Until today, we disassembled universal hard drives in detail, such as Barracuda 7200.14 and WD Caviar Blue / Black. At the same time, many users in the price list of computer stores can notice the existence of such hard drives like Western Digital AV-25, Western Digital Caviar Green, Seagate Barracuda Green, Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003, Western Digital AV-GP. The cost of data of hard drives is not very different from universal products, but all of them have one unique feature - support for Advanced Format technology.
How can I understand the name of the technology itself, Advanced Format, assumes the advanced hard disk formatting mode. In this case, if the standard hard drives have the physical sectors with dimensions of 512 bytes, the hard drives with Advanced Format technology have a physical sector with 4 kilobytes, that is, they contain four standard sectors. This technology was developed by IDEMA LONG DATA Sector Committee.

The key necessity of introducing this technology is to reduce the cost of modern hard drives, which, with standard dimensions of 3.5 inches, have storage amounts of up to 4 TB and after a while they promise to conquer the coveted 8 TB. At the same time, hard drives go to work with sectors of 4 kilobytes and make read / record data at once 4 KB, and not 512 bytes, as in conventional solutions. At the same time, the number of mechanical movements of the heads and plates of the hard disk with a simultaneous decrease in power consumption, noise and expands the possibilities of using higher-tech magnetic disks with tracks of 70 nanometers.

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The need to Advanced Format has long been long
The need to transition to 4 kilobyte sectors has long been long enough, since modern operating systems even within the framework of the popular NTFS file system are used clusters with sizes of 4 kilobytes, that is, in fact, the operating system still runs 4 kilobytes data. In the real conditions, the file system with clusters with 512-1024 bytes was used only in DOS operating systems, Windows 95 / Windows 98 and in some cases Windows Vista. Therefore, the need to create sectors of 512 bytes is a burden for hard drive manufacturers, as to make the markup of new more technological hard drives on small 512 byte sectors at times more difficult, rather than their markup on the sector in size of 4 kilobytes.

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Advanced Format - more disk space
The transition to the new format of Advanced Format implies an increase in the free space of the hard disk. When the hard disk is marked on the 512 byte sectors, each sector is complemented by 50 bytes for error correction code, thereby only 87% of the actual space on the hard disk magnetic disk. In the case of using Advanced Format technology, 100 bytes of space for error correction code is used for each 4 kilobyte sector, thereby saving 50% of space and the user gets the ability to use 96% of the physical space of each magnetic disk.

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Advanced Format Hard Drive Compatibility
To date, full support for the new hard disk format is implemented from Windows Vista, so modern computers based on Windows 7 and Windows 8 are ready for work with new products. As a rule, users do not notice any difference from using a new type of hard drive.

Implemented full support for Advanced Format in the latest Distributions of the Linux operating system and Apple solutions running Mac OS X. But from using Windows XP, the Advanced Format hard drive buyers will have to be abandoned. This is due to the fact that this operating system is not ready to work with 4 kilobyte sectors, so the hard disk controller will be forced to emulate the usual 512 byte sectors within one 4 kilobyte real sector. This leads to an increase in the load on the computing part and inhibits the process of reading / writing data. As a rule, a drop in performance is noted up to several megabytes per second and work becomes practically not submitted.

The most bad from using Windows XP on Hard Drives Advanced Format is that the hard disk due to the need for emulation turns out to be forced to repeat the same sector to repeat the same sector that leads to increased wear of its mechanical part.

Specific nuances of using Windows XP on Hard Drives Advanced Format also lies in the fact that the first section This operating system starts with 63 sectors, while the Advanced Format hard drive is critical of the section from 64 sector, so that it is strictly died eight. This allows the hard disk to stop in one cluster request to read two sectors of 4 kilobytes and improve performance even in working under the control of old Windows XP.

Advanced Format hard drive manufacturers have utilities and own technologies to solve this problem. Seagate offers Seagate Smartalign technology, which independently solves the ADVANCED FORMAT hard drive formatting problem, and Western Digital offers its customers to use the WD Align System utility or a special jumper on the hard disk that is not implemented on all instances.

