How to convert 512e to 4Kn using Fast Format (Seagate Exos X16 drive) ?

[ZPrime]

You know clearly that the Level1 support people have no clue, and by command they dont forward anything to L2 or higher for further progress. Same for WD when I asked about technical sheet of the WD Purple series. Same for Intel when asked for Penryn R0 known issues (errata document).

I can tell you that I upgraded my set of 5 Exos X18 drives (which IIRC shipped with firmware SN03) to SN04, and nothing bad seems to have happened. I did this before changing them to 4K sectors.

But I also have no data on my pool yet. I burned it in by beating the heck out of it with seeks and such for the better part of a week, but I've been too busy with work to want to also screw around with tech at home these days. (Probably stupid, since my old NAS is a 10+ year old Synology with 10+ year old WD Reds that is somehow still chugging away, but who knows for how much longer...)

 

[ricsip]

For the record I did indeed attempt to get an informative answer from Seagate. The L1 barrier seemed inpenetrable, got the following generic BS back:
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Thank you for your message, in the matter of our Firmware updates, please not the only publicly available information can be found within the download link of the firmware file.
(link to seagate firmware download page)
In many cases this firmware update is required for specific device the drive may be used within, and unless it is clearly stated that your device need this firmware update, there should be no need to update your firmware, unless you are having issues with your hardware.
These fixes can fix sleep and power modes with specific hardware that the drive is used for, and if you check the compatibility page for your device, you may find they will specify the version of firmware that is required.
Please also note that a firmware update may wipe all the data from your drive, so it may need to be reconfigured/formatted to be used in your device.

Regards
some random name
Seagate Support