[moving from BootIce releases thread per Wonko -@wonko, noticed yr flag so, k viva Pantelleria!]
Hi and sorry for the delay.
Got 2 1TB SATAIII WD10EZEX [both are Model# 00WN4A0 Thailand 27dec2015] drives, where, having THOUGHT I'd formatted em the same in Easeus, one of them (HD2) shows a 512 sector size (and is inaccessible) ONLY IF connected via external usb to SATA bridge.
The other (HD3) is fine either way, showing a 4096 sector size, as does HD3 when connected and accessible via internal SATA.
Both drives originally had ~70mb FAT primaries followed by 2 ~460mb NTFS Logical partitions. Currently the only change is now the FATs have been changed to NTFS. I can change those back to try the Switch.cmd trick as mentioned and downloadable here thanks to jaclaz (aka Wonko?).
I'm now (unable to remove bold type formatting) going to attach what I hope are the right files as Wonko requested in the below copied BootIce thread start of this issue (if need more, it's that fsutil link says XP not supported).
my initial post:
Can I change back the sector size without losing data or partitions? [see ** below]. That's because: Maybe someone here has a guess about why, after using BootIce on a drive a month ago and accidentally commtting a change, but i don't know what it was, the drive's partitions, data and even size are only recognized in XPsp3 (eg explorer, diskmgr says 'unassigned space', bootice, easeus, etc) IF the drive is connected to internal sata port. [As usb via an external sata-to-usb adapter with external ac power, the system shows a random small size drive; as an internal sata, the drive shows accurately as a 1 tb drive in 3 NTFS (1primary+2logical) partitions. I have another identical 1 tb WD SATAIII data-only drive with the same scheme (both drives were done up in Easeus months ago using identical options) that shows up accurately whether connected internally or as usb. Currently, ported so that both are usable (the problem drive ported to internal SATA), in BootIce's Partition Mgmt window both drives show identical data for Drive No., ID, Active-no, Hidden-no, FileSys, and 1st partition Starting LBA. Also same bits for 0000:00->0F are listed in Sector Edit]
**2) cont'd, for anyone still reading (thank you): i just discovered this difference btwn the 2 drives:
The problem drive, H-I-J: 512 sector size, 1953525168 total sectors.
The stable drive, E-F-G: 4096 sector size, 244190646 total sectors. I'd prefer even a 64k cluster for both drives actually but they do have lots of small files, too.
Muchisimas gracias for any answers!! [sorry this is not more succinct]
--------------------------
SYS INFO:
internal sata: 2 onboard ports are intel sata1 + 2 ASMedia1061 pcie SATA3 ports.
System OS disk (and both of disks in question) is SATA1 with Win NT 5.x MBR and NTLDR boot record, with fresh RyanVM/nLited error-free xp install done a few days ago.
Pentium 4, 3GHz, 3GB Ram, ich6, Dell Dimension 4700
**system includes 5-MsftEdit_v4.1_[FILEv5.41.21.2512]_Addon by Dibya.
DRIVE INFO:
[The problem drive, H-I-J: 512 sector size, 1953525168 total sectors.]
WDC WD10 EZEX-00WN4A0 SCSI Disk Device,(Standard disk drives),(0) OK,Disk drives,5.1.2535.0,SCSI\DiskWDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0____01.0 | SCSI\DiskWDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0____|SCSI\DiskWDC_WD10|SCSI\WDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0____0|WDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0____0|GenDisk|
[The stable drive, E-F-G: 4096 sector size, 244190646 total sectors]
WDC WD10 EZEX-00WN4A0 USB Device,(Standard disk drives),(0) OK,Disk drives,5.1.2535.0,USBSTOR\DiskWDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0________ | USBSTOR\DiskWDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0____|USBSTOR\DiskWDC_WD10|USBSTOR\WDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0_____|WDC_WD10EZEX-00WN4A0_____|USBSTOR\GenDisk|GenDisk|
@pasito
Two very different/separate questions.
#1 Sure it is possible to change the CODE in a MBR without changing the DATA in it, but this should not in any way affect a "data only" disk drive.
If you prefer when booting the CODE inside the MBR is read/executed (by the BIOS) whilst in a "data only" drive ony the data inside it (Disk Signature and Partition Table) is used.
#2 there is something that doesn't sound right with your report (or maybe it is only confusing and I cannot get it fully right).
Anyway the sector size CANNOT normally be changed via software (and SHOULD NOT) be changed.
The disks are either NOT "identical" OR you are testing them differently OR *somehow* one of the two changed its behaviour (which I strongly doubt, but which still it is possible, at least in theory).
There are some USB "external cases" or "SATA-USB converters" that behave strangely, i.e. automagically convert 512 bytes devices to 4096 or viceversa, (whilst when directly SATA connected they use "native" sector size) if the disk drive is of the "new" (stupid) AF (or Advanced Format) kind.
Your drive(s) is/are seemingly:
https://community.wd...rnally/15580/10
AF (and thus use 4 kb sectors internally), it is entirely possible (though as said not "probable") that something in the disk drive firmware "recognizes" a particular partitioning pattern (or *whatever*) and turns off and on the internal translation from 4096 bytes/sector to 512 bytes sector, but it is more probable that the issue is with the USB to SATA bridge.
Normally an AF drive uses internally 4Kb sectors but exposes a translated 512 bytes geometry, we had a very similar issue here:
http://www.msfn.org/...ent-interfaces/
and now that I am re-checking that thread, I see that it is the EXACT SAME disk drive model
Please take some time reviewing that thread on MSFN, JFYI at the time I came out with a specific workaround, NOT solution, here:
http://www.msfn.org/...ent-interfaces/
Then, please start a new thread, (the matter is not suited to this generic Bootice thread) here:
http://reboot.pro/fo...rmat-utilities/
and post there a copy of the MBR of the two disks and the oputput of the fsutil command like Dave-H did on MSFN.
Since you have two drives that behave differently, maybe this time we will be able to find an actual solution.
Wonko