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How relevant ADVANCED FORMAT
Naturally, in the conditions of the old dimension of the 512 byte sector, the further development of hard drives cannot continue, i.e. Increase their volume. Sooner or later hard drives with standard sectors in 512 bytes will completely disappear from the market. The introduction of Advanced Format technology was started in 2009, the mass user saw new hard drives in 2010. It was assumed that the rapid introduction of a new format would be completed in 2011, and in 2012, standard hard drives with sectors of 512 bytes will continue to leave stores. Objectively, we do not observe a massive displacement. Rather, it is possible to note the parallel existence on the hard drive market with standard 512 byte sectors and hard drives with 4 kilobyte sectors within Advanced Format technology.

Hard disk manufacturers The transition to a new Advanced Format format explains not how much the need to increase the capacity of the hard drives themselves, as the need to increase the reliability of data storage by improving the error correction technology. In particular, it is believed that the use of 512 byte sectors in plates of less than 80 nanometers is quite problematic, since the appearance of microparticles between the hard disk head and the plate will result in the appearance of errors of reading or writing data. If the hard disk will operate with 4 kilobytes data - it will be easy to avoid.

The disadvantage of Advanced Format hard drives is that if you need to write minor data to the size of which less than 4 kilobytes, the hard disk turns out to be forced or fill in the entire sector in the 4 kilobyte data less than this size, or wait for new data from the user. As a rule, the controller sails 512 kilobyte data in its cache and as soon as the 4 kilobytes of data is typing to fill the sector - writes them. Thus, if you work with palas less than 4 kilobytes quite often, it makes sense to take care of a backup power source to reduce the likelihood of data loss. For most users who store music on hard drives, video files, computer games 20 GB is not relevant.

The advantages of the new hard drive format are the possibility of creating tricherac drives and high reliability, disadvantage - reduced speed in Windows XP.

At 2 TB, the growth of hard disk capacity stopped: the traditional architecture has achieved a limit of its development. The new standard, called Advanced Format, will create more roomy and reliable hard drives through the use of larger sectors. All manufacturers promise to go to it already in the current year.

Larger sectors: reliable data protection

Increasing the tank capacity in recent decades is ensured by increasing the recording density. However, when the value is reached, the order of 2 TB does this method becomes a non-response. With a more dense location of the sectors, the risk of errors and data loss increases.

The solution was the increase in the size of the sectors. Currently, in most disks, it is 512 bytes. Now the manufacturers begin to issue models with four kilobyte (4096 bytes) sectors. Each of them is equipped with an input label (SYNC / DAM) and error correction code (ECC). As before, after each sector there is an empty intermediate area. Since one sector in size 4096 bytes correspond to eight 512-byte, it is possible to exclude seven intermediate areas. This allows you to free up the additional amount of precious disk space.

Another advantage of the format is to remove the storage capacity limit.

The operating system uses to address and access data on the hard disk the LBA mechanism (Logical Block Addressing) with an accessible address space of 48 bits, which corresponds to the maximum container of the carrier exceeding 130,000 TB, with the size of the sector in 512 bytes. However, in practice, such a huge capacitance cannot be provided, since the partition table contained in the main boot record does not allow you to address more than 32 bits. With 512-byte sectors, this corresponds to two terabytes - it is impossible to achieve greater when using traditional architecture.

For the full use of more capacious drives with the 512-byte sectors, another format of selection tables (GUID PARTITION TABLE, GPT) is required.

Windows Vista and 7 support it, and XP is only in the 64-bit version. However, most BIOS varieties do not work with the GPT partition table. Solve the problem will help the transition to UEFI, but this program interface has only recently appeared on new motherboards for processors with the architecture of Sandy Bridge. Therefore, Advanced Format is needed as an intermediate solution that allows you to bypass BIOS obstacles and use discs to a capacity of up to 16 TB even with 32-bit addressing in the main boot record.

Windows XP: too old for new HDD

Windows XP is not able to work with large four kilobault sectors, so in devices with Advanced Format, the emulation of 512-byte is used. This allows you to deceive the operating system by creating the visibility of using a compatible option. Such a compromise makes it possible to install more capacious drives in Windows XP. However, the speed is noticeably reduced. XP creates the first partition from the LBA sector at number 63, and in the case of four kilobyte sectors, it must begin with LBA 64. As a result, the section begins the last block of the sector (see Figure).

Windows XP, in turn, shares the hard drive to clusters, the size of which is also 4 KB. As a result, the hard disk controller has to read or write two four-kilobault blocks for each four-kilobault cluster, which leads to a decrease in the speed of the drive.

