I’ve had this tool detect misaligned partitions on Win 7 when they were not.
Using Paragon’s alignment tool right fterwards showed the alignment was fine.
I have had lots of problems with Acronis software in the past and avoid them…
same for me thats it wd has faild both in production and support wd green is a very bad line… WD isnt a good hdds any more
setaak wrote:
same for me thats it wd has faild both in production and support wd green is a very bad line… WD isnt a good hdds any more
That’s kind of a harsh, generalized statement. How do you mean we’ve failed in support? And how are you using the green drive? Cause if you are using it as a system drive, you shouldn’t be. This is the recommended use for the Green drives:
Recommended use (from our corporate website).
WD Green hard drives are tested and recommended for use in PCs as secondary storage, external enclosures and other applications that require cool and quiet operation.*
Resurrecting the thread… because I have the same issue as other users: I have a WDBAAU0030HBK (WD Elements Desktop 3 TB), and I need to align it since I’m using it on Windows XP. It worked out of the box, single NTFS partition with full 3TB. XP could use it fully.
Now, I moved my data and formatted usinf the WD quick formatting utility (from support site, public free download).
Then I checked the alignment with “WD Align System Utility 2.0 (Retail) - Powered By Paragon”, that tells me it’s not aligned correctly… so I aligned it. But the tool is old.
So I found “WD Align - Powered by Acronis” v2.0.0.107, a .nl friend managed to get it for me a year ago or so, but this tool doesn’t see the disc as an advanced format unit, it remains greyed out with a “non WD advanced format” message… I start to worry, something is not right…
I then go online, register my WD product… and discover that there’s no alignment tool for this hdd unit.
Too bad, I go to the advanced format page, and I run i an infinite loop, can’t get it (but I can get the **bleep** cloning thing, that I don’t need)
I start to get pissed, expecially after reading this thread: how can a company as WD being unable to provide support like this? FTP links and bittorrent? That’s not an answer!
So what now? Before transferring data there I need it to be perfect (aligned, full capacity avail), but no tools are available for this from WD.
Yeah that is pretty harsh.
I am beyond impressed with WD’s support.
These people have gone above and beyond what I thought was possible for me.
And i wanna add that i have never liked Acronis software and my experience with their align tool
is just that my experience… why that happened (more than once) i have no idea.
Basiclly i think Paragon has been Acronis’s competition for ages and i am on that side 
WD is first class in my opinion and I think their employees should rest well at night knowing they do a really good job for people !
I experienced this ‘eternal loop’ issue today, after creating an account, registering my device and attempting to download the alignment tool. The issue was resolved by logging out of the account. When attempting a download without being logged in, I was forced to log in, and the process worked.
So, the issue seems to be a lack of ‘interbrowser communication’, i.e. communicating user login status between two browser windows/tabs doesn’t work properly. I used IE 9 with Windows 7 and IE 8 with Windows XP Prof x64 Edition.
2 Likes
jensh, it help me too!
Folks, I just bought a WD20EARX 00ZUDB0 from a local dealer, being so naive as to believe that formatting 2TB under WindowsXP should be an easy thing to accomplish. Not enough that there’s epic confusion about the 7-8 “WinXP compatibility jumper” (some WD resources say that you should set the jumper if you intend to user the drive with XP, some say that this is unecessary with newer firmware releases - see http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/981/p/227,294/session/L3RpbWUvMTMzODYzNDI4OC9zaWQvNVYyZE5FWms%3D#afdjump),,) I have to go through a questionaire about where I intend to use the drive and if I probably need a special formatting tool aka. “AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_111.exe”.
Since the plan is to put the drive in an external Revoltec Alu Book Edition II enclosure, I find out that indeed the Acronis product is indeed necessary. I probably have to point out, that I’m not exactly a fan of Acronis products, at least since the time when I needed to do an image from a RAID-setup of a (rather common) HP ProLiant DL320 Generation 6 server where it failed to recognize the HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller chipset and showed individual drives instead of a RAID partition. It took some time to create a WinPE bootable media with drivers and embedded Symantec Ghost to finally clone the drive to set up the next server. What a bummer.
Back to the original business: After registering myself and my new WD20EARX drive, I’m caught in the endless loop around the URL http://support.wdc.com/product/downloadsw.asp?sid=128&a= and the defunct “Download” button that so many people have criticized here.
ftp downloads and torrents from dubious sources? **bleep**?!?! This can’t be true. So I move on to ftp://ftp.css.com.ua/pub/drivers/HDD/WD/AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_111.exe just for the sake of it. A whooping 72MB (SEVENTY TWO MEGABYTES) of download, Windows installer. Can you say BLOATWARE? Not even something portable! You must be kidding me. Hey WD, I don’t want to travel to the moon or install a new operating system. I WANT TO FORMAT MY FREAKING HARDDRIVE!
So there’s WD_Quick_Formatter_Win_1_2_0_10.zip (about one meg) but I have a feeling that this only works with external enclosures of WD and not the Revoltec one…
I’m really a patient guy and have fiddled with PCs quite a lot. But this sure takes it to a new level. Not speaking about having to disclose serial numbers, telefon and other contact details to get a piece of hardware running. Let’s hope that at least the Load-Cycle-Count problem (that has been discussed elsewhere) won’t bite me…
So I’m giving WD a chance and try my luck. One very last chance. But before that, I’ll get back to my dealer and ask if I’ll void warranty if I take the drive out of its sealed bag. It’s anyhow a mistery to me that he sold me a generation 00ZUDB0 drive (built Nov. 14th 2012 in Thailand) instead of a 00PASB0. The former has 4 platters/8 heads the latter has 3 platters/6 heads. Needless to say that the 00PASB0 is more modern, less complex, will probably run more quietly and create less heat compared to its successor. Oh well. At least it was cheap.
