Support for Advanced Format Block Size 4 KB Hard-Disk Drives

From the introduction of PERC 9 and later family of hardware controller support in Storage Management, users using legacy 512 B sector hard-disk drives can now transition to Advanced Format Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives. Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives utilize the storage-surface media more efficiently by combining data that would have been stored in eight 512 B sector hard-disk drives into one sector of 4096 B (4 KB). This data-combining feature in Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives results in improved data efficiency and error correction capabilities.

Storage Management supports virtual disk creation on Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives connected to PERC 9 and later of hardware controllers.

NOTE: Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives are not supported on controllers prior to PERC 9 family of hardware controllers. If the Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drive is connected to any hardware controller prior to PERC 9, the Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drive is displayed as Unsupported.
  • When you create a virtual disk using the Advanced Wizard, you can select the physical disk sector from the Logical Block Size drop-down list. The options available are:
    • 512B
    • 4KB
  • You cannot use both Block Size 4 KB hard-disk drives and 512 B sector hard-disk drives for a virtual disk creation as mixing of hard-disk drive sectors is not allowed in Storage Management.
    NOTE:  If the system contains any 512e sector hard-disk drives, the 512e sector hard-disk drives are identified or reported as 512 B sector hard-disk drives and follows the behavior of the 512 B sector hard-disk drives.