Quick formatter fails to convert to 512 from 4096

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

I too am running into this issue as mentioned here:

The Drive shipped with Advanced Formatting (4096) blocks and I need to make it 512e blocks for the backup to occur on our Windows 2008 server. I have followed the instructions in the quick formatter to put it in XP mode (don’t see an option for factory default) and it still shows in fsutil as 4096 blocks and not 512e.

Any ideas for this?

2

Hello,

I recommend you contact WD support directly for assistance with this issue.

3

Im on the phone with them as we speak but after over an hour, they haven’t been able to solve it yet either. Just wondering if anyone else had run into this and had a solution that might work. Ill let you know if they can get it fixed.

4

The format tool used to have an option for XP. Maybe a third party tool would work. I think Swiss Army Knife Swiss File Knife download | SourceForge.net is one I’ve heard recommended. Parted Magic is another https://partedmagic.com/
Joe

5

Well its solved. Turns out Windows Vista and Windows XP are the two options. Apparently XP mode MAKES it 4096 and not 512. Windows Vista mode makes it 512e. In case anyone else ever runs into this issue. Hope this helps someone else.