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I'm not entirely sure it's the same issue; all the users there seem to have reflashed the SSDs to use 4k sectors and there are many reports of problems going aw

I'm not entirely sure it's the same issue; all the users there seem to have reflashed the SSDs to use 4k sectors and there are many reports of problems going away or never happening if 512b sector size is used. I'm doubtful Windows users are flashing their drives to 4k sectors at the same rate as ZFS-heads.

swinglock 1y ago
I think you misunderstood that. Configuring your filesystem to use a specific sector size (or whatever term is used for various file systems) does not modify the disk firmware. I'm not seeing it anyway.
- ComputerGuru 1y ago
  No, that is one thing you can do (in zfs this is just setting the recordsize property) but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about reflashing to have the firmware present logical 4k sectors instead of logical 512b sectors. Theoretically this boosts throughput and while it would technically increase latency (you'd have to rewrite a bigger sector for any change) in practice these drives all have physical sectors actually larger than 4k so this isn't an issue. It isn't a full firmware flash but it's a low-level reconfiguration of the firmware (independent of filesystem sector size), and it seems there are bugs in this mode. https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/20968/~/internal-drive-advanced-format-4k-sector-size-support-and-information https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/20968/~...
  - swinglock 1y ago
    Thanks, now I see. My point is various drives are bad and causes issues not only with Windows, be it with some or all firmwares from the manufacturer. Among them the only specific drive mentioned in the article. If WD advertises this mode then it ought to work.
    - ComputerGuru 1y ago
      Absolutely but my point (or rather, guess) was that it's a separate issue from the one well-documented in that GitHub link as I don't think random Windows users are doing this reconfiguration and the GH link seems to only affect reconfigured drives.

swinglock 1y ago

I think you misunderstood that. Configuring your filesystem to use a specific sector size (or whatever term is used for various file systems) does not modify the disk firmware. I'm not seeing it anyway.

ComputerGuru 1y ago
No, that is one thing you can do (in zfs this is just setting the recordsize property) but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about reflashing to have the firmware present logical 4k sectors instead of logical 512b sectors. Theoretically this boosts throughput and while it would technically increase latency (you'd have to rewrite a bigger sector for any change) in practice these drives all have physical sectors actually larger than 4k so this isn't an issue. It isn't a full firmware flash but it's a low-level reconfiguration of the firmware (independent of filesystem sector size), and it seems there are bugs in this mode. https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/20968/~/internal-drive-advanced-format-4k-sector-size-support-and-information https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/20968/~...
- swinglock 1y ago
  Thanks, now I see. My point is various drives are bad and causes issues not only with Windows, be it with some or all firmwares from the manufacturer. Among them the only specific drive mentioned in the article. If WD advertises this mode then it ought to work.
  - ComputerGuru 1y ago
    Absolutely but my point (or rather, guess) was that it's a separate issue from the one well-documented in that GitHub link as I don't think random Windows users are doing this reconfiguration and the GH link seems to only affect reconfigured drives.