http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 3:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
Finally*]]>Dec 11th 2009 3:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 3:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/So what scam is goin to be used in representing the capacity now? MB? MiB? Something inbetween?]]>Dec 13th 2009 3:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/the headlines above the articles i cant read them i hover
over them and its makes the black box, and as im typing
this in the comment box it shows nothing, whats going on?]]>Dec 11th 2009 3:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/When I hover over the article titles (of the main site) the thing is inverted, black text becomes white and the background becomes a black box, so the black box thing is as should be but your text should go white.]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 7:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/I would suggest Mozilla Firefox, with the AdBlock Plus addon.]]>Dec 11th 2009 7:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 12th 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
But on the other hand, it's 2009. An empty Word doc is already more than 4K. This is probably long overdue :P.]]>Dec 11th 2009 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/"many points in a computer system (systems like personal computers, servers, DVRs, PSPs, and cell phones) have become inflexible and only work using 512-byte sectors. To maintain compatibility with these devices, Advanced Format media emulates a 512-byte device by maintaining a 512-byte sector at the drive interface."

Interestingly enough they also says this:
"Advanced
Format is not optimized for outdated operating systems such as Windows XP.
For users who are still using Windows XP, WD offers WD Align software, a simple utility that allows Advanced Format drives
operating under Windows XP to run at full performance.
The WD Align software is available for download from WD's web site"
]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
BTW, -1!]]>Dec 11th 2009 7:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/But in any recent actual filesystem - FAT32, NTFS, exFAT and probably ext2 & 3 (like I know THAT much ;) you've got 4kb clusters as a minimum anyway. Your 200-byte text file will still be taking up 8 512-byte sectors (and I assume you weren't there for the latter days of FAT16 and the first release of FAT32, when we saw 8, 16, 32 or even 64kb clusters and multiple partitions on each disk?). Floppies are the only media still using single-sector clusters, because their capacity is so low that even that doesn't saturate FAT12. Heck, I think since DOS v5, FAT 16's minimum was itself 2kb. If you had a partition less than 128mb (ahh those were the days :p), it just reduced the number of clusters instead of their size.

For modern hard drives - and I'm talking since the early 90s, here - only the boot sector, master boot record, partition table etc are still crammed down into 512 bytes each because they operate at such a low, sub-OS, sub-filesystem level. The problem with aligning partitions is probably not so much that their size isn't a multiple of 4kb, but that they may start at an arbitary "a times 512" point and end at a "a times 512, PLUS b times 4096" one.

Mind you I can't remember being offered anything better than a partition size granularity of better than a few megs in the last 10~15 years (aligning to the nearest track, whether real or virtual?), so it shouldn't be too tricky to tweak the partitioning programs etc to ensure they land at the correct tiny fraction of a meg.]]>Dec 16th 2009 10:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
depending on your version of MS-DOS... ]]>Dec 11th 2009 7:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
Even older old schoolers remember Stacker]]>Dec 12th 2009 2:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Yeah... whatever happened to applying doublespace compression *to your working RAM* ?!]]>Dec 16th 2009 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/.]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/bought... >.]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
You're not alone... Bought a 1TB Green Caviar on NewEgg 3 weeks ago... That SUCKS! :(]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
it's unlikely they'll suddenly start selling 2.14TB drives; it just means that it'll be easier to reach 2.5TB drives, cheaper to produce future 2TB drives, etc.]]>Dec 11th 2009 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
Punks!!!]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
I agree, Why don't companies label the REAL storage of the device and not the theoretical size? Why isn't it considered false advertisement? ]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
What ever happened to a TB being 1048576MB instead of the chopped-off 1000000MB?]]>Dec 11th 2009 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte]]>Dec 11th 2009 5:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Because they have the little * or superscript 1 next the the size and at the bottom of the box they say 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. Since they use base 10 instead of base 2 which works out like 1 gigabyte = 1073741824 Bytes]]>Dec 11th 2009 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/The new OSX switched to counting as base 10 (1MB=1000KB), that's why people reported seeing more space on their HDD after upgrading. That know of, the only os that uses the formula of hardware manufacturers is Apple. You know the saying, there is lies, dam lies and marketing. ]]>Dec 11th 2009 5:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/This was all a marketing ploy started back in the single digit gigibyte hdd days. I think it was western digital or seagate who decided to market their (actual) 2GB drive as a 2.14GB drive. This was back when Maxtor was killing WD in the brick and mortor store sales. So, WD or Segate tried to "one up" maxtor buy implying they had more space for the same cost.

Back then, they didn't even specify on the box that they were using base 10. That took about six months when other companies threated to sue.]]>Dec 11th 2009 9:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/linux/kernel/1039141]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/
Really? Looks slightly less to me. Per unit of data of course. Any other measure is stupid. You're not stupid, are you engadget?]]>Dec 11th 2009 4:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/yes and no. drive manufacturs also use base 10 to calculate the size instead of base 2 like computers use.
Base 10 - 1 GB = 1 billion bytes
Base 2 - 1 gigabyte = 1073741824 Bytes
that's where a large chunk of the difference is]]>Dec 11th 2009 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/No. You buy gibibytes not gigabytes. They advertise the ACTUAL stored capacity.]]>Dec 12th 2009 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 4:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 5:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Perhaps they were slightly startled by the increase in capacity?]]>Dec 11th 2009 6:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 7:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 7:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 7:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Dec 11th 2009 5:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/512B block support in ATA, which has been there for years. When you use an OS that doesn't support big blocks (XP), they use virtual blocks. Which means that if you write only 512 bytes out of a block it has to do a read-modify-write cycle. This hurts performance if it happens too often.]]>Dec 11th 2009 8:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/western-digital-advanced-format-promises-slight-boost-in-usabl/Danger Seekers!]]>Dec 11th 2009 10:04PM