This support statement is provided by the Product Management Team.
Background information
The legacy 512-byte hard drive sector size was replaced because the physical storage capacity of drives has increased. It has been redesigned so it can handle larger files and use the available storage space more efficiently.
Hard disk data has been processed in 512-byte increments since its first development in 1956. The new first generation of
Advanced Format (AF)
drive technology with a 4 kilobyte (4,096 bytes) hard drive sector size replaces the traditional 512-byte sector size disks. Although this technology uses the storage area more efficiently for large files, it is less efficient for smaller files.
NOTES:
- The new drives can emulate the 512-byte sector size to allow backward compatibility.
- Current advanced format hard disk drives (HDDs) are also known as 512e HDDs.
All products listed above do
not currently support the 4-Kb native drives because many of the current Microsoft operating systems do
not support this format.
Encryption products
do support Microsoft operating systems that support drives that use the Advanced Format (4 KB physical and 512-byte logical sector size). The drives in this mode emulate 512-byte sectors, so no issues are expected.
Summary based on the details provided
|
Drive Type
|
Supported Windows Operating Systems
|
Supported
by
DE or FRP
|
4 KB native
- 4 KB (4,096 bytes) logical sector size
|
- Microsoft Windows 8 and later
- Windows 2012 Server and later
|
No |
Advanced Format
- 4 KB physical, and 512-byte logical sector size
|
Supported on:
- Windows 7 and later
- Windows Server 2008 and later
- Windows Server 2008 R2
|
Yes |
512 bytes native
(512 bytes physical and logical sector size) |
All operating systems |
Yes |
