How to partition Samsung HD204UI in Ubuntu Linux (hdd w/advanced format technologies)

#1 12-23-2010, 03:28 PM

Samsung HD204UI uses Advanced Format Technology(AFT). AFT utilizes the storage surface area more efficiently while enabling the integration of stronger error correction algorithms to maintain data integrity at higher storage densities. The problem is that if you partition your hard drive like an ordinary drive, its performance can be slowed down significantly.

But let's see how Windows 7 partitions the HDD first. The first partition will occupy 1GB and the second one the rest of the disk. After partitioning with Windows 7 fdisk shows the following:

Code:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048  2097285119  1048641536   83  Linux
/dev/sda2      2097287168  3907024895   904868864    7  HPFS/NTFS

Note that the first sector is a multiple of 8 (and even 64 and 2048).
And the last sector sector or the first partition is 2097285119, not 2097287167.

If we partition the disk using the first sector that is a multiple of 64 and the last sector 2097287167:

Code:

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              64  2097287167  1048643552   83  Linux
/dev/sda2      2097287168  3907024895   904868864    7  HPFS/NTFS

then Windows 7 doesn't see this partition.

Let's make the number of blocks of the first partition a multiple of 64:

Code:

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              64  2097287103  1048643520   83  Linux
/dev/sda2      2097287168  3907024895   904868864    7  HPFS/NTFS

So the first sector is a multiple of 64 and the number of blocks is a multiple of 64. Format this first partition to NTFS and Windows 7 should see it. Since it works and less space is wasted, compared to partitioning with Windows 7, we will use this variant.

p.s.
Why did Windows 7 start from sector 2048 and made a number of blocks a multiple of 2048? M$ has its own standards.

How to partition Samsung HD204UI in Ubuntu Linux (hdd w/advanced format technologies)

In this example I will create 2 primary partitions. In each case the first sector of the partition is a multiple of 64 (not the default value offered by fdisk) and the number of blocks is a multiple of 64. While making the first sector a multiple of 8 should be enough, if you plan to use the NTFS file system, it makes sense to make everything Windows 7 compatible.

Run fdisk as a root

Code:

username@computername:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for username: 
root@computername:~# fdisk -u /dev/sdb
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xdbe01f20.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

WARNING: DOS-compatible mode is deprecated. It's strongly recommended to
         switch off the mode (command 'c').

Where /dev/sdb is your hard drive.
Note that if you skip the "-u" switch, then fdisk will show sizes in cylinders, not sectors!

Make sure you work with Samsung HD204UI

Code:

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x33663f80


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

Create a new primary partition

Code:

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First sector (63-3907029167, default 63): 64
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (64-2097287167, default 2097287167): 2097287103

Create another primary partition

We will start the second partition from the sector 2097287104, again a multiple of 64. But this time we won't care about the number of blocks:

Code:

Command (m for help): n
Command action
   e   extended
   p   primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First sector (2097287104-3907029167, default 2097287104): 2097287104
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2097287104-3907029167, default 3907029167): 
Using default value 3907029167

Show the results of partitioning

Code:

Command (m for help): p

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x33663f80

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              64  2097287103  1048643520    83  Linux
/dev/sdb2      2097287104  3907029167   904871032   83  Linux

Write the changes

Code:

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

Format your new partitions

I've formatted the first partition to EXT4 and gave it the ext4 label. Then I did a couple of speed tests:

Code:

username@computername:~$ sudo hdparm -i /dev/sdb | grep Model
 Model=SAMSUNG HD204UI, FwRev=1AQ10003, SerialNo=S2H7J9CZB05820

username@computername:~$ sudo hdparm -t /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  412 MB in  3.01 seconds = 136.74 MB/sec

Code:

username@computername:~$ sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/null bs=128K count=20000
20000+0 records in
20000+0 records out
2621440000 bytes (2.6 GB) copied, 17.4932 s, 150 MB/s

Code:

username@computername:~$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=128K count=20000
20000+0 records in
20000+0 records out
2621440000 bytes (2.6 GB) copied, 18.2465 s, 144 MB/s

Code:

username@computername:~$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/media/ext4/000.dd bs=128K count=100000
100000+0 records in
100000+0 records out
13107200000 bytes (13 GB) copied, 128.477 s, 102 MB/s

After formatting both partitions to NTFS, I can open them in Windows 7 without any problem.