After using Extended Self Test and now seeing that my 3TB drive, among many others, has been repaired and cleaned, and now gladly reporting 100% Health after fixing the sector degradation issues, I reformatted the drive.
Then I reformatted it, selecting 4096 bytes/sector, using standard Windows Explorer File/Format menu option and the quick format option.
But still HD Sentinal and the Windows wmic command wmic:root\cli>diskdrive get bytespersector both report 512 bytes per sector.
I am sure you know the reason for this seeming anomaly: there is always a reason.
Please un-confuse me; I would be grateful.
Yours,
Mike
Hard Disk Summary: 512 bytes or 4096 bytes/sector???
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hdsentinel
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Re: Hard Disk Summary: 512 bytes or 4096 bytes/sector???
When you format the drive and selected 4096 bytes, it specifies the allocation unit size, which is completely different from the physical sector size.
Of course formatting the drive does not alter the physical sector size in any ways, just specifies the OS about how much physical sector(s) should be used in each allocation units.
If you select the partition (bottom left area) in Hard Disk Sentinel, then on the rightmost informational area you can verify the selected "Allocation Unit Size" (which is connected to the actual partition, not the physical drive itself).
3 TB+ drives should have 4096 bytes sectors of course.
If 512 bytes reported, it means that the current driver / adapter / enclosure may use an older, compatible mode to address the complete hard disk. This may cause incompatibility issue or performance degradations.
If you can use Report -> Send test report to developer option in Hard Disk Sentinel, it may help to check the current disk controller, driver, connection - to verify the situation.
Of course formatting the drive does not alter the physical sector size in any ways, just specifies the OS about how much physical sector(s) should be used in each allocation units.
If you select the partition (bottom left area) in Hard Disk Sentinel, then on the rightmost informational area you can verify the selected "Allocation Unit Size" (which is connected to the actual partition, not the physical drive itself).
3 TB+ drives should have 4096 bytes sectors of course.
If 512 bytes reported, it means that the current driver / adapter / enclosure may use an older, compatible mode to address the complete hard disk. This may cause incompatibility issue or performance degradations.
If you can use Report -> Send test report to developer option in Hard Disk Sentinel, it may help to check the current disk controller, driver, connection - to verify the situation.