HDD Makers Adopt Improved Storage Format, Windows XP Users Beware

Last month 65.5 percent of computers worldwide used Windows XP, approximately 16.5 percent used Windows Vista, and 9 percent used Windows 7. Looking ahead to 2011, Windows XP is likely to give up some market share, especially with a number of corporate networks upgrading to Windows 7. Still, Windows XP is likely to defy logic and cling to substantial marketshare next year.

And that brings about a thorny and underpublicized problem. Windows Vista, Windows 7, along with OS X Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard and versions of the Linux kernel all support hard drives with a 4KB sectors. Windows XP does not.

In 2011 all hard drive makers have agreed to abide by an agreement ironed out by the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (Idema), which will dispose of the older 512 byte block format and switch all drives to 4KB blocks.

Does that mean the end of hard drives for Windows XP, currently the world's top operating system? Not quite. The Idema plan is gracious enough to call for the 4 KB (4096 byte segment) to be aligned with the past 512 byte segment. So Windows XP users can still buy new drives and use them.

That said, there's a major catch performance-wise. In some cases what took a single operation on older drives will take two operations due to an emulation layer needed to allow Windows XP to treat the new drive format like the old one. Overall, experts estimate users will take a 10 percent performance hit.

Windows XP is typically lauded for its performance and certainly was a marvel of operating system design by the time it hit SP3. However, the hard drive switch should shift the performance balance in Windows 7's favor. Using the larger block size, Windows 7 will feature eight times less wasted space and twice as many bits-per-block devoted to error correction. Overall this shift will improve the speed and reliability of Windows 7, while reducing its power footprint. Meanwhile Windows XP will hold steady in reliability, but will perform worse both in speed and power consumption.

Source: DailyTech

Tags: HDDs, Windows 7, Windows XP

Comments
Add comment

Your name:
Sign in with:
or
Your comment:


Enter code:

E-mail (not required)
E-mail will not be disclosed to the third party


Last news

 
Galaxy Note10 really is built around a 6.7-inch display
 
You may still be able to download your content
 
Facebook, Messenger and Instagram are all going away
 
Minimize apps to a floating, always-on-top bubble
 
Japan Display has been providing LCDs for the iPhone XR, the only LCD model in Apple’s 2018 line-up
 
The 2001 operating system has reached its lowest share level
 
The entire TSMC 5nm design infrastructure is available now from TSMC
 
The smartphone uses a Snapdragon 660 processor running Android 9 Pie
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) Review
The evolution of the successful smartphone, now with a waterproof body and USB Type-C
February 7, 2017 / 2
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S - a tablet with the Windows-keyboard
The first Windows-tablet with the 12-inch display Super AMOLED
June 7, 2016 /
Keyboards for iOS
Ten iOS keyboards review
July 18, 2015 /
Samsung E1200 Mobile Phone Review
A cheap phone with a good screen
March 8, 2015 / 4
Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card review
Good sound for those who are not satisfied with the onboard solution
September 25, 2014 / 2
Samsung Galaxy Gear: Smartwatch at High Price
The first smartwatch from Samsung - almost a smartphone with a small body
December 19, 2013 /
 
 

News Archive

 
 
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      




Poll

Do you use microSD card with your phone?
or leave your own version in comments (16)