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4k sector drives

DISCUSSION Michael Monnerie 3 participants 4 messages Jul 20, 2010

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Dear list, I don't know who else to ask this:

I recently bought 2 new 4k sector drives (WD Caviar Green 2TB, WD20EARS), but Linux kernel 2.6.34.1 still says:

# blockdev --getss /dev/sdd
512

Shouldn't that be 4096? Where is the problem?

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#1 lore raw

Michael Monnerie put forth on 7/20/2010 1:58 PM:

Quoted 9 lines

Dear list, I don't know who else to ask this:

I recently bought 2 new 4k sector drives (WD Caviar Green 2TB, WD20EARS), but Linux kernel 2.6.34.1 still says:

# blockdev --getss /dev/sdd
512

Shouldn't that be 4096? Where is the problem?

Firmware sector size translation is the problem. The WD20EARS is apparently not a native 4096K sector size drive, but a transitional product. It is 4k sector size internally but the firmware translates this to 512B sectors to the OS driver. It's a hybrid.

Google "WD20EARS sector size"

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Stan

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#2 lore raw
In reply to Michael Monnerie

Le Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:58:27 +0200 vous écriviez:

Quoted 7 lines

I recently bought 2 new 4k sector drives (WD Caviar Green 2TB, WD20EARS), but Linux kernel 2.6.34.1 still says:

# blockdev --getss /dev/sdd
512

Shouldn't that be 4096? Where is the problem?

They come in emulation mode (like many SATA-II drives came in SATA-I mode). You must set them to 4K blocks manually, for WD IIRC with a DOS software. And you need a controller that supports 4K blocks, too (probably anything older than a year won't).

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#3 lore raw
Quoted 4 lines · On Dienstag, 20. Juli 2010 Emmanuel Florac wrote:

They come in emulation mode (like many SATA-II drives came in SATA-I mode). You must set them to 4K blocks manually, for WD IIRC with a
DOS software. And you need a controller that supports 4K blocks, too (probably anything older than a year won't).

Thank you Emmanuel and Stan,

http://wdc-de.custhelp.com/cgi-
bin/wdc_de.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5324&p_created=&p_cats=185&p_cv=1.185&p_pv=2.294&p_prods=227%2C294#jumper

shows a jumper exists for "advanced format", but doesn't tell what it does. I'll try to set or unset it depending on what it is now, and see if there's a difference.

Signature · 13 lines
mit freundlichen Grüssen,
Michael Monnerie, Ing. BSc

it-management Internet Services
http://proteger.at [gesprochen: Prot-e-schee]
Tel: 0660 / 415 65 31

****** Aktuelles Radiointerview! ******
http://www.it-podcast.at/aktuelle-sendung.html

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