Hi all.
I just bought a 2TB WD20EARS. Currently use WinXP Home. I'll be using it as a secondary drive, i.e. not installing an OS on it.
It's a 4k sector drive ("advanced format"). I have the option of installing a jumper or doing the partition align.
My problem is- that I'll be only using the drive on the XP box for a few months; I will later put it into a box running Win7, when the XP box is retired.
Question is: If I do the 'partion align' with the WD tool, is there any way I can reverse that, when time comes to switch the drive into the Win7 machine?
Moving a 4k sector drive from XP to 7
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Re: Moving a 4k sector drive from XP to 7
"Doing the partition align with WD Tool" is the same thing that Windows Vista/7 do on a new (i.e. unpartitioned) drive, so there should be no problem when moving to 7.
If you go the jumper way Windows 7 will actually misalign the partition if you try to repartition the drive with it. If you keep your partitions as with Windows XP there should be no problem with the jumper either.
If you go the jumper way Windows 7 will actually misalign the partition if you try to repartition the drive with it. If you keep your partitions as with Windows XP there should be no problem with the jumper either.
Re: Moving a 4k sector drive from XP to 7
But as I understand it...CTT wrote:"Doing the partition align with WD Tool" is the same thing that Windows Vista/7 do on a new (i.e. unpartitioned) drive, so there should be no problem when moving to 7.
If you go the jumper way Windows 7 will actually misalign the partition if you try to repartition the drive with it. If you keep your partitions as with Windows XP there should be no problem with the jumper either.
1. The WD20EARS comes pre-formatted with a single partition which is aligned to win7.
2. The WD Align tool, moves this partition so it aligns to Win XP.
3. If I later put the drive into a Win7 box, it will be unaligned.
Yes/no?
I was hoping to not have to reformat / repartition the drive, when I move it over to a Win7 box. Cos it'll be used to store a whole ton of FLAC-ripped albums, and redoing it all would be time consuming.
Re: Moving a 4k sector drive from XP to 7
1. No, the drive doesn't come prepartitioned. You will have to create a partition with a third party software tool or let Windows setup do it for you.
2. Yes, kind of. WD Align will move this partition, but the alignment is not "to Windows XP" but to the internal sectors of the drive.
Once you have a partition aligned it will stay aligned regardless of the operating system you install on it as long as you don't delete and recreate it.
3. No. If (1) you install Windows 7 on that partition it will remain aligned; if (2) you chose to repartition the drive during Windows 7 setup, it will be aligned correctly by the setup program. In either case you'll have a properly aligned partition.
You don't have to reformat the partition when installing Windows 7 (you can do it if you prefer a clean install but I don't think it's mandatory) and you certainly don't have to repartition the drive.
2. Yes, kind of. WD Align will move this partition, but the alignment is not "to Windows XP" but to the internal sectors of the drive.
Once you have a partition aligned it will stay aligned regardless of the operating system you install on it as long as you don't delete and recreate it.
3. No. If (1) you install Windows 7 on that partition it will remain aligned; if (2) you chose to repartition the drive during Windows 7 setup, it will be aligned correctly by the setup program. In either case you'll have a properly aligned partition.
You don't have to reformat the partition when installing Windows 7 (you can do it if you prefer a clean install but I don't think it's mandatory) and you certainly don't have to repartition the drive.