This problem can be solved in two ways. First, before connecting the HDD, you can install a jumper that allows you to ensure the correct location of the blocks. The disadvantage of this method consists in possible data loss when the jumper is turned off.

Another solution is to use special software. Thus, from the website of Western Digital (http://wdc.com), you can download the WD Align System Utility utility capable of performing partitions. Similar programs are offered and third-party developers - for example, Paragon company with its Alignment Tool. But despite this, Windows XP users should think about the fact that this operating system is already outdated for new technologies.

Advanced Format is a new hard drive marking format necessary to address large amounts of disk memory. All manufacturers of modern hard drives, including HGST, switch to this format.
One of the main features of Advanced Format is an increase in the sector size from 512 to 4096 bytes. To preserve compatibility with programs designed for the previous format, new discs have an emulation mode called "512E".
Most of the modern operating systems support Advanced Format. To achieve optimal I / O speed, it is necessary that the disk breakdown is carried out correctly, and that the data is recorded by 4-kilobyte blocks as an operating system and application programs. The latest operating systems by default perform all the conditions necessary to work with Advanced Format. When using the older software for setting the disk subsystem to optimal speed, special utilities may be required.

ADVANCED FORMAT
In the middle part of Figure 1, there are eight-running 512-byte sectors in a row. In addition to user data, each sector contains service information: marking data and error correction code. When replacing eight 512-byte sectors with one 4-kilobyte number of necessary service information is reduced (see the bottom of the figure). Thus, when working with large files (and the average file size compared with the time when the 512-byte format was used, the disk space is used more efficiently. In addition, the error correction code allocated more space, thanks to which the integrity of data is better.

Fig. 1. Comparison of 512-byte and 4 kilobyte formats (1).

Providing compatibility
A significant part of the operational and software and software are designed to scale the 512 bytes sector and expect data to be sent to 512-byte blocks. Emulation of such an exchange is implemented in new disks at the interface level. When requesting a block reading, the disk reads the entire sector (which does not leave much time) and transmits the program only the desired unit. If a request is received from the program, a block record is received, the disk reads the whole sector, places the resulting unit into it and overwrites the entire sector (see Fig. 2). There is a time between reading and recording, the disc can take several revolutions during this time.

Fig. 2. In the emulation mode, when recording a 512-byte block, the disk reads the sector first, places the unit into it and then writes the sector

Providing speed
To achieve the highest speed, it is necessary that the recording format on the disk is consistent. In the perfect case, the record must be made by 4 kilobytes and each unit must be recorded in one sector. This condition is performed if the operating system and application programs are configured to work with 4 kilobyte blocks, and the disk partition is correct.
Most modern operating systems use file systems in which the disk space is highlighted by 4 kilobytes, or clusters. The 4-kilobyte block corresponds to the eight 512-byte sectors (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Compliance with the cluster sector in emulation mode.

Aligning interfaces
When using operating systems that record data with 4-kilobyte clusters (most of the modern OS), it is important that their boundaries are leveled on the borders of the disk sectors. In the emulation mode 512E, the disc cannot prevent the placement of the unit from the block, the number of which is not shorten than eight. If this happens, one cluster will be placed in two sectors (see Fig. 4). Thus, when reading or writing a 4-kilobyte cluster, it will be necessary to count or write 8 kilobytes accordingly - twice as much. And if when reading, the difference in speed will not be big, then when recording it will be noticeable.

Fig. 4. Placement cluster is not from the beginning of the sector.

Operating systems supporting Advanced Format
In the following operating systems, the cluster size is 4 KB, and during installation, the disk partition is performed correctly:
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 and newer;
Microsoft Windows 7;
Microsoft Server 2008;
Mac OS x 10.4 and newer;
Linux Ubuntu 8.04+, SuSe, Linux Kernel 2.6.34+ (You must use Linux Partitioning Utility).

Operating systems that do not automatically comply with clusters sectors:
Microsoft Windows XP;
Microsoft Server 2003;
Microsoft Windows Home Server V1.

Hgst Align Tool.
To correct the logical marking of the discs, the sections on which are not aligned by the borders of the sectors, you can use the HGST utility for Windows. It can be downloaded at www.hgst.com/support/downloads.
In addition, Advanced Format is supported by a number of work utilities with discs manufactured by third-party manufacturers:

Disk splitting means
For Linux:
Gparted 2.1+ (with Optimal or -a Minimal options).
www.gnu.org/Software/parted/manual/parted.html

For Windows:
Acronis Disk Director Home 11 or Paragon Partition Manager 11.

