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Error message when you configure a RAID volume: ”All disks holding extents for a given volume must have the same sector size"

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Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:
  • You install Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7.
  • You try to configure a RAID volume.
  • The hard disks in the RAID volume are formatted with different sector sizes. For example, one hard disk is formatted by using Advanced Format, and another disk is formatted by using a legacy format.
In this scenario, you cannot configure the RAID volume. You receive an error message that resembles the following:
Logical Disk Manager
All disks holding extents for a given volume must have the same sector size, and the sector size must be valid.

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Cause

This issue occurs because the dynamic disk volume does not let you use hard disks that have different sector sizes to configure RAID volumes.

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Resolution

To resolve this issue, use hard disks that have the same sector size to configure RAID volumes.

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More Information

You can use the following command to determine how a hard disk is formatted. In this command, drive_letter is the letter that is assigned to the hard disk:
fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo drive_letter
When you run this command, the data that is returned resembles the following:
NTFS Volume Serial Number:  0xfe6e5dcc6e5d7e79 
Version: 3.1 
Number Sectors:                  0x000000001d1927ff 
Total Clusters:                  0x0000000003a324ff 
Free Clusters:                  0x0000000001f8bae8 
Total Reserved:                  0x00000000000007f0 
Bytes Per Sector:               512 
Bytes Per Physical Sector:      4096 
Bytes Per Cluster:             4096 
Bytes Per File Record Segment: 1024 
Clusters Per File Record Segment: 0 
Mft Valid Data Length:          0x0000000020980000 
Mft Start Lcn:                  0x00000000000c0000 
Mft2 Start Lcn:   0x0000000000000002 
Mft Zone Start:   0x000000000109c060 
Mft Zone End:                  0x00000000010a8880 
RM Identifier:                  974AD058-3B3D-11DE-9 300-000FFEE93BEF
In the output, the Bytes Per Physical Sector field has one of the following values:
  • 512: A value of 512 means that the drive is a legacy 512 native drive.
  • 4096: A value of 4096 means that the drive is for an Advanced Format drive.
  • Not Supported: A value of Not Supported means that the hardware or driver does not support the IOCTL_STORAGE_QUERY_PROPERTY control code.
The following table summarizes the supported disk formats.

Common NamePhysical Sector SizeLogical Sector SizeNotesSupported Windows Versions
Legacy 512 Native512 bytes512 bytesNot applicableAll Windows versions
Advanced Format4,096 bytes



Also known as 4K sectors or 4KB sectors		512 bytesAdvanced Format is a new technology that is being adopted by computer manufacturers to increase format efficiency.





Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)



Windows Server R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)



Note Windows 7 and Windows Server R2 are supported when the update that is described in KB article 982018 is installed.



Note The storage driver must report 4 KB physical sectors.
4k Native,

4k/4k		4KB4KBNot applicableNot supported as of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
OtherNot 4KB or 512 bytesNot 4KB or 512 bytesThe hardware or driver does not support the IOCTL_STORAGE_QUERY_PROPERTY control codeNot supported


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References

For more information about the Microsoft support policy for large-sector drives in Windows, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2510009 Information about Microsoft support policy for large-sector drives in Windows
For more information about Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 compatibility with Advanced Format disks, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
982018 An update that improves the compatibility of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Advanced Format Disks is available

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Keywords: kb, kbentirenet, kbprb, kbtshoot, kbsurveynew

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Article Info
Article ID : 2714829
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 7/25/2012
Exists online : False
Views : 3257