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  (Source: Western Digital)

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UEFI needed for latest generation

Solid State Drives are the speedy choice for many enthusiasts, but most of us still rely on traditional magnetic hard disk drives for our data storage. Even SSD evangelists have to concede that the low cost per gigabyte and large capacities of HDDs mean that it will remain the dominant storage medium for the foreseeable future.

Western Digital Corporation is launching today their latest WD Caviar Green HDDs at 2.5TB and 3TB capacities. These 3.5 inch internal drives have four platters with up to 750GB per platter, and feature 64MB caches and 3Gb/s SATA connections. This is the fifth generation of the company's Green series, which sacrifices some rotational speed and performance for lower power consumption and noise levels.

The largest capacity drives on the market right now top out at 2 terabytes of storage. WD and Seagate have been working on the next generation of HDDs for the last two years, but several problems have held back their market introductions.

Most older operating systems such as Windows XP encounter a capacity barrier at 2.2 TB. The most commonly used sector size is 512 bytes, and those operating systems can only address up to 2^32 logical blocks, limiting the maximum size to 2,199,023,255,552 bytes.

Western Digital tried to introduce Advanced Format (AF) technology using 4 KB (4096 byte) sector sizes, but determined through testing that it is generally not feasible at this time due to application incompatibilities with devices. The current implementation uses disk emulation to report 512 bytes sectors.

The solution being adopted by the industry is to use GUID Partition Tables (GPT), instead of Master Boot Record (MBR) partition tables. This is part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) effort by the computing industry to modernize the booting process. GPT provides for up to 18 exabytes (2^64) of Logical Block Addressing.

UEFI capable systems are already shipping, and many more are being designed. However, many current systems do not, so WD is planning to ship the new drives with UEFI and AHCI compliant Host Bus Adapters (HBA) using a PCIe x1 slot. A 64-bit OS is required to boot from the new drives, but 32-bit systems will still be able to use the drives as secondary storage.

The 2.5TB (model number WD25EZRSDTL) and 3TB (model number WD30EZRSDTL) drives are shipping today from Western Digital to distributors and should be available for pre-order. Some retailers will be able to sell them by the end of the week. MSRP for the WD Caviar Green 2.5 TB hard drive is $189 USD and the 3 TB hard drive is $239 USD.

WD Caviar Blue models for the mainstream and  high performance Caviar Black models for enthusiasts are currently being developed, but the company declined to provide guidance on the subject during our interview.

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UEFI
By Stacey Melissa on 10/19/2010 8:35:43 AM , Rating: 2
So if I understand correctly, UEFI is not required if the drive is a secondary GPT drive?




RE: UEFI
By AnnihilatorX on 10/19/10, Rating: -1
RE: UEFI
By webdawg77 on 10/19/2010 8:45:05 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
64bit OS is all you need to use it as storage drive.


Not quite ... "The rules are slightly different when using the drive in a non-boot scenario, simply as a secondary storage device. Here the drives play well with 32-bit operating systems when used with or without the included HBA (depending on OS)."

http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_cavia...


RE: UEFI
By Samus on 10/19/2010 11:56:15 AM , Rating: 2
I wasn't aware GPT partitions were bootable, regardless of EFI support or not.

But the only time I've used GPT is on RAID5 arrays, which obviously aren't used to boot from :)

Maybe with the proper bootstrap, GPT can be made bootable, that must be what they mean by 'proper UEFI implementation'


RE: UEFI
By gamefoo21 on 10/19/2010 9:59:56 PM , Rating: 1
GPT partitions are fully bootable under Vista x64 and Server 2k8 R2.

It's only in 7, that GPT drives can't be listed as bootable.


RE: UEFI
By Samus on 10/19/2010 11:10:51 PM , Rating: 2
Oh cool, I wasn't aware 2k8 R2 boots GTP. Why the hell does Vista x64 support GTP booting and Win7 x64 doesn't?


RE: UEFI
By webdawg77 on 10/19/2010 8:43:20 AM , Rating: 3
Correct. And it seems to perform better across the board than the 2 TB version.

http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_cavia...


RE: UEFI
By Jansen (blog) on 10/19/2010 8:46:07 AM , Rating: 5
UEFI is not required if the drive is a secondary drive , but recommended. Certain legacy hardware and drivers will not recognize the full capacity of the drive. If your hardware supports GPT, it supports UEFI.

