From the first quarter of this year, all new models of hard disks will contain "a large sector, which Western Digital has shown late last year with discs EARS" Expanded 4K format "(4k advanced format). Reporters asked the opinions of the company Seagate, whether it plans to release models of the new format to compete with WD, and the manufacturer said that the whole industry involved in this transition, which is happening right now. Really useful information!

Quote of the message Seagate: "Organization of IDEMA (International Disk Drive Materials and Equipment Association) agreed that, beginning January 1, 2011, all new releases of products with SATA interface will correspond Advanced Formatted."

The sector in 4K is an achievement compared to the size of sector 512b, which has long been used in all mechanical hard drives. The increase in the sector will lead to greater efficiency, as this will increase the effective size of the disk need to use fewer sectors and fewer data ECC, which will physically save space. The disadvantage of this approach is the existence of problems of compatibility with older operating systems, but it is expected that in the foreseeable future discs will be able to support the emulation 512b, however, to the detriment of productivity.

In the meantime, you can only wait for a new hard drive EARS from Western Digital, to compare it with the previous generation drives.