For Mac:
Disk Utility (complete with Mac OS X 10.4+) creates a GPT section (GUID PARTITION TABLE).

Additional information:
www.idema.org (documents on Advanced Format, including specifications)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/advanced_format.
www.t13.org, Document: ATA8-ACS (ATA Command Set)
www.t10.org, Document: SBC-3 (SCSI BLOCK COMMANDS)
Microsoft Windows 7 and Advanced Format Hotfix (KB981208):
support.microsoft.com/kb/982018.
Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST): www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/cs-031502.htm

Hard drives

Transition to hard disks with 4 KB sectors (Advanced Format)

Advantages and possible risks when moving from sectors 512 bytes to sectors of 4096 bytes

Overview

In the industry of hard drives there are serious changes. While in the past years, a rapid increase in the storage density was observed, one of the basic parameters of the structure of hard drives - the size of the logical block, called the sector, remained unchanged.

From about 2010, hard drive manufacturers began the transition from the traditional sector size (512 bytes) to a new, more efficient size of 4096 bytes. It is commonly referred to as 4 KB size, and now it was named Advanced Format (advanced format) assigned to the International Association of EDEMA Hard Drives.

This article describes the reasons for such a transition and promising advantages for consumers, as well as on possible "pitfalls", which should be avoided when moving from sectors of 512 bytes to sectors of 4 KB.

Instead of preface

For more than 30 years, data on hard drives is formatted in the form of small logical blocks of 512 bytes, called sectors. This standard format is still taken as a basis for the design of modern computers.

Such a sector contains a section of the interval, the synchronization section, the address marking section, the data area, and the area of \u200b\u200bdetection code and error correction (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The location of traditional sectors on the hard disk carrier

The disc sector has the following structure

• Interval: the gap between sectors.
• Synchronization Code: Synchronization Tag, indicating the start of the sector and allowing you to synchronize the operation of the disk.
• Address Tag: label containing data to identify the number and location of the sector. It also stores information about the sector state.
• Data Scope: User data is stored in this area.
• Error Correction Area: In this area, error correction codes are stored, with which the data that could be damaged during reading or writing is corrected.

This low-level format is used in our industry for many years. However, due to the increasing capacity of hard drives, the sector size inevitably becomes a constructive limitation to further increase the capacity of the disks and error correction efficiency. For example, if you relate the size of the sector with the capacity of outdated and modern disks, then you can see that the sector resolution has decreased repeatedly. The sector resolution (the ratio of the size of the sector to the total disk capacity, expressed as a percentage) significantly decreased and, as a result, became ineffective (Table 1).

Low permission is suitable for managing small disparate data sequences. However, modern applications are usually operated by data blocks that are much larger than the 512 bytes sector size.

And more importantly, small sectors of 512 bytes occupy an increasing area of \u200b\u200bthe disk surface as the record density increases. This becomes a problem in the context of error correction and due to the defects of the coating. In fig. 2, for example, the data in the hard disk sector occupy a smaller area, which makes the error correction more complicated, since the defects of the coating that have former size damage a greater percentage of data and more advanced funds are required for their recovery.

Fig. 2. Media defects and recording density

In the sector of 512 bytes, as a rule, you can fix a defect to 50 bytes long. Modern hard drives with the highest record density have almost reached the limit in the error correction area. Therefore, the main need of the industry for the further development of error correction tools and increase the efficiency of hard drives was the transition to the larger sectors.

Transition to 4 KB sectors (advanced format)

In the storage industry for several years, we have been jointly working on the transition to the larger sectors. Seagate together with partners conducts large-scale work in this direction since 2005 (Fig. 3). In December 2009, the new Advanced Format format was created as a result of the joint efforts of IDEMA. This name has become official for the standard of sectors of 4 KB. In addition, all hard drive manufacturers have agreed to begin the delivery of new models of drives of this format for desktop and portable PCs by January 2011. However, the drives of the extended format appeared on the market even earlier. Seagate first began to supply such drives to manufacturers of computing equipment and include them in their products.

