Format new HDD

[bunch92]

Hi

I recently bought a brand new hard drive (2To WD20EARS) to add to my system ( running Win XP ). That drive will only have live TV Sage recordings.

I know several format methods exist , can someone please tell me the best way to format it for SageTV ?

Thank you

[jlmdxtv]

I format my *recording drives* with the largest block size available - i.e.: 64K blocks.

john

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by bunch92

...2To WD20EARS...

If I remember correctly, that's one of the advance format drives. You need to partition it on a Windows Vista/7 box, or use a tool from WD to get the partition aligned or you will see VERY slow data.

If you have a Vista/7 box, just hook it up, and make the partition. Then remove and add to the XP box and format. Just don't delete the partition you made.

If you don't have a handy Vista/7 box, you'll need to download and run the utility. Don't know how that works.

If the drive isn't an advance format, ignore all this. ;-)

And as jlmdxtv said, use the 64K blocks, even though SageTV 7.x doesn't need them.

[bunch92]

Gosh I am glad I asked , thank you guys.

I will check if it is an "advance format" when I receive it.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by MattHelm

use the 64K blocks, even though SageTV 7.x doesn't need them.

I have both 64k and default block sizes in my SageTV 7 server, and I can't really tell the difference.

If you are going to put anything else on the drives besides videos, I suggest leaving it at the default block size.