Greg's Systems Management Blog

Dell Systems and Advanced Format Hard Drives

If you’re new to OSD, make sure you understand Advance Format Drives. Chances are, you already have them in your environment. If you have new systems (or old systems with new hard disks) where users are reporting degradation of performance, or issues with Windows Update in the event log, you could be a victim. If you are responsible for Operating System Deployment, I highly recommend the following resources:

Deploying Dell Systems with Advanced Format Hard Drives from DellTechCenter

If there’s one thing I suggest you do, it’s this: Start your change control process to perform the following tasks asap:

1. Update the WAIK to 3.1 and then update your OSD boot disk, or  apply KB 982018 to your WinPE boot disk.
2. Deploy KB 982018 to all Win7, Server 2008 R2 systems (or upgrade them to Sp1)
3. Update Intel Mass Storage Drivers in your OSD Process, if necessary

The easiest way to avoid any advanced format drive headaches is to get your build process updated asap.  

Greg