Dell Precision M4800 (Late 2013) - Manual (Page 35)

Dell Latitude Ultrabook, E-Family & Mobile Precision Reimage “How-To” Guide
3 Re-imaging Requirements when using Advanced Format HDDs
The following are the re-imaging guidelines needed to support Advanced Format HDDs. These
requirements are dependent on which Operating System will be installed and which method of
deployment will be used.
3.1 Microsoft Operating Systems Advanced Format Aware Readiness
An Operating System is Advanced Format Aware if it meets the following criteria:
o It understands the concept of physical sector vs. logical sector
o It maximizes writes using multiples of 4k bytes
o Disk partition starts at the boundary of 4k sector
Not all current Microsoft Operating Systems are Advanced Format Aware (refer to the Table below). A
system configured with an Advanced Format drive and an operating system that is not Advanced
Format aware can experience sector misalignment, resulting in performance or compatibility issues.
- Some extra steps may be required for re-imaging even with Advanced Format Aware Microsoft
Operating Systems, Install/upgrade to the latest Intel Storage driver
- Apply the applicable Microsoft KB article
- Partition alignment
such as (Please refer to section 3.2 for detailed instructions):
Operating System Advanced Format
Aware
Microsoft Windows 8 Yes
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Yes
Microsoft Windows 7 Yes
Microsoft Vista SP1 Yes
Microsoft Vista No
Microsoft XP (all versions) No
Microsoft Windows PE 3.0 or Later Yes
Microsoft Windows PE older versions No