WD Elements 2TB, 4k sectors (Advanced Format) - using with Windows XP

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1

Hi there,

I have a new WD external drive, a WD Elements 2 TB (WDBAAU0020HBK-EESN). Inside is a WD20EARS working, this drive uses the 4 KB sectors (Advanced Format) technology of WD.

I plan to use this drive mainly for storage purposes under various Windows XP based systems.

As I don’t want to lose any data - please could you clarify some points:

So is it true that I can safely plug in the WD Elements via USB on any Windows XP machine and read/write data reliably?

  • Does the built in controller of the external case deal INTERNALLY with the 4KB sectors, so that under WinXP I don’t see a difference when accessing over USB?

Thanks for any insights,

Megodin

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I have the EXACT same concerns - same Model:  WD Elements 2 TB (WDBAAU0020HBK-NESN). Inside is a WD20EARS,  running on XP

(my model # has slightly different ending than the topic poster)

I figured out what drive was inside with the free version of:

 SIW - System Information for Windows.   Link

The only answer I have found on the WD site  is Link  Which says:

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starting in late 2009, the My Book, WD Elements, and other WD External Storage products began shipping with Advanced Format drives.

If you are still using the partitions the drive shipped with, there is no need to run the utility on your drive. Western Digital recommends not repartitioning your drive on the Windows XP operating system.

External Drives shipping with Advanced Format Drives
Product Name  & Model Number:
My Book Essential WDBAAFxxxxxxx
My Book For Mac WDBAAGxxxxxxx
My Book Elite WDBAAHxxxxxxx
My Book Studio WDBAAJxxxxxxx
WD Elements Desktop WDBAAUxxxxxxx

If you have repartitioned any of the above drives under Windows XP, or formatted to FAT32 under MacOSX you will need to run the WD Quick Formatter utility on your drive.

But - the thing I do not understand, is that some people have reported having different  drives

inside of the WD Elements  2TB , specifically (and this is just from various places-nothing official):

WD2001FASS = Caviar Black (7200 RPM, 64MB Cache) 512 byte sectors

WD20EARS = Caviar Green (5400 RPM, 64 MB Cache)  4 KB sectors
WD20EADS = Caviar Green (5400 RPM, 32 MB Cache) 512 byte sectors

So if these can have different drives inside (some 512 and some 4k), how can a  blanket statement be made that

" If you are still using the partitions the drive shipped with, there is no need to run the utility on your drive."

If the user is running XP?

Then I read this article, which worried me more XP Users: Beware of 4K “Advanced Format” Drives

And finally, if we do need to use the WD Align software Link , is best to use Alignment Option 1:
WD Align - Acronis Windows, if the goal is just to use it for general miscellaneous storage?

It would have been nice if the box indicated this had the new 4K sector thing, so we knew in advance prior to opening the box and hooking it up.

Any help greatly appreciated, Thank you.