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)