What do I need to know about Advanced Format Hard Drives?

[ComputerWizKid]

Is there anything special I need to know about the new advanced format hard drives. and is there anything I need to change my plans for the new drive?

I need a new hard drive for my computer as My existing one is almost out of space (Blu-Ray Rips & HDTV Shows, Music). I want to buy one of These my existing drive is one of these
I don't want to reinstall Windows 7 so I plan on making an image of the C: partition however is there a way to make more free space when I restore the image? as of right now I only have 8.50GB Free on my OS partition which is 43.9GB in size. I want to create another partition with the rest of the space so if I can keep my data separate from the OS/Programs
Thanks

 

[taltamir]

1. Don't use allocation unit size under 4kib (the default varies by drive size but is always 4kib+ on modern OS so unless you manually mess with it it is not an issue)
2. Make sure to align partitions properly (modern OS aligns on 1MB boundaries and that is good for both SSDs and AF drives)
3. To resize the C partition you can use http://gparted.sourceforge.net/index.php

 

[razel]

If you are using Windows, you can also just use 'Disk Manager,' to resize. When you do and it begins operating, bring up 'Disk Defragmenter' to get a status bar.

 

[bryanl]

There is no need to worry with Windows Vista, 7, and 8 or with any operating system if each partition starts on a 4KB boundary, which it will with those operating systems. With Seagate brand Advanced Format drives there is no need to worry about any of that, even with Windows XP, since they handle sector misalignment seamlessly, with no slowdown at all.