Re-imaging Requirements when using Advanced Format HDDs

Dell Latitude E-Family & Mobile Precision Reimage “How-To” Guide

3 Re-imaging Requirements when using Advanced Format HDDs

The following are the re-imaging guidelines needed to support Advanced Format HDDs. These requirements are dependent on which Operating System will be installed and which method of deployment will be used.

3.1Microsoft Operating Systems Advanced Format Aware Readiness

An Operating System is Advanced Format Aware if it meets the following criteria:

oIt understands the concept of physical sector vs. logical sector o It maximizes writes using multiples of 4k bytes

o Disk partition starts at the boundary of 4k sector

Not all current Microsoft Operating Systems are Advanced Format Aware (refer to the Table below). A system configured with an Advanced Format drive and an operating system that is not Advanced Format aware can experience sector misalignment, resulting in performance or compatibility issues.

-Some extra steps may be required for re-imaging even with Advanced Format Aware Microsoft Operating Systems, Install/upgrade to the latest Intel Storage driver

-Apply the applicable Microsoft KB article

-Partition alignment

such as (Please refer to section 3.2 for detailed instructions):

	Operating System			Advanced Format
				Aware
	Microsoft Windows 7 SP1			Yes
	Microsoft Windows 7			Yes
	Microsoft Vista SP1			Yes
	Microsoft Vista			No
	Microsoft XP (all versions)			No
	Microsoft Windows PE 3.0 or Later			Yes
	Microsoft Windows PE older versions			No