14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been offering an update designed to improve the compatibility of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Advanced Format Disks for some time now, and it appears that the company is now offering something similar for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Well, not an actual update, but a hotfix designed to kick up a notch Vista and Windows Server 2008 compatibility with Advanced Format disks.
In the case of KB 982018, the update is available for Windows 7 RTM and Service Pack 1, as well as for Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and SP1.
The KB 2553708 hotfix, which went live today, August 12, 2011, comes with support only for Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2.
“Advanced Format disks have a 4-KB physical sector size. This hotfix is only for Advanced Format disks that have a 4-KB physical sector size and that emulate a 512-byte interface for logical addressing,” Microsoft explains.
“Advanced Format disks introduce a larger physical sector of 4 KB. However, these disks have a 512-byte interface for logical addressing to make initial versions more compatible with current computer systems. Therefore, these disks are known as "512-byte emulation disks" or as "512e".”
The KB 982018 update for Windows 7 SP1 is designed to resolve no less than five issues – users will find download links at the bottom of this article.
By comparison, the KB 2553708 hotfix will only deal with three problems detailed by the software giant in the knowledge base article accompanying the fix on Microsoft Support.
The “hotfix rollup package introduces a new storage infrastructure that lets you query the physical sector size of a storage device. Additionally, the hotfix rollup package updates the Fsutil.exe tool to report the correct sector size,” The Redmond company notes.
- All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7
- All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7
- All supported x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 7 SP1 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RTM are available for download here.
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465) is available for download here.
Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465) is available for download here.