive to the one folder and execute the SIrun.bat file. The procedure will generate a report file named SIout.txt which you can then upload to a file sharing service.

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 10:04am

Thanks for the reply .

Here is the Disk management screenshot :

And here is the SIout.txt :

http://www.4shared.com/document/qS_VnPYn/SIout.html

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 10:11am

Acronis Disk Director shows 992.5 KB unallocated space before the C partition and 592.5 KB space before and 256 KB after the D partition.

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 10:35am

I have uploaded the photos somewhere else if you are not able to see them here

Partition Magic error screenshot :

Disk management screenshot:

romitL · September 7, 2010, 11:42am

Are you using any jumper setting on the HDD? If no/not, did you run align utility after installing XP? Please post the current align utility screenshot.

Acronis Disk Director shows 992.5 KB unallocated space before the C partition and 592.5 KB space before and 256 KB after the D partition.

This is not normal. Have you tried resizeing the partitions C & D using Acronis Disk Director partition management?

Back up important data on your WD10EARS and resize/expand C & D in a manner that the unallocated spaces are fused with the respective partitions (Data won’t be wiped, will only be moved). Then see if C & D needs alignment with Acronis Align Utility.

Its better if you attempt this with EASEUS Partition Master, which I’m more familiar with & have used on my own WD10EARS drive. If you need EASEUS Partition Master PM me.

Note: Do not use Norton Partition Magic as it is a very old software & doesn’t understand new Advanced Format Drives.

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 12:37pm

I have not used any jumpers on the drive . I ran the Acronis align utility within Windows after installing Windows XP . Acronis align says the partitions are optimally aligned . EASEUS Partition Master shows different unallocated space (1 MB before and after the C partition , 1 MB before and 1.7 MB after the D partition) .

romitL · September 7, 2010, 1:11pm

I have not used any jumpers on the drive . I ran the Acronis align utility within Windows after installing Windows XP . Acronis align says the partitions are optimally aligned.

OK. No problem here. Moving on…

1 MB before and 1.7 MB after the D partition

Resize/expand partition D only using EASEUS Partition Master such that (Backup data before continuing):

new size of Partition D = 1MB + ORIGINAL SIZE OF Partition D in MB + 1.7MB

Wait for EASEUS Partition Master to complete the resizing job.

Then check whether unallocated spaces (1 MB before and 1.7 MB after the D partition) are still there. Check with Acronis Disk Director & Win Disk Management too.

Run Acronis Align tool. See that D is aligned or not. Most probably it won’t be & you’ll have to align it again as none of the current partition management tools are Advanced Format aware.

Report back.

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 1:28pm

In EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition when I choose Resize/Move and change the “unallocated space before” the D partition to 0 the “unallocated space after” becomes 2.6 MB and when I try to change that to zero the “unallocated space before” becomes 2.6 MB .It seems i can’t zero both of them but just one of them. The same problem is with Acronis Disk Director but the value is 848.5 KB instead of 2.6 MB

romitL · September 7, 2010, 2:05pm

“unallocated space before” the D partition to 0 the “unallocated space after” becomes 2.6 MB

Set “unallocated space before” = 0. Let 2.6 MB be there at the end. Apply changes.

Repeat the resizing again by setting “unallocated space after” = 0 and fuse 2.6 mb from end together.

Another way will be to delete D and recreate it from the total unallocated space.

or2010 · September 7, 2010, 6:35pm

I successfully managed to set the unallocated space before and after the D partition to zero in EASEUS Partition Master by changing the partition size itself but unfortunately Acronis Align shows that the partition is not aligned again . If I run the Acronis Align on D partition the main problem will be repeated probably and the unallocated space will appear again before the partition .

romitL · September 8, 2010, 6:49am

but unfortunately Acronis Align shows that the partition is not aligned again

Yeah this is normal. But you must align the partition or else the transfer rate will be very slow. Please post an uncropped screenshot of Easeus Partition Master showing partitions C & D.

If I run the Acronis Align on D partition the main problem will be repeated probably and the unallocated space will appear again before the partition

Are you sure that Acronis Align was primarily responsible for your problem. Anyhow, you may give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll get those unallocated spaces again. You can also use Paragon Align utility if Acronis gives you trouble.

Paragon Align utility:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=805&lang=en

Select “Alignment Option 2: WD Align - Paragon” download the installer, install and align D partition.

