From the currently available WD Blue models, can anyone PLEASE tell me FOR SURE which ones are advanced format drives and which ones are not?
WD is NOT explicitly putting this IMPORTANT information on all its drive labels. WHY? I recently purchased the WD10EZEX and it turned out to be an AFD. Nothing on the drive label mentioned AFD. Even the WD Blue product page lacks this IMPORTANT information. If I had known that it was an AFD, I would not have purchased it. I have been having several issues with this drive. Like the WD Align software (AcronisAlignTool_s_e_2_0_111.exe) says the partitions ARE aligned when they are clearly NOT aligned.
This is from MSINFO32.EXE
Partition - Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size - 300.00 GB (322,126,608,384 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset - 32,256 bytes
Partition - Disk #1, Partition #1
Partition Size - 631.51 GB (678,075,632,640 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset - 322,126,640,640 bytes
Another user has posted the same problem with the WD10EZEX and the WD Align tool in another thread ( Ran WD Align on new HD> “All partitions are already properly aligned. No further actions required.” ). I didn’t find a satisfactory answer/solution there even though the problem was marked as ‘Solved’. I can’t even post/reply on that thread as it is closed. Are any other Windows XP users facing a similar problem with the EZEX model and WD Align tool?
So, now I need a new drive for my Windows XP machine and I do NOT wish to buy an AFD.
Is there any way of telling whether a drive is AF or not without removing it from the anti-static pouch?
If not, is the Disk Alignment Test program (diskat-gui.exe) a sure shot way to check AF/non-AF drive? I mean, can this program reliably tell if a drive connected to the system is AF or not? It correctly identifies my WD10EZEX and my WD Elements portable 1TB USB drive as AF drives.
I need some way of knowing that the drive I am purchasing next is NOT an advanced format drive.
I also have a question about installing XP on an AF drive. Suppose I re-partition, format, AND ALIGN (using DISKPAR.EXE… not DISKPART.EXE) an AF drive from another Windows XP machine (I don’t have Vista or Windows 7), will I be able to install Windows XP SP3 on an ALREADY-ALIGNED partition? I am not sure if WinXP+SP3 will install on an AF drive that has ALIGNED partitions. I just do not wish to perform the aligning process AFTER installing WinXP on an UNALIGNED partition.
Below is the list of SATA and PATA drives that I am interested in. I would like to know which ones use AF and which don’t. I also need one PATA drive for my old PC. I am not sure if WD is rolling out PATA drives with AF now.
WD Blue SATA drives
Model # Capacity Cache
WD10EZEX 1 TB 64 MB (this IS an AF drive)
WD10EALX 1 TB 32 MB
WD7500AZEX 750 GB 64 MB
WD7500AALX 750 GB 32 MB
WD5000AZLX 500 GB 32 MB
WD5000AAKX 500 GB 16 MB
WD Blue PATA drives
Model # Capacity Cache
WD3200AAJB 320 GB 8 MB
WD2500AAJB 250 GB 8 MB
WD1600AAJB 160 GB 8 MB
Thank you for your time.