A 64-bit OS is required to boot, but you can run the drive at full capacity in a 32-bit environment as a secondary drive.


RE: UEFI
By mcnabney on 10/19/2010 10:34:07 AM , Rating: 2
I was just thinking about all of the WHS users (including me) that would like to use these large drives, but are uncertain due to the 32bit nature of Server 2003. I'll probably skip it anyway. The 2TB drives are sitting in the $/GB sweet spot right now anyway.


RE: UEFI
By sdsdv10 on 10/19/2010 11:20:31 AM , Rating: 2
Hopefully the launch of WHS v2 (Vail) will address this issue.


RE: UEFI
By Nutzo on 10/19/2010 10:47:12 AM , Rating: 2
Been using GPT on server raids for a few years.

On the Dell server I use, the raid can be setup as multiple logical drives, so small msystem/boot drive is setup using the normal partition table, and the second drive is setup as GPT. I have one raid with a 7.9TB GPT partition :)

Works fine with 32 bit 2003 too.


RE: UEFI
By mino on 10/19/2010 5:56:43 PM , Rating: 1
UEFI is not REQUIRED at all.

It is needed only for booting _Windows_.

And that is ONLY because Microsoft does not want you to boot GPT-partitioned disk from BIOS. Simple as that.

If you are using any Linux or UNIX system, just partition it with GPT and you are good to go.


RE: UEFI
By gamefoo21 on 10/19/2010 10:02:24 PM , Rating: 2
Odd... I boot Vista Ultimate x64 on several different machines off of GPT discs and those boxes all have BIOS's.

With 7 because of the hidden mini-partition that it creates to handle booting, does it bork things with GPT partitioned drives.


RE: UEFI
By mino on 10/20/2010 5:26:10 AM , Rating: 1
Thanks for clarification. Should have mentioned Win7 specifically.

But the main point stands - it is by Microsoft choice, not a technology limitation.


RE: UEFI
By mino on 10/20/2010 3:24:16 PM , Rating: 2
Just wondering what was this minus for :)

Win 7 not supporting GPT boot on BIOS systems IS a political/business decision.
No amount of fanboyism could change reality.

/posting from a GPT-only, BIOS-only system with an auto-generated boot loader ...


Maths
By Busboy2 on 10/19/2010 1:00:42 PM , Rating: 2
Where is the writer getting 2.2TB??? He must be using HDD marketing maths.
2^32 * 512B = 2,199,023,255,552 bytes

2,199,023,255,552 / 1024 = 2,147,483,648KB

2,147,483,648 / 1024 = 2,094,152MB

2,094,152 / 1024 = 2,048GB

2,048 / 1024 = 2TB
Therefore the limit is 2TB not 2.2TB




RE: Maths
By Jansen (blog) on 10/19/2010 2:24:36 PM , Rating: 2
In standard SI usage, 1 terabyte (TB) equals 1,000,000,000,000bytes = 10004, or 1012 bytes.

Using the traditional binary interpretation, a terabyte would be 1,099,511,627,776bytes = 10244 = 240 bytes = 1 tebibyte (TiB). That's 1024^4, as you propose.


RE: Maths
By Jansen (blog) on 10/19/2010 2:25:12 PM , Rating: 2
In standard SI usage, 1 terabyte (TB) equals 1,000,000,000,000bytes = 1000^4, or 10^12 bytes.

Using the traditional binary interpretation, a terabyte would be 1,099,511,627,776bytes = 10244 = 240 bytes = 1 tebibyte (TiB). That's 1024^4, as you propose.


RE: Maths
By Busboy2 on 10/19/2010 3:20:42 PM , Rating: 3
Way to copy straight off wikipedia....
I think an old school computer scientist would smack whoever let this happen just so drive manufactures could fool people into thinking their drives have more space...
What if I went out to buy a One GB DIMM for my computer and it only registered as 931.3225mB which it would if all manufactures used this orders of 1000 system.
How can anything in computers(Binary) be anything other than Base 2. It just doesn't work yet drive makers are doing it.
An this article is just confusing people more thinking that 2.19"TB" is the limit of xp's bootable drive.


RE: Maths
By mino on 10/19/2010 5:59:06 PM , Rating: 2
Any old computer scientist should smack himself as it was his generation's laziness to use SI prefixes for multiples of 1024 ...