Fig. 3. The main milestones of the Development of the Advanced Format standard

Prospective advantages of sectors of 4 kb

Since manufacturers of hard drives agreed to move to a new sector format by January 2011, the other participants in the IT industry needed to prepare for this transition to avoid possible negative consequences. In the short term, the advantages of such disks were not too noticeable to end users, because the new format did not lead to an instant increase in capacity, but in the long run, the transition to sectors of 4 KB increased the density of data recording and hard disk capacity, as well as improve the reliability of error correction .

Improving the efficiency of the format by reducing the space occupied by error correction code

In fig. 4 shows the structure of the traditional sector of 512 bytes, from which it is clear that 50 bytes containing an error correction code for each 512-byte sector containing error correction code, and another 15 bytes with an interval, synchronization code, and address label. As a result, the effectiveness of the sector 1 of the format is approximately 88% (512 / (512 65)).

Fig. 4. Structure of the traditional sector 512 bytes

In the new Advanced Format standard, the sector size is 4 kB, that is, eight traditional sectors of 512 bytes each are combined into one sector 4 KB in size (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. New format: Structure of sector size 4 kb

In a new format for the interval, the synchronization code and the address label is given as much space as before, and the error correction code is increased to 100 bytes. As a result, the effectiveness of the format sector 1 increases to 97% (4096 / (4096 115)), that is, by almost 10%.

Over time, such an increase in the efficiency of the format will pay off and will help achieve greater capacity and increase data integrity.

Reliability and error correction

The physical size of the sectors on disks is decreasing, and each sector takes less than the place, while the dimensions of the surface defects remain the same. In fig. 6 shows the items that we consider very small. However, compared with the size of the gap between the read-write head and the surface of the hard disk, these items are large. Defects on the surface of the hard disk may appear from microscopic particles that are significantly less shown in the figure.

Fig. 6. The size of the gap between the head and the hard disk on the scale

In the Sector 4 KB of the new Advanced Format format, the sizes of the ECC unit are increased almost twice as 2, from 50 to 100 bytes, which provided a long-awaited increase in error correction efficiency and stability of small particles and surface defects.

Thus, the joint gain from the increased efficiency of the new format and improving the reliability of error correction makes the transition to the sector of 4 KB in size quite justified. The main task of hard drive manufacturers is to properly organize this transition to achieve the greatest return with minimal side effects.

Consequences of the transition to sectors of 4 kb

As already noted, in many cases, modern computer systems continue to come from the fact that the size of the sector is always equal to 512 bytes. When transferring a whole industry to a new standard 4 KB, it is impossible to expect that all these outdated assumptions will immediately change. Of course, over time there will be a transition to the use of sectors of 4 KB in size, when the computer and hard disk will use the blocks of this size when exchanging data. But up to this point, hard drive manufacturers will have to organize a transition to sectors of 4 KB with the use of reception, called the emulation of sectors of 512 bytes.

Emulation of sectors of 512 bytes

The implementation of 4 KB sectors in many respects depends on the 512 bytes sectors emulation technology. This term is called the process of converting data from a new format with a sector size of 4 KB, used by new discs, into a traditional format with a sector size of 512 bytes used by computers.

Emulation of sector sectors 512 bytes is permissible because it does not require major changes in existing computer systems. However, it can lead to a decrease in performance, especially when writing data, the size of which is not shorten than eight traditional sectors. To clarify this, consider readings of reading and writing processes that will be used in the emulation of sectors of 512 bytes.

Reading and writing processes for emulation

The process of reading data from sectors of 4 KB in the emulation mode of 512 bytes in size is quite simple, as can be seen in Fig. 7.

Fig. 7. Possible data reading sequence in 512 bytes sectors

Reading a data block of 4 KB and reformatting a specific sector in size 512 bytes, requested by a computer, is performed in dynamic disk memory and does not have a noticeable effect on performance.

The recording process may be somewhat more complicated, especially when the data that the computer tries to write to the disk are a subset of the physical sector of 4 kb. In this case, the hard disk is first forced to count the desired sector of 4 KB in the entire size, combine the read data with new ones and then record the entire 4 KB sector (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Possible sequence of data recording in sectors emulation mode 512 bytes

The hard disk has to perform additional mechanical actions - read sector 4 KB sector, changing its contents and record data. This process is called the "read-change-changing" cycle and is undesirable due to the negative impact on the productivity of the disk. In order for the transition to sectors of 4 KB in size is painlessly and with the least amount of difficulties, it is most important to reduce to a minimum probability and frequency of "read-changing-change" cycles.

