512n HDD 4TB -- good choice?

[n00bee]

Hi guys,

I only have the opportunity to buy an 512n version of 4TB Hitachi 7k6000.

Will I have any issue on Win10 with this version?
Speed or compatibly issues?

Somebody mentioned on other forum that "3+ TB is where 512n becomes inadequate."
Is this true?

Thanks

 

[trents]

What does the 512n stand for? Is that some parameter spec or just part of the model number?

 

[mackerel]

What does the 512n stand for? Is that some parameter spec or just part of the model number?

Sector size on disk. 512 native, an older standard. Most modern drives are 4k native to better match newer filesystem usage. I believe it should work, but I have no idea if there is a performance hit to using a 512n drive compared to a more modern one. Might be a little more IO overhead but I'm only guessing.

 

[trents]

Oh, okay. Thanks, Mack.

 

[HankB]

Back to the original question... I don't think there is anything wrong with that drive. Smaller sectors are less efficient space wise but efficiency in operation is probably pretty close to 4K sectors.

The only thing I'd really see as a red flag is a disk that uses SMR (aka Shingled Magnetic Recording) and I'm not aware of that issue with HGST drives. Somhttps://blocksandfiles.com/2020/04/15/seagate-2-4-and-8tb-barracuda-and-desktop-hdd-smr/e info at

 

[CJustin]

You can still use 512n drive.
It only means that the sectors of memory are small in size.
It is more efficient in performance than the 4k drives.
But they have higher IO overheads than the 4k drive.

Still, there is nothing wrong with 512n drive.