External WD Elements HD with XP Compatible 'larger block size'

[David Ahrens]

I have used the WD Quick Drive Format utility on a 4tb WD Elements external drive for XP compatibility. (NTFS). The utility comes with the vague warning:

'Applications that do not support drives configured with the XP Compatible option (larger block size) can fail in several ways. For example, an error can occur, or the drive can crash or corrupt data without warning.'

4tb Elements HD is an Advanced Format HD. Is 'larger block size' = 512-bytes emulation ?

Are 'larger block sizes' likely to be a problem with VeraCrypt?, Is it better to encrypt the whole disk, a partition or a file container.

I have read contradictory comments re 4K sector size and VeraCrypt, hence my question.

[Mounir IDRASSI]

512-bytes emulation mode is generally safer than 4K since it will make the drive compatible with applications performing Read/Write operations that are 512-bytes aligned but not necessarely 4096-bytes aligned. At the same tim, 512-bytes emulation mode is compatible with 4096-bytes aligned Read-Write operations.

But the warning from WD utility seems to imply the oposite and it doesn't make sens. My first impression is that their 512-bytes emulation has some bugs and they don't want to take responsability.

As for VeraCrypt, it is compatible with 512-bytes emulation mode as long as the drive firmware doens't have any bugs in this emulation mode. For 4K native mode, some stability issues have been reported that cause drives to dismount without reason but I never encountered myself. For better results with 4K native mode, it is advised to check the option "Enable Extended disk control codes" in VeraCrypt Performance Options. and then reboot before using the drive.

Using file containers is the safest approach since it will rely on the OS filesystem for performing I/0 operations.

[David Ahrens]

Thank you Mounir for your quick response :)