Prevent-change-change cycles prevent

1. Records are not aligned on the borders of the sectors due to the inconsistency of the logical structure of the disk section of its physical structure
2. Requests for writing with a data volume is less than 4 KB.

Compliance and inconsistency of the logical and physical structure of sections

Until the current moment, we did not discuss how the position of the sector on the carrier between the computer and the hard disk is consistent. It's time to talk about logical block addresses (Logical Block Address, LBA).

Each sector 512 bytes is assigned a unique logical address with a number from 0 to a maximum value, which depends on the disc capacitance. The computer refers to the desired data block to its logical address. When the computer sends a data record request, the block's logical address is returned after recording as information about where data is recorded. This becomes important when switching to sectors of 4 KB, since eight different options appear where the logical block begins.

If the logical address of block 0 corresponds to the first virtual block size of 512 bytes in the physical sector of 4 kB, such a state of comparing the physical and logical structure in the sectors emulation mode of 512 bytes is called "Alignment 0". A variant is possible when the logical address of the unit 0 is assigned to the second virtual block size of 512 bytes in the physical sector of 4 KB. Such a state of comparison is called "Alignment 1". Comparison of these states is shown in Fig. 9. There are six more possibilities in cases where the logical structure of the partition does not correspond to its physical structure, which leads to the "read-change-change" cycles. These cases are similar to the case of "alignment 1".

Fig. 9. Alignment states

Status "Alignment 0" works very well with new 4 KB sectors in an extended format. The hard disk can easily compare eight consecutive sectors of 512 bytes with one sector of 4 KB. This is achieved by storing sector recording requests in size 512 bytes in the hard disk cache until a sufficient number of serial blocks of 512 bytes are obtained for recording sector 4 KB. Since modern applications, as a rule, work with data sequences, the size of which exceeds 4 KB, "dwarf" blocks arise very rarely. At the same time, the state "Alignment 1" causes certain difficulties.

If the hard disk sections are designed so that the logical structure does not match the physical, as shown in Fig. 9, the "Read-Changing-Record" cycles begin to occur, which leads to a decrease in the hard disk performance. When implementing hard disks of the new format of this state, it should be avoided primarily as recommended below.

Recording small data

In modern applications, data, such as documents, images and streaming video, have much more than 512 bytes. Therefore, the hard disk can easily store requests for the record of these blocks in the cache memory until a sufficient number of 512 bytes blocks are accumulated to write a sector of 4 kb. If the logical structure of the disk partitions corresponds to its physical structure, the hard disk can easily match the sector in size 512 bytes sector 4 kb size without prejudice to performance. However, there are low-level processes that can force a hard disk to work with "dwarf" blocks, regardless of the compliance of the logical and physical structure. This happens in rare cases when the computer sends certain queries to the hard disk, the size of which is less than 4 KB. As a rule, such requests sends an operating system when working with a file system, logging and performing other similar low-level tasks. In general, such requests occur infrequently and do not have a significant impact on productivity. However, designers are recommended to revise such processes to achieve optimal performance after the transition to 4 KB sectors.

Preparation and organization of the transition to sectors of 4 kb

Now that the advantages of the transition to 4 KB sectors, as well as the possible impact of such a transition to productivity, is time to determine the best way to organize the transition. It is more correct to discuss this topic in the context of the two most popular modern operating systems: Windows and Linux.

Organization of the transition to sectors of 4 KB in Windows

The most important question of organizing the transition to sectors of 4 KB is the question of compliance of the physical and logical structure already considered above. New format discs are well operating in the "Alignment 0" state, in which the physical and logical initial points coincide. The alignment status occurs at the moment when the hard disk sections are created. Sections are created by software that can be divided into two categories:

1. Windows version of Windows.
2. Special means of splitting the hard disk to sections.

When the sections are created by Windows, you should consider three versions of this OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Microsoft participated in the discussion and planning of the transition to larger sector size. As a result, starting with Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 package 1 in its products there are support for sectors of 4 KB. Software products that create sections with "Alignment 0" (partitions that work well with a new format) are called products with the support of sectors of 4 KB. Table 2 reflects the situation for current generations of Microsoft Windows OS.