RE: Maths
By Fritzr on 10/19/2010 9:28:07 PM , Rating: 2
They have been doing this since the early 80s. Microsoft marketed their 3.5" floppy as 1.44MB.(Actual capacity was 1,440*1024 bytes. An earlier 1MB drive drive from Commodore was actually 1.05MiB. Both stated sizes probably came from the the sales side. MS to make the drive sound like it had more capacity, and the Commodore drive to give it a nice round number.

Hard drives have had an asterisk on the size and the microprint footnote says they use 10^6=1MB & 10^9=1GB along with the advisory message "Your operating system may report a lesser amount of storage"

This deceptive labeling actually predates the argument over what a *real* megabyte is. In the early days there was no confusion.

If it was metric measurement, the kilo, mega, giga etc. referred to powers of ten with the exponent being a multiple of 3.

If it was computer storage the metric prefixes referred to powers of 2 with the exponent being a multiple of 10.

Then the ISO quietly proposed the "bi" modifier on the prefixes to explicitly say they were binary. So now disk manufacturers glibly cite the new standard to justify their old behaviors.

Most articles citing memory or storage still use the old form where the context determines whether the prefix is decimal or binary. Technically they are both "metric" with only the number base differing :)


RE: Maths
By RivuxGamma on 10/19/2010 4:17:50 PM , Rating: 3
Indeed, it is just marketing. That is how things are done with HDDs.


RE: Maths
By ectl48 on 10/20/2010 3:44:16 AM , Rating: 2
This is not "HDD marketing maths", this is the right way to use prefixes. Here, read this:

http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=35

Contrary to common belief, power-of-10 prefixes (as in 1kB = 1000 bytes) are much more commonly used than power-of-2 prefixes in the computer industry.


RE: Maths
By Chocobollz on 10/20/2010 1:18:14 PM , Rating: 2
And that is a blog.. Jesus, are you really easily believed in anything that has been posted on a blog? Well, though I must say, the author himself (Marc Bevand) looks like pretty credible (you can see his page).

He might be right but here, we're talking about an HDD, which is used to store data , and is sold to a customer (and may as well I say that contrary to common belief, most customers don't really know about computer). And as data itself is a binary unit (Marc has pointed this in the blog post you mentioned), you should use a binary prefixes, not the decimal prefixes.


RE: Maths
By Fritzr on 10/20/2010 9:27:57 PM , Rating: 2
Both decimal and binary metric prefixes are used routinely in the computer industry with context making it clear which is which.

The binary meaning is usually restricted to memory and storage. In other contexts the prefixes are decimal when the unit is a rate or a measure not connected to data size and binary when the unit is a data size. So Kilobaud is routinely 1000 baud as that is measuring the amount of information transmitted. (a baud is one unit of information) and Kilobyte is 1024 bytes as this normally measuring a computer data size. If that sounds strange, remember that baud is not a computer term. It is a term from communications science that came to the computer world when computers started using telegraphic technology.

Occasionally the marketing people mix the measurements resulting in never ending confusion. An example is the Microsoft 1.44MB floppy format which is actually 1,440 (decimal) kilobytes (binary)

Another is the use of the decimal form to measure storage capacity when the industry standard is binary measure. Non power of 2 sector sizes exist, but they are special purpose and are not generally available. Operating systems assume power of 2 block sizes and require specialized drivers to use formats that use the odd sector sizes.

Even the hard drive manufacturers admit to the standard binary usage in constructing drives. The sector sizes are power of 2 sizes (most commonly 2^5 bytes) and the footnote that warns users that their computer will report a smaller size than they purchased also lists the actual decimal capacity in bytes with a number that is messy because it is a nice round multiple of the sector size, :D

If you really believe it is computer industry standard, then you really should let Microsoft, Apple, AT&T, Berkely, Linus Torvalds and all the others responsible for designing and distributing Operating Systems. They all seem to make the same mistake of using the binary meaning when they report disk capacity and file sizes. They keep right on with this mistaken belief that a KiloByte is 1024*8 bits.

They need to get their act together and start using KiloByte to mean 1000*10 bits so that the math won't be so messy. Of course that will really mess up the Electrical Engineers who rely on binary logic and addressing, but they can adjust...right? :D


RE: Maths
By ectl48 on 10/22/2010 4:39:39 AM , Rating: 2
Have you actually read the page? He actually provides evidence that you are wrong.

Go read it.

For example out of the 20+ examples of decimal prefixes, many of them are used in the context to storage.


