Switching WD30EZRX to 512e Logical Sectors?

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

This WD Knowledge Base article suggests that the WD30EZRX can be switched to 512e logical sectors. This will allow Windows Server Backup to work properly with my disk.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6618/p/227%2C294/session/L3RpbWUvMTMzODQyMjQ5OS9zaWQvc01OVlJyW

However, the WD Quick Formatter tool only supports WD external drives. I can’t use it with my disk.

Is there an alternative utility for internal SATA drives? Is there a way to force the WD Quick Formatter tool to work on internal drives?

Thanks!

Breeno

2

Nope mate,

I think is better if you reach WD support directly.

3

Maybe I’ve been asleep during recent technology changes, but my understanding is that WD’s internal AF drives are still emulating 512-byte logical sectors. It is only the external drives that are reporting 4KB logical sector sizes. They do this via the USB-SATA bridge firmware. This firmware translates the drive’s 512-byte LBAs to the USB mass storage device’s 4KB LBA format. Therefore the USB host is seeing the mass storage controller rather than the drive behind the bridge.

You could check the logical and physical sector sizes using the following command line:

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo x:

Fsutil command syntax:
http://ss64.com/nt/fsutil.html