WDAlign - does it need to be removed?

[SoCal_Keith]

I have WD15EARS that I used the WDAlign software on to run WinXP 64 bit. I am ditching that OS and upgrading to Win 7, and it will be a clean/new install.

Do I need to 'remove' the WDAlign, or can I just re-format under Win 7 and regain the original alignment?

I have 2 separate partitions on it, the WinXP 64 on one, and storage on the other. I -can- move the storage to another drive if I need to reformat the whole drive, but is it possible to just reformat the XP partition? Would save a little time if no harm/foul..

Thanks in advance!

 

[Hawkeye22]

From what I understand, the WDAlign performs the same 4K formatting that Win7 does so I don't think you'll need to remove and recreate all partitions, but I'd wait for someone with a little more experience with WDAlign to chime in.

 

[SoCal_Keith]

Thanks for the reply Hawk...

Not sure that's true, because it's stated that a drive that is WDAligned will operate poorly in Win 7. Since mine -is- aligned, that's what I'll be trying to avoid... but I'm just not sure either way, and have Googled till I'm blue in the face without any results so far. Thanks again mate!

 

[sminlal]

If you're wiping the disk anyway, then just make sure that there is no jumper in the drive to force "XP Alignment" and then during installation delete all the partitions and recreate them. Windows 7 will create partitions on the appropriate 4K sector boundaries and that will eliminate any potential issues.

 

[SoCal_Keith]

Best answer selected by SoCal_Keith.

 

[SoCal_Keith]

If you're wiping the disk anyway, then just make sure that there is no jumper in the drive to force "XP Alignment" and then during installation delete all the partitions and recreate them. Windows 7 will create partitions on the appropriate 4K sector boundaries and that will eliminate any potential issues.

Thank you, that was what I had figured, but wanted to hear it echoed... and no, there was no jumper set, just the WDAlign software run on it. Take care!