Operating system version	Support sectors 4 kb	results
Windows XP.	Not	The primary section is created in the state "Alignment 1" (without alignment)
Windows Vista - without Service Pack Service Pack 1	Not	Large sectors are supported, but the sections are created incorrectly (without alignment)
Windows Vista - Service Pack Service Pack 1 or later	Yes
Windows 7.	Yes	Sections are created in the "Alignment 0" state (with alignment)
Windows 10.	Yes	Sections are created in the "Alignment 0" state (with alignment)

Obviously, new computers with the latest versions of Windows are best prepared for the use of hard disks of the new format. However, on computers with Windows XP or Windows Vista without Service Pack 1, there is a significant risk of reducing performance when using partitions created by the operating system.

In addition to the risk of discrepancy between the logical and physical structure of the disk when using old versions of Windows, there are several funds that are actively used by system collectors, computer manufacturers, resellers and IT managers. The use of these funds can also cause the inconsistency between the logical and physical structure of the disk. In fact, you can more often find partitions created using these tools than using Windows. Therefore, the risk of creating sections in which the logical structure does not correspond to the physical, which leads to loss of performance when using the disks with a sector size of 4 KB. An even greater problem is complicated by the fact that today the hard drives supplied together with computers usually contain several partitions. This means that each of the sections of such a disk must be created using a 4-KB sector support program to ensure compliance between the logical and physical structure, which means that high performance. In fig. 10 shows the possible results of creating multiple partitions on the hard drive using a program that does not support sectors of 4 KB.

Fig. 10. Several partitions and alignment conditions

Sections with inconsistency between logical and physical structure

There are three ways to avoid inconsistencies between the logical and physical disk structure or correct this inconsistency to prevent performance loss.

1. Use the new version of Windows or purchase a partitioning tool with 4 KB sectors.
2. Align the hard disk partitions using a special.
3. Rely on the hard disk supplier in terms of performance, regardless of the status of the structure of the disk.

Using the Windows version with the support of sectors of 4 KB sectors is the easiest and most short way to ensure compliance between the logical and physical disk structure. Suppliers of other partitioning tools can inform you whether there are versions of their means with the support of sectors of 4 KB. If there are such versions, go to them to prevent the occurrence of problems.

Some hard drive manufacturers offer special tools that allow you to check the structure of the partitions on the hard disk and change the partition alignment if necessary. To do this, you need to spend extra time and perform additional steps when assembling or updating the computer.

Finally, manufacturers of hard drives will develop more advanced ways to work with sections in which there is a discrepancy between the logical and physical structure. These ways will help avoid productivity losses.

As the popularity increases the expanded format, all three methods are used, and each of them helps consumers achieve the most useful effect and avoid productivity losses.

Organization of the transition to sectors of 4 KB in Linux OS

The main strategy for transition to sectors of 4 KB in Windows is applicable in Linux OS. Most users of Linux have access to the source code of the operating system, which gives them the opportunity to adjust its behavior to their needs. This makes it possible to update the Linux OS in advance to work with hard disks of the new format.

If you make the necessary changes in Linux, then you can prevent most of the problems associated with the partition alignment in accordance with the new disk format and the emergence of "dwarf" record requests that the operating system creates.

Both in the kernel and in additional Linux funds are made necessary changes to support the discs of the new format. These changes provide accurate alignment of all sections on the disks of the new format on the borders of the 4 KB sectors. Support for new format disks in the OS kernel is implemented from version 2.6.31. Support for partitions to the sections and formatting of the discs of the new format is implemented in the following additional means of Linux.

FDisk: GNU FDISK is a command line tool to split hard drives to sections. Starting from version 1.2.3, the discs of a new format are supported.

Parted: GNU PARTED is a graphic tool for splitting hard drives to sections. Starting with version 2.1, new format discs are supported.

Conclusion

The IT industry inevitably refuses the traditional size of the 512 bytes sectors. Hard disk manufacturers have agreed to implement an extended format no later than January 2011 for new hard drive models for portable and desktop computers.

Hard disk developers continue to increase data recording density and improve the reliability of error correction. Consumers receive advantages as hard drives, as before, have the largest capacity and better specific value, as well as traditionally expected reliability from them.