Report back:smiley:

or2010 · September 8, 2010, 10:15am

Thanks for the reply , I removed the 1 MB unallocated space before the C partition using EASEUS Partition Master and it was gone in Windows Disk Management as well . Acronis Align showed the drive to be optimally aligned Paragon didn’t . I ran Paragon on C and it became aligned but the unallocated space reappeared before the partition in Disk Management. I have not aligned the D partition yet but it will definitely have the same problem.

romitL · September 9, 2010, 10:12am

Well things didn’t pan out as planned:cry:

Here’s some new possible approaches you can go for now:

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1) The following steps apply only if you have an extra/spare drive.

(No data on WD10EARS will be deleted, backup data if possible and you’ll be able to boot from it afterwards)

___________________________________________________

a) Remove/disconnect cables (SATA and power) from your WD10EARS after turning off your system

b) Connect the extra/spare drive.

c) Install WinXP on it.

d) After the completion of XP installation, install Acronis WD Align, Paragon WD Align & Easeus Partition Master.

e) Turn off your PC. Connect WD10EARS from a different SATA port on your mobo. Don’t disturb the connection on the extra/spare drive.

Make the extra/spare drive your Primary drive & the WD10EARS your Secondary drive from BIOS interface.

f) Turn on PC. Start/run Easeus Partition Master.

Move/Resize all unallocated spaces using Easeus Partition Master on the WD10EARS which is now your secondary drive.

g) Start/run Acronis WD Align. Align the partition requiring alignment.

h) Start/run Paragon WD Align. See if Acronis WD Align did the job right.

i) Start/run Easeus Partition Master/Windows Disk Management/Other Tools.

See if you get unallocated spaces before/after partitions again.

j) Turn off your PC. Remove/disconnect cables from the extra/spare drive and insert it to WD10EARS.

This will make WD10EARS your Primary drive.

k) Turn on your PC. Boot from WD10EARS. Boot into XP.

If “File Check” is shown after the XP boot screen, wait for the “File Check” to complete.

l) Start/run Easeus Partition Master/Windows Disk Management/Other Tools.

See if you get unallocated spaces before/after partitions.

OR

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2) The following steps apply only if you have a CD/DVD drive/writer.

(No data on WD10EARS will be deleted, backup data if possible. You’ll be able to boot from it afterwards)

___________________________________________________

a) Download “WD Align CD - Powered by Acronis” (align122.iso) from

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloadsw.asp?sid=122

Read the “Description” thoroughly.

b) Burn Acronis WD Align CD (bootable ISO image) to a CD/DVD using an ISO burning application.

e.g.: Using Nero Express burning software.

Usage e.g.: Nero Express>Image, Project, Copy>Disc Image or Saved Project>In explorer/browse window select the bootable ISO image file>Proceed to burn it onto a CD/DVD

c) Let the CD/DVD stay in the drive.

d) Start/run Easeus Partition Master.

Move/Resize all unallocated spaces using Easeus Partition Master on the WD10EARS.

e) Turn off your PC. Change setting (boot order) in BIOS interface to boot from your CD/DVD drive.

f) Align the partitions requiring alignment using “WD Align CD - Powered by Acronis” in live mode.

g) After the job is completed, “Exit” the Live CD/DVD. Change setting (boot order) in BIOS interface to boot from WD10EARS.

h) Boot into windows. If “File Check” is shown after the XP boot screen, wait for the “File Check” to complete.

i) Start/run Easeus Partition Master/Windows Disk Management/Other Tools.

See if you get unallocated spaces before/after partitions.

j) Start/run Acronis WD Align. See if Acronis WD Align CD did the job right.

k) Start/run Paragon WD Align. See if Acronis WD Align CD did the job right.

OR

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3) If you use Windows 7 to reformat WD10EARS, the HDD will be automatically aligned but you will lose all your data. So you’ll need to backup you data if you go this way.

___________________________________________________

or2010 · September 10, 2010, 6:21pm

Thanks for the reply . I repartitioned the whole disk and formatted it using Windows XP and then booted from Acronis WD Align CD and aligned the partitions but the unallocated spaces reappeared .

romitL · September 11, 2010, 6:22am

Do you have a spare drive which can be used as primary?

If yes, please vide Option (1) of my previous post.

or2010 · September 11, 2010, 10:38am

I have aligned the partitions using Windows on a spare drive but it didn’t work as well .

fzabkar · September 15, 2010, 10:38pm

Your Sector Inspector report is indicating an offset of 2048 sectors at the start of each partition. This is the default for Vista and Win 7. It appears that Acronis uses the same default. Windows XP defaults to 63 sectors.

You can create an offset of 64 sectors (8 x 4KB) by manually editing the partition table.

See this thread:

http://forum.hddguru.com/problem-with-mk6459gsx-winxp-sector-hdd-t16973.html#p113422

or2010 · September 17, 2010, 9:02am

Thanks for your help . Actually I have important data on the drive with no backup . Is it really necessary for me to change the partiton table ?