1 Topic by aug

  • aug
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Topic: Disk is really 512 byte or 4 KB sector size ? (device information)

Hello.
Trying format a disk (WD10EARS) in "Device Information" tab is the sector size is 512.

That information is really about the disk physical sector size or is logical sector size ?

Thanks for reply

2 Reply by mfleetwo

  • mfleetwo
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Re: Disk is really 512 byte or 4 KB sector size ? (device information)

GParted "Device Information" reports logical sector size

3 Reply by aug

  • aug
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Re: Disk is really 512 byte or 4 KB sector size ? (device information)

Thanks for your reply.
If Gparted list with details being "logical sector size" help users.
A feature request to display "logical sector size" instead "sector size" is good.
I not undersand if is possible add option to list real physical sector size.
Both options will help very much.

4 Reply by class413

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Re: Disk is really 512 byte or 4 KB sector size ? (device information)

Most modern SATA disks now are based on the 4 KB sector technology. The drive's firmware makes them appear as 512 byte/sector, for compatibility reasons with various software maintenance tools. The 512 byte concept is well tested over the years. Physical sector size value doesn't really offer any useful info for the software partitioning and formatting operations, especially if we follow the Mib alignment option for the partitions (a defacto standard for all operating systems since a decade or more).

The parted output from the terminal gives both values, logical as well as physical.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***