Good HTPC drive!
By Lunyone on 10/19/2010 8:27:46 AM , Rating: 2
This like a good candidate for a HTPC drive! This would allow one to put quite a bit of movies and pictures on a single drive! No if you have the room though, your currently better off with 3 x 1 TB drives for ~$210 (3 x $70), but for a 1 or 2 drive bay HTPC, these would probably work out quite well (especially for the low noise and lower power).




RE: Good HTPC drive!
By Homerboy on 10/19/2010 8:54:36 AM , Rating: 2
Actually the best deal about now is 2x2TB @ $99 each.


RE: Good HTPC drive!
By jonmcc33 on 10/19/2010 10:18:43 AM , Rating: 2
I agree. That is a sick price, and that's not even a sale. I'm personally glad to see prices drop so low. I'm an avid downloader so it's a dream come true.


RE: Good HTPC drive!
By Drag0nFire on 10/19/2010 10:22:25 AM , Rating: 2
I have this absurd desire to go out and buy a bunch of 2TB drives for my home server. Then all I'd need is some more data to store...

=D


RE: Good HTPC drive!
By marvdmartian on 10/19/2010 10:35:32 AM , Rating: 2
Bring on the pron!.....er, I mean, home movies!! ;)


RE: Good HTPC drive!
By NicodemusMM on 10/19/2010 6:42:41 PM , Rating: 5
Wait a minute... There's a difference?

(Prep for down-rating complete.)


RE: Good HTPC drive!
By Nutzo on 10/19/2010 10:41:12 AM , Rating: 2
That's the best part about these new drives, it will push the prices down for the 2TB drives.


Long time WD fan, but...
By bug77 on 10/19/2010 10:02:06 AM , Rating: 2
... does anyone else find it funny that their green line comes with a 3 year warranty while regular drives get 5 years protection?




RE: Long time WD fan, but...
By ApfDaMan on 10/19/2010 11:22:52 AM , Rating: 2
Not really. you get what you pay for.


RE: Long time WD fan, but...
By bug77 on 10/19/2010 11:32:16 AM , Rating: 3
True, but how is replacing the HDD more often considered green?


RE: Long time WD fan, but...
By AnnihilatorX on 10/19/2010 11:31:33 AM , Rating: 2
When you loss 3TB worth of p0rn due to HDD malfunction, the petty $50 bucks worth of warranty is least of your worries at the time.


Bit wars
By AnnihilatorX on 10/19/2010 8:29:17 AM , Rating: 2
I hope entering 64 bit era we don't have to worry about having another bit change in my lifetime.

True 64bit addressing can address about 18 exabytes of data. That's about the current capacity of the Internet.

Ipv6 is 128bits long which can address number of atoms in the universe so I wonder when the need to change will come ;)




RE: Bit wars
By kontorotsui on 10/19/2010 8:45:28 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
Ipv6 is 128bits long which can address number of atoms in the universe so I wonder when the need to change will come ;)


Porn sites will outnumber that, soon enough


Confused...
By JBird7986 on 10/19/2010 9:09:32 AM , Rating: 2
So if I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64, but I want to use this HDD in a system that doesn't have UEFI but BIOS for booting, can I or can I not use it as the primary HDD and boot from it?




RE: Confused...
By Jansen (blog) on 10/19/2010 9:15:08 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, using the HBA included.


HBA?
By trisct on 10/19/2010 9:42:14 AM , Rating: 2
I assume this means Host Bus Adapter. Is this driver software or a hardware gadget?




RE: HBA?
By kattanna on 10/19/2010 10:56:45 AM , Rating: 2
http://www.wdc.com/en/solutions/Greaterthan22.asp

quote:
AHCI-compliant platform with an available PCI-Express slot


you will need an open PCIe slot, the link also contains a chart showing OS compatibility


2.25TB drive please...
By Golgatha on 10/19/2010 12:17:17 PM , Rating: 2
I would love to see a 2.25TB, 3x750GB platter drive come on the market. Cool, quiet, and reliable.




RE: 2.25TB drive please...
By iamezza on 10/20/2010 1:13:48 PM , Rating: 2
You almost can..
Samsung have a 3 x 667GB platter drive the F4EG 2TB

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/product...

I recently bought 2 of them and they are very nice drives. Very cool and quite running and much faster transfer speeds and access times then the WD Green 2TB drive.


Wow!
By kroker on 10/19/2010 9:44:45 PM , Rating: 2
That's a lot of pr0n!




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