The Seagate ST2000DL003 ist probably not that expensive after all…
Sadly, I purchased 4 WD1502FAEX-007BA0 drives to put into a RAID10 array on my desktop. I needed lots of storage for video editing and wanted it to be fast. I have no idea what happened but one of my 1.5TB drives is being reported to have a capacity of 500Gb by WD’s Data LifeGuard Diagnostics and I was led to believe that the align tool might fix this. I can’t download that tool to see if it works because, just like everyone else, nothing happens when I click on the download button.
Given that this issue has been identified for so long, I am surprised and disappointed that WD hasn’t fixed it and I can’t think why they wouldn’t have changed it to be available in the same way as the LGD program, at least temporarily, while they sort out their inability to get the web site to work correctly. Ignoring the user base doesn’t seem to me to be the smartest thing they could be doing.
This is not my first WD purchase although I have tended to choose other brands more often. Everyone has their preferences and every brand has disgruntled customers who can relate horror stories. What really sets brand apart, these days, is their customer service and their responsiveness to customer needs. I think WD has missed an opportunity to be responsive and the longer they leave a link on their web site that doesn’t work, the less responsive they look. As a result, they should expect customer dissatisfaction and not be surprised when it is voiced.
Oh yes, and the user registration process is suspect, too. If you require a phone number in a specific format, make that information apparent up front. I usually insert my phone number in international format and if WD is unable to handle that, the fault lies with WD, not with me. Erasing the password and confirmation on each screen edit is quite user-unfriendly so identify ALL the fields you’re not happy with on the first pass. Did the work-experience kid write that edit routine?
Update:
I downloaded and installed “HDD Capacity Restore” which solved my immediate problem.
Hope WD can come up with something just as easy to sort out *their* problems.
unfortunally still hanging in the loop.
nice work WD, congratulation.
and no, logout, empty the cache, other browser, all dosn’t work, even diferent PC, it makes no difference, still getting the loop
WD drives on Windows 2003 server failed after running for nearly 7 years. Had customer purchase emergency pair of 3Tb RED drives (after all, the last WD drives were so good). New partition misaligned; hard drive write speeds horribly slow. Desparately need AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_111.exe but can’t get it.
The tool download problem has been active for months. If WD doesn’t want to give away the software, then don’t. But stop wasting our time dangling carrots.
I’m outta here… got a server to rebuild and a customer waiting.
Ridiculous, WD !!!
bramar wrote:
unfortunally still hanging in the loop.
nice work WD, congratulation.
and no, logout, empty the cache, other browser, all dosn’t work, even diferent PC, it makes no difference, still getting the loop
We are really sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, but it should be fixed by Friday.
It’s still not fixed 
I registered, I tried in 3 different browser, I’m getting redirected back to the download page without any download…
Can the support mail us a working download link?
Regards
Edit:
Today it worked, thanks for fixing it.
I’ve tried several different ways to mess up getting to the download and I can still get the download for the tool. How exactly are you going to the download? Can you give me the steps, from beginning to end. Also, what versions of browsers are you using?
[edit]
Also, do you have Java enabled? Do you have anything like cookies disabled, popup blocker enabled.
- File Name: AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_111.exe
- File Size: 69.4 MB
- Version: 2.0.111
- Publish Date: 1/27/2012
Almost a year into this thread, and the problem still happening, after being told over and over that it’s fixed. Well done WD! I must admit, I do judge people and companies, by whether they actually do what they say they will do.
I am registered and logged in, and get looped back to the same page when I click the Download button.
I managed to find it via an illegal unauthorized location, so no need to respond to me. This is just to inform you of my displeasure about the waste of time of having to register for no reason, try over and over to download, read this long frustrating thread, and then go elsewhere to get it.
One of the lamest support experiences I can recall, in 15 years in the IT business. Why not just put the file where the label on the HDD says to go to get it, and have it simply download? This is not difficult! What possible benefit does WD get from pissing so many people off?
Again, no need to respond, replies will not be read.
Bulgie wrote:
Almost a year into this thread, and the problem still happening, after being told over and over that it’s fixed. Well done WD! I must admit, I do judge people and companies, by whether they actually do what they say they will do.
I am registered and logged in, and get looped back to the same page when I click the Download button.
I managed to find it via an illegal unauthorized location, so no need to respond to me. This is just to inform you of my displeasure about the waste of time of having to register for no reason, try over and over to download, read this long frustrating thread, and then go elsewhere to get it.
One of the lamest support experiences I can recall, in 15 years in the IT business. Why not just put the file where the label on the HDD says to go to get it, and have it simply download? This is not difficult! What possible benefit does WD get from pissing so many people off?
Again, no need to respond, replies will not be read.
This is for everyone’s benefit. There are two things specifically required to be able to download the Acronis software:
- You must have cookies enabled. Othewise, your account information will not be passed along.
- You must have registered to the Customer Portal. Otherwise, there is no information for the cookie to pass along.
If you have cookies enabled, but you don’t have an account, it won’t work. If you have an account, but you don’t cookies enabled, then it still won’t work. Moreover, It shouldn’t matter whether you try to download from your Customer Portal account, or straight from the Support Downloads page. It should download either way.
It dosen’t work anyway! I have my product registered I am logged in I have disabled my adblocker I have enabled cokkies I tried with firefox I tried with Internetexplorer I hope my new wd harddisk is better than the support!
Private message me with the email you are registered under for the Customer Portal, because you are not registered under this email address.
