How to format WDBWLG0040HBK from 512e to 4kn

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

It is 4K physical sector and 512 logical sector, is it possible to format to 4K logical sector by some software??

2 Likes
2

You have to use the WD format utility: How to Format an External Drive Using WD Quick Formatter

OR, change from MBR to GPT

See this post: 4TB on MBR and not GPT

3

WD Quick Formatter is only for external drive.

How to convert 512e to 4kn for WD Gold WD141KRYZ 14Tb drive(power by Ultrastar )?

Is it possible to make 512e to 4kn for WD Gold using special utility ??

WD Ultrastar according to the specification can do it.

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/data-center-drives/ultrastar-dc-hc500-series/product-manual-ultrastar-dc-hc530-sata-oem-spec.pdf#page17

E6 = Interface (512e SATA 6Gb/s)
y = z =
(52 = 512e SAS 12Gb/s)
** 512e models can be converted to 4Kn format and vice versa

But what about WD Gold (powered by ultrastar)?

And what utility ?

4

You have to use the WD format utility

Are you confusing large partitions (>= 4TB) with large sectors? I can’t find any evidence that the quick format utility will enable 4K logical sectors (NB sectors not clusters) on 4K physical drives.

Currently looking for an answer to this question for my new HGST HUH721212ALE604, aka DC HC520.

To see physical vs. logical sector size, run
fsutil fsinfo sectorInfo C:

For more on 4K support Support policy for 4K sector hard drives - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn and https://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/512e_4Kn_Disk_Formats_120413.pdf

5

So, I did it, thanks to a post on please, help convert HGST He10 and He12 to 4kn | ServeTheHome Forums and a hidden WD utility called Hugo.

Do this at your own risk, it is possible to brick your drive using this procedure.

On Windows 10:

  • download & install Hugo from HDD Firmware Downloads. PC-3000 Support Downloads. Data recovery and HDD repair tools

  • open up an adminstrative command prompt

  • change to the Hugo install directory
    cd c:\Program Files\WDC\HUGO\bin\

  • Make sure your device is visible to Hugo
    hugo s --device

  • NB the physical device path in the output above

  • Run a fast format on your physical device path, with the new block size (this can also be to used to go from 4k to 512e!)
    hugo format -g \\.\PhysicalDrive<n> -b 4096 --fastformat

  • And voila
    C:\Program Files\WDC\HUGO\bin>fsutil fsinfo sectorInfo D:
    LogicalBytesPerSector : 4096
    PhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity : 4096
    PhysicalBytesPerSectorForPerformance : 4096
    FileSystemEffectivePhysicalBytesPerSectorForAtomicity : 4096
    Device Alignment : Aligned (0x000)
    Partition alignment on device : Aligned (0x000)

6

Does this hugo utility work for WD Red drives as well?

7

hey guys, considering upgrading our 12TB 4kn drive with HC 550 18TBs but we do hesitate due to the performance hit of 512e . Discovered that those can be converted to 4kn drives but we cannot find the software on any of the links provided (Linux OS, Kernel > 3.10)

Thanks

8

In frustration with Hugo tool constantly failing, I made a small tool for this purpose.

@manthos_kon

9

HI guys. I got a WD Elements drive (external) with 3TB capacity. Bought in 2016. It shows 4096 for both physical and logical. None of my other WD drives internal or elxternal (Eements) have this. They are all 512e.

How is this possible?

Inside is a WDBlue drive. Ill look up the exact serial and productcode and post.

Why doesn’t Western digital answer any if this?
Even contacting them you get a google-answer.

10

Sorry for bringing up this topic years later…

With either Hugo or wdckit, what is the purpose of --fastformat parameter/option?
Ok, the obvious is, runs fast. And it is stated somewhere that it does not destroy data, but changes logical block/sector structure. But what is the or is there a downside?
P.S. When I wll perform conversion, I won’t care about existing data, if there is any.

As far as I can understand from documentation of another HDD vendor’s tool, fast formatting (converting) does not evaluate sectors/blocks whether they are damaged or not; in a way like normal format vs fast format in Windows.

More, is it possible to slow format/convert all WD HDD units which are 512 to 4096 byte block size convertible?

One more question and controverting with info in my first question…
AFAIK sector/block size changing also changes the ECC structure stored per sector/block. Thus, are we sure fast formatting/converting sector/block size is really does not destroy data?