Problem with MK6459GSX a WinXP on 4K sector HDD

[ayrus02]

Last month I buy this MK6459GSX 2.5" 640GB 5400rpm 8MB Cache laptop HDD, on the store specification it says that this HDD has SATA/300 interface, but after I test it under HD Tune v2.55 and HardDisk Sentinel v3.20 PRO it says that this MK6459GSX HDD only support SATA/150 Interface.
1. Has anyone have this HDD? And confirm my finding that MK6459GSX use SATA/150 Interface?

Second question, this MK6459GSX has Advanced Format Technology, it's mean that it's physical sector are 4K, I've confirmed it using HDDScan v3.2 software and it's use the emulation technology to emulate 512B sector. I've try to install WinXP on this HDD and like the benchmark here:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/WDs-1TB-Caviar-Green-w-Advanced-Format-Windows-XP-Users-Pay-Attention/?page=2
It show very slow reading and writing performance. Also I use Seagate Alignment test software (Seagate Partition Offset Information) that confirm that my XP partition on this HDD are misalign.

2. Is there any software to make my XP partition aligned on this HDD? (I've try the WD align software on this HDD but it refuses because it's not a WD HDD)

When I search on the web there are 2 kind of Toshiba 2.5" 640GB 5400rpm, the MK6459GSX and the MK6465GSX. On the official site of Toshiba, it only mention the MK6465GSX.
http://www.sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=StorageSolutions/PCNotebookHardDrives/MKxx65GSXSeries

3. Does anyone know what is the main differences between these two model (MK6459GSX and MK6465GSX)?

Regards,
ayrus02

[nande]

MK6459GSX - Advanced Format Drive (4kb DISK, 512b emulation HOST)
- You can check MK7559GSXP on their website, this should be very similar except for capacity (750gb vs 640gb).
MK6465GSX - (512b DISK, 512b HOST)

Sorry, but I am not sure of any software that could align your winXP partition. An alternative is to partition it properly first before installing winXP.

[Doomer]

Is there any software to make my XP partition aligned on this HDD?

Any disk editor or Windows Vista/7 formatter
You need to modify partition table (sector 0), so it would point to sector 4,8,12,16 etc. (2048 suggested by Microsoft) instead of 63, as the start sector of a first partition and then re-format the drive.

[ayrus02]

@nande
Thanks for the insight.

@doomer
Could you give me some url link to the information that sector 2048 as the start sector suggested by Microsoft?

Last week I've tried to manually allign the start partition of each partition I'm going to create on this HDD, but when I've tried to format it with Acronis Disk Director Suite v10, it change back the start sector of each partition to 63.

Do I have to format this partition that manually aligned using the Advanced Format aware software like format in Vista/7, or I can use the default windows formatter in WinXP?

FYI: I'm aligning the start of each partition to sector 64, and I want to create 8 partition for this HDD, 1 primary and 7 logical partition.

In this post, I attach the excel file of partition table I create to align the partition on this HDD.

Partition Table for MK6459GSX 640GB.xls

Partition Table for MK6459GSX 640GB

(36 KiB) Downloaded 1047 times

[Doomer]

@doomer
Could you give me some url link to the information that sector 2048 as the start sector suggested by Microsoft?

You will need to search by yourself
But Windows Vista and Windows 7 create first partition from sector 2048 by default

[nande]

Easiest way is to do the partition and formatting with windows vista/7. The partitions will be aligned.

[fzabkar]

You can see the partition layout in the following Sector Inspector report:
http://www.4shared.com/document/qS_VnPYn/SIout.html

In the above case, a WD10EARS "Advanced Format" drive has been set up under Windows XP, and Acronis's Align utility has then been used to optimise the drive.

Note the 2048 sector gaps.

[ayrus02]

@fzabkar
thanks of your Sector Inspector file.

Last night I manage to rewipe the entire partition table on this HDD, and recreate the partition table again manually based on the ex

Attachments

SIout.txt

Sector Inspector result MK6459GSX 640GB. 1 primary + 7 logical partition.

(37.37 KiB) Downloaded 1084 times

[ayrus02]

@fzabkar
thanks of your Sector Inspector file.

Last night I manage to rewipe the entire partition table on this HDD, and recreate the partition table again manually based on the excel file I uploaded earlier, but this time I use WinXP SP3 Disk Management to format the partition. I use the 4096 bytes cluster size and the result is all partition are now aligned with the 4kb physical sector of HDD.

From this try and error I have conclusion that one more important thing when you want to create 4kb aligned sector is that the size of the partition must also devisable by 8.

This is my Sector Inspector result for the new aligned partition I made

SIout.txt

Sector Inspector result for MK6459GSX 640GB HDD

(37.37 KiB) Downloaded 951 times

FYI: For anyone that want to create manual partition that aligned with 4kb physical sector (Advanced Format) can use the excel table calculation I attach earlier. I use partition magic partition editor to create the partition table manually. This software are included on Hiren's Boot CD.

Tonight I'm gonna take some benchmark and compare the result with the unaligned version of the partition table.

[fzabkar]

Thanks very much for your feedback. Your information will be very useful at WD's forums.

[fjodfi39o2l]

I bought this model HD from eBay and I'm having the same problem.

On XP it is very slow and unresponsive and on Win 7 it is perfect.

My questions.


Is the problem only with some of these drives or with all of them.
Here's the eBay auction LINK
As you can see they have sold 43 of these drives. (+14 in another auction).
If it was all of these drives, surly there would be massive complaints which would be reflected in their feedback.
I ask because if I return the HD and get the same model back, I don't want to have the same problem.

I know the easiest way is to format using Windows 7, but when I go to sell the drive I don't want to have to start explaining to the buyer about this problem.

You need to modify partition table (sector 0), so it would point to sector 4,8,12,16 etc. (2048 suggested by Microsoft) instead of 63, as the start sector of a first partition and then re-format the drive.

If I modify the Partition table (the drive is completely formatted) and if I then install XP - using XP format, will the HD revert to 63?
ie is modifying the Partition Table completely independent from XP or any other OS?

If it is independent, what is the best software for modifying the Partition Table and if someone has a link on how to modify the PT that would be great.

thanks in advance for you help

[fzabkar]

WD provides an alignment utility for Windows XP. I would think that one simple solution would be to remove the alignment jumper (pins 7-8), use Win XP to partition the drive, and then run the alignment utility. Hopefully this would be sufficient. Otherwise you could format the partitions before aligning them.

WD Align CD - Powered by Acronis:
http://support.wdc.com/product/downloadsw.asp?sid=122

[xsoliman]

If you partition the disk under Win7 (or from a Win recovery console booted from DVD), the partition will be aligned.
You can then install XP in the partition, and even reformat the partition, and it will stay aligned