Zabkar,
looks like you are onto something with the SATA confusion. And it looks like I might have read the current product code description wrong with regards to the AF code.
Any here is what I have figured out, with help from your discoveries:
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| WD Product Codes, Decoded |
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1) PDF 2579-001028-A20, Nov 2009, doesn’t talk about AF drives, but:
1st letter - Capacity/Form Factor code
2nd letter - Drive Brand class / Market Targetted
3rd letter - Tech Details of Drive (RPM, Cache size, etc)
4th letter - Interface Speed/Interface Connector code (SATA type, etc).
Here ‘X’ denotes SATA 3 speed interface.
2) PDF 2579-001028-A22, Feb 2011, does mention AF drives and uses the same code definations as the A20 pdf vesion, but now mentions AF.
The 2nd letter now mentions AF feature, with codes N, P, U, and Z meaning AF in some type of market (Z for desktop AF market).
The 4th letter still has ‘X’ for SATA 3 speed interface.
3) PDF 2579-001028-A25, Jul 2012, does mention AF drives still.
The 2nd letter codes are expanded for AF to inlcude N,P,U, R, U, W, and Z!
The 4th letter code has changed. Now ‘X’ looks like it denotes SATA 3 speed interface that is configured by default to run at SATA 2 speeds. ‘Z’ denotes SATA 3 speed interface. Not sure why they did this, but looks like I did miss read the lastest product code pdf doc
So based on all this:
1) the WD10-EZEX is a 1TB, AF, SATA 2 configured, SATA 3 capable, drive.
2) the WD desktop blue models are incorrectly described at this page
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=770
as being SATA 3 configured drives (4th letter an ‘X’ but Interface quoted at 6 Gb/s).
Likely a mistake, I mean ‘feature’, added by marketting:
WD10E Z EX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 1 TB 64 MB (AF)
WD7500A Z EX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 750 GB 64 MB (AF)
WD10EALX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 1 TB 32 MB
WD7500AALX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 750 GB 32 MB
WD5000AAKX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 500 GB 16 MB
WD5000A Z LX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 500 GB 32 MB (AF)
Additionally,
models with 2nd letter ‘Z’ are AF drives, and models with 2nd letter ‘A’ are not AF drives (standard ‘XP will be happy’ drives).
3) the WD Black models are nearly all non-AF drives currently (and it looks like the NCIX guy didn’t know what he was talking about and might have cost me $20 due to missing a sale! Frake… ):
WD2002FAEX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 2 TB 64 MB
WD1502FAEX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 1.5 TB 64 MB
WD1002FAEX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 1 TB 64 MB
WD5002AALX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 500 GB 32 MB
WD5003A Z EX SATA 6 Gb/s 3.5 Inch 7200 500 GB 64 MB (AF)
NOTE: The only fly-in-the-ointment, so to speak, with all this is what Alucardx23 found out yesterday and which I agree with (it concerns WD Green drives but may imply similar issues with the Blue and Black drives):
"
Alucardx23, Honored Contributor
Registered: 01-14-2012
Re: Is the WD10-EZEX drive an Advanced Format drive (4KB sectors used internally)?
yesterday
Checking the list of models for the WD Green I noticed that not all the adv format HDDs have the “Z” in the model number, like the WD20EARX, WD20EARS or WD8000AARS for example.
http://support.wdc.com/product/install.asp?groupid=608&lang=en
"
So there is STILL some confusion on what drives are AF ones. Come on WD Support, clear this up for us…