[SOLVED] do you need different hardware for a 4kn drive vs 512e?

[AyaanAhmad]

so I want to have a single NAS drive and I already have an enclosure. I was looking at some hard drives I found one that I liked, but it has a "4kn" on it. I did my research and know the difference between 4kn and normal 512e drives. I just want to know if they will function the same (basically, do you need different hardware for either one)?

 

[alceryes]

'Normal' drives would be the 512n drives. 512e is the transitional format between 512n and 4kn. Many newer NASs do support 4kn drives but you'll have to check the individual NAS model/manufacturer/firmware to be sure.
You usually can't mix 4kn with 512n/e drives in NASs but since you'll be using a single drive NAS that won't be a problem.

 

[hotaru.hino]

so I want to have a single NAS drive and I already have an enclosure. I was looking at some hard drives I found one that I liked, but it has a "4kn" on it. I did my research and know the difference between 4kn and normal 512e drives. I just want to know if they will function the same (basically, do you need different hardware for either one)?

512e drives are 4K drives with firmware to make them look like 512-byte sector drives as older OSes and the like won't treat 4K drives like 4K drives. This is important if the software is talking to the drive at this level of detail.

As RAID has to deal with this level of detail, don't mix 4Kn drives and 512e drives in the same array.