Hard drive evolution could hit Microsoft XP users

[oandapartycock]

Meh, I can't see myself ever needing more than a terabyte of data on one drive, but who knows. But I guess when you buy a terabyte drive you'll actually get pretty close to a terabyte.

Hard drive evolution could hit Microsoft XP users

Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years.

By early 2011 all hard drives will use an "advanced format" that changes how they go about saving the data people store on them.

The move to the advanced format will make it easier for hard drive makers to produce bigger drives that use less power and are more reliable.

However, it might mean problems for Windows XP users who swap an old drive for one using the changed format.

Error codes

Since the days of the venerable DOS operating system, the space on a hard drive has been formatted into blocks 512 bytes in size.

The 512 byte sector became standardised thanks to IBM which used it on floppy disks.

While 512 bytes was useful when hard drives were only a few megabytes in size, it makes less sense when drives can hold a terabyte (1000 gigabytes), or more of data. The 512 byte format dates from the days of the floppy

"The technology has changed but that fundamental building block of formatting has not," said David Burks, a product marketing manager for storage firm Seagate.

This fine resolution on hard drives is causing a problem, he said, because of the wasted space associated with each tiny block.

Each 512 byte sector has a marker showing where it begins and an area dedicated to storing error correction codes. In addition a tiny gap has to be left between each sector. In large drives this wasted space where data cannot be stored can take up a significant proportion of the drive.

Moving to an advanced format of 4K sectors means about eight times less wasted space but will allow drives to devote twice as much space per block to error correction.

"You can get yourself into a corner where you cannot squeeze much more onto the disk," said Steve Perkins, a technical consultant for Western Digital.

This shift also allows manufacturers to make more efficient use of the real estate on a hard drive.

"We can put more data on the disk," he said. "It's about 7-11% more efficient as a format."

Slow down

Through the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (Idema) all hard drive makers have committed to adopting the 4K advanced format by the end of January 2011.

Hard drive makers have begun an education and awareness campaign to let people know about the advanced format and to warn about the problems it could inflict on users of older operating systems such as Windows XP.

This is because Windows XP was released before the 4K format was decided upon.

"The 512 byte sector assumption is ensconced into a lot of the aspects of computer architecture," said Mr Burks from Seagate.

By contrast, Windows 7, Vista, OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and versions of the Linux kernel released after September 2009 are all 4K aware.

To help Windows XP cope, advanced format drives will be able to pretend they still use sectors 512 bytes in size.

When reading data from a drive this emulation will go unnoticed. However, said Mr Burks, in some situations writing data could hit performance.

In some cases the drive will take two steps to write data rather than one and introduce a delay of about 5 milliseconds.

"All other things being equal you will have a noticeable hard drive reduction in performance," said Mr Burks, adding that, in some circumstances, it could make a drive 10% slower.

In a bid to limit the misalignment, hard drive makers are producing software that ensures 512 sectors line up with 4K ones.

Those most likely to see the performance problems are those building their own computers or swapping out an old drive for one that uses the new format.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8557144.stm

[MayrMeninoCrash]

DOS operating system

Is that like an ATM teller machine or a PIN identification number

[jackjack]

So.. Operating systems will continue to recognize 512 byte sector drives.. And 4kbyte sector drives will emulate the old standard for the forseeable future.. Where's the problem?

Someone tried their best to write a scary story about a problem that doesn't exist, and failed.

[Ludwig]

Nice attempt at convincing people their currently functional technology is obsolete and they'd better go out to buy the new stuff right away or else.

Unless you're dealing with a high volume of raw, uncompressed video and to a lesser extent audio data there is no reason for an upgrade from the current technologies...and even then there's external usb-powered drives...and internal 1tb drives start at like $80. If production ceased today there are still more than enough of the current hdds in warehouses to accommodate XP users through the end of 2011.

At least the price points on the current ssd drives will be dropping.

[TreeFortRichard]

Y2k! Y2k!

[weeniewawa]

If you like the XP, buy a couple of smaller drives today and put them in your freezer for future use

in the not so distant future, they will be impossible to find

right now it is pretty hard to find anything new smaller than 500GB

[Sinn Fein]

I got a pair of 320GB SATA drives I pulled and replaced with a 1.5 TB drive. I'm gonna hold on to them and sell them to an XP user 5 years from now for....

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

[weeniewawa]

just think of all the people still on even older versions of windoze

3.1 guys searching for 850MB drives

[oandapartycock]

Originally Posted by jackjack

So.. Operating systems will continue to recognize 512 byte sector drives.. And 4kbyte sector drives will emulate the old standard for the forseeable future.. Where's the problem?

Someone tried their best to write a scary story about a problem that doesn't exist, and failed.

Yeah, I kind of misinterpreted the emulation issue. I think you still might not be able to upgrade your current 500gb drive into a terabyte+ drive using some disk clone utility.

Originally Posted by Sinn Fein

I got a pair of 320GB SATA drives I pulled and replaced with a 1.5 TB drive. I'm gonna hold on to them and sell them to an XP user 5 years from now for....

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!

I've got a couple 250gb IDE drives that I'll be selling for...

TWO MILLION DOLLARS!

[Bobobie]

Originally Posted by weeniewawa

just think of all the people still on even older versions of windoze

3.1 guys searching for 850MB drives

Nobody is using those. With programs like VMware and Dosbox there is no reason to use that old hardware.

[Fr. Dougal]

I just picked up a 1TB internal drive, with an external top-loading USB dock for $89, no shipping, no tax at newegg.

Figured I needed to start backing up all my shit. Better safe than sorry.

[CougarHunter]

The writing on this is fucking atrocious.

The 512 byte sector became standardised thanks to IBM which used it on floppy disks.

The 512 byte format dates from the days of the floppy

Could you hammer that over my head one more time please?

[Bobobie]

If you have a Solid State Drive, will this even matter?