The pledge of painless transition was the training of users of storage systems so that they were able to avoid "pitfalls". The most important condition for the successful transition to sectors of 4 KB is the distribution of hard drives to split hard drives to sectors that support sectors of 4 KB. All system assemblers, computer manufacturers, integrators, IT, and even end users collecting computers or configuring them, it is recommended to take the following measures.

• Create partitions of a hard disk using Windows Vista (with Service Pack 1 or Newer Service Pack) or Windows 7.
• When using third-party software and tools for creating partitions on a hard disk, make sure the manufacturer of these funds, which the version used supports the sector of 4 KB.
• If any customer regularly creates and uses hard disk images, make sure that the software you used supports 4 KB sectors.
• When using Linux, make sure that the Supplier of the Linux version or in the service organization, that the necessary changes are made to support sectors of 4 KB.
• Contact your provider of hard drives for recommendations and tips on the use of hard disks of the new format.

Together with our industry colleagues and customers, we can provide a painless and efficient transition to a new format of hard drives with a sector size of 4 KB and take advantage of prospective advantages for the entire industry storage systems.

Footnotes

1 sector format only applies to data sectors and does not consider an additional space occupied by service data, and another inefficiently used disk space.

2 Not in each implementation of sectors of 4 KB in size during the transition from sectors 512 bytes, the error correction area increases exactly twice.

: "It seems to me that any user will always have enough operational memory in 640 ..." - And today we and 4 do not seem much! ..

We still have enough 500-Winchester quite enough for us - and today we buy 3- - and it doesn't seem to us much (no wisdom says to us that the memory is and disk, and the operational - never a lot! .. ).

The demand for all sorts of digital media is growing steadily - while it is required that they can accommodate more and more information. And therefore, manufacturers have to break their heads over how to increase (and continue to raise!) Capacity of carriers.

There are 3 main ways to increase the carrier capacity:

- improve the longitudinal record density;

- increase the density of the tracks (number of tracks per inch);

- increase the number of surfaces used (increase the area of \u200b\u200bplates and / or their quantity ).

The best results provide an increase in data recording density. The advantage of increased recording density is that it is used on each track of each side of the carrier.

In 2009, the company Western Digital Technologies. - One of the pioneers and leaders of the storage drives industry on magnetic disks - introduced technology Advanced Format..

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What Advanced Format.

Classic architecture drives

Each Winchestera track is a sequence sequence (sector is a minimum storage unit on a carrier).

Currently, data stored on the carrier is located in the 512-byte sectors (here it is necessary to distinguish physical and logical sectors). Between sectors there are gaps - empty intermediate areas separating sectors and not containing data. Each sector begins with the field Sync / Dam (introductory entry). In addition, each sector has a field ECC. (Error Correcting Code.) containing information to correct errors:

Western Digital. Increased sector size 8 times - from 512 to 4096 bytes. In this case, 1 intersectoral gap is used instead of 8. Thus, it is possible to increase the container of the carrier by 7 - 11%. In addition, the use of increased ECC. Increases error correction efficiency by 50%, which provides a higher level of data integrity:

Benefits Advanced Format.:

- an increase in the carrier capacitance;

- increase recording density;

- a higher level of data integrity;

- increasing the speed of searching and reading data;

- reducing the number of errors when reading;

- increasing the performance of the drive;

- reduction of wear of mechanical parts of the carrier;

- increase in service life;

– …

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Practical use Advanced Format.

Disk drives interfaces allowing to use increased sectors ( Long Data Sector, LDS.), have been developed for a long time. However, the size of the sector in 512 bytes was the standard for over 30 years. Therefore, many components of computing systems (for example, , DVR., PSP.Mobile phones) are unable to work with any other sectors except 512-byte. To ensure compatibility with these devices in products with technology Advanced Format. Emulation of 512-byte sectors is used, - that is, these devices will "see" discs AFDS.As discs with standard sectors, and the drive itself will convert 8 logical sectors in 1 physical and working with it at the hardware level:

In disks with technology Advanced Format. Appropriate plates are used, they are divided into physical sectors of 4096 bytes, consisting of 8 logic sectors of 512 bytes:

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How to use discs Advanced Format.

Technology Advanced Format. Designed to work with most modern operating systems, such as , + , Mac Os.. These laid support Advanced Format. at the program level.

For those who use :

- if the hard drive contains one section ( single Partition), you need to set a jumper to contacts 7 and 8 ( jumper Pins. 7 – 8):