WD15EARS - Difference between Jumper in 7-8 & WD Align System Utility

#1

Good afternoon every one,

What is the difference between Jumper in 7-8  & WD Align System Utility.

If we use the WD Align system utility for windows XP, and want to change my OS to VIsta what happen ?

Thanks

Yann

#2

The align utility moves the start of the partition so that it begins on sector 64, which is 4kb aligned,  instead of 63 which is not.  The jumper makes the drive internally shift the sector numbers by 7, so that when your partition starts on sector 63, it is actually real sector 56, which is 4kb aligned.  This is done so that windows can still think its partition starts on sector 63, but the IO reuqests end up actually being aligned to the real 4kb sectors so they are not slowed down.

Basically just use the align utility with XP and not the jumper and you will be fine with XP or Vista.  If you use the jumper, then you do NOT want to use the align utility with XP, and if you install vista and reparittion the drive, it will be a bit slower since it will create a partition starting at 1 MB which will not be properly aligned after the jumper translation.