Question No docking station I buy works with my drives anymore ?

[BraveTiger55]

These are the docking stations I have bought and ended up returning for a refund:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0988X31XH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08J5SLTJX?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0759567JT?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00LS5NFQ2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I had two purchases of this last link a few years ago. One of them broke which is what made me look for another. I need two for my needs.

The one that still works I have tried with all my drives on 4 different machines all with different Windows version. From 7 all the way to 11 and it works flawlessly. Plug in and go. So I bought two more last week. One to replace my old broken one, and another to keep just in case. It is what made me go down this rabbit hole, but neither of those worked, which led me to trying all the other products up there.

None of those worked too. The only thing that comes to mind is all of these companies by parts/chipsets from the same manufacturer and they changed what they use, and said chipset or whatever it is, is <Mod Edit>. I even tried updating the firmware as Sabrent said to do on their site and nothing worked.

The drives I am using are 4tb WD red and blue. Again they work flawlessly in my old Sabrent enclosure across multiple devices and windows version, so it can't be my devices. This is getting out of control. Hell I'm willing to drop $100+ if it means getting my drives up and running again. These are all already formatted drives that have data on them. If I'm somehow missing drivers or anything please let me know. I currently have the ORICO in my possession as I just bought it and received it and have not had a chance to return it yet.

Please don't respond with anecdotes saying a purchase works unless you bought it in the last month or two to keep my chances the highest of finding a working product. I am at my wits end.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[fzabkar]

The problem with these USB devices is that they can be configured for different sector sizes, either 512 bytes or 4096 bytes, yet no documentation makes the user aware of this. I reported this problem to Sabrent some months ago. Check their website. Don't be surprised if nothing has changed.

Anyway, you can troubleshoot this problem with the free version of DMDE:

https://dmde.com/

If you examine the Partitions tab, you may see "4K". This tells you that the file system was built in a 4KB environment rather than 512B (eg inside your PC). Can you upload some DMDE screenshots for your enclosures? Switching a drive between a 4KB environment and a 512KB environment renders the file system inaccessible.

 

[BraveTiger55]

The problem with these USB devices is that they can be configured for different sector sizes, either 512 bytes or 4096 bytes, yet no documentation makes the user aware of this. I reported this problem to Sabrent some months ago. Check their website. Don't be surprised if nothing has changed.

Anyway, you can troubleshoot this problem with the free version of DMDE:

https://dmde.com/

If you examine the Partitions tab, you may see "4K". This tells you that the file system was built in a 4KB environment rather than 512B (eg inside your PC). Can you upload some DMDE screenshots for your enclosures? Switching a drive between a 4KB environment and a 512KB environment renders the file system inaccessible.

I'll do this in a bit and report back. Upon further troubleshooting I found something peculiar. Both of these are WD 4TB Red drives. The disk 1 is my current only working encloses which is the aforementioned old Sabrent docking station I mentioned above. The Disk 2 is the new enclosure. Whenever I put drives into the new enclosure they never read and give off half of it as being unallocated, but when put into the Disk 1 Sabrent enclosure they read fully partitioned and work. It seems to not read them being NTFS partitioned, and forces them to be GPT. I would try to change it but I'd worry it would wipe out all my data. If I switch the drives I between the enclosure I get the same thing. So the drive that was working will not show half health, and half unallocated, and the drive that wasn't working will now work as being fully NTSF

 

[fzabkar]

It does look like a 4KB/512B issue. DMDE will tell ...

 

[BraveTiger55]

It does look like a 4KB/512B issue. DMDE will tell ...

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. Is there a way to fix this issue if it is indeed this 4KB/512B issue? Any Enclosures you can recommend? As long as they are sub $400 I'd be willing to spend. But I don't want to spend this much if I can help it. The device in the new enclosure doesn't even pop up on my pc/my computer. I can only view it through tools like DMDE or Disk Management

I wasn't sure exactly what I'm looking for on DMDE, if I used it incorrectly then sorry. But here are the pictures.

My first disk in the old enclosure that works:

My second disk in the new enclosure that does not work:

My second disk again but this time in the old enclosure that works: (it says disk 1 because I unplugged the other one). I can access my data in this enclosure.

 

[fzabkar]

Your first and third screenshots are showing a drive whose file system was built inside a 4KB enclosure. Everything works because you have a 4KB file system inside a 4KB enclosure.

Your second screenshot is showing a 512B enclosure and a 4KB file system.

You can tell whether the sector size is 4096 bytes or 512 bytes by dividing the capacity of the drive by the total number of sectors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=4+terabytes+/+7814037168

4 terabytes / 7 814 037 168 = 512 bytes
4 terabytes / 976 754 646 = 4.096 kilobytes

In DMDE, any line which has "BCF" in the Indicators column represents an identifiable file system volume. If you d-click the volume and expand the $Root, you should see your file/folder structure.

In short, your problem is that you started with a 4KB enclosure and have since bought 512B enclosures. Good luck trying to find this information in Sabrent's or Orico's documentation.

 

[BraveTiger55]

Your first and third screenshots are showing a drive whose file system was built inside a 4KB enclosure. Everything works because you have a 4KB file system inside a 4KB enclosure.

Your second screenshot is showing a 512B enclosure. You can tell whether the sector size is 4096 bytes or 512 bytes by dividing the capacity of the drive by the total number of sectors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=4+terabytes+/+7814037168

4 terabytes / 7 814 037 168 = 512 bytes
4 terabytes / 976 754 646 = 4.096 kilobytes

In short, your problem is that you started with a 4KB enclosure and have since bought 512B enclosures. Good luck trying to find this information in Sabrent's or Orico's documentation.

Thank you so much. Is there a way to fix this, or to convert builds without losing data, or any 4KB enclosure out there to buy? Or do I have to lose all my data in order to convert?

 

[fzabkar]

The safest way would be to copy your data to another drive and then copy it back again, after repartitioning and reformatting.

 

[BraveTiger55]

The safest way would be to copy your data to another drive and then copy it back again, after repartitioning and reformatting.

Sigh ~ I was hoping it would not come to this. As I have about 15 4TB drives and it is cumbersome. Is there truly no 4KB enclosure out there anymore? Is 512B enclosure here to stay or do I have to yet again change it in a few years? Fingers-crossed. If you or anyone know if any 4KB enclosures still out there. Please recommend away.

By the sounds of it, I have to buy another 512B enclosure and and another 4TB+ drive. So it would go something like this
>Connect and format new 4TB+ Drive with one of the two 512 enclosures.
> Connect the old enclosure with the drive I want to transfer and the new enclosure with the new drive both to my PC
>Copy drive in old enclosure to drive in new enclosure.
>Take out drive from old enclosure and place it into the other new enclosure. Now I have two 512B enclosures.
>Format old drive to 512B and move back the contents from the new drive back into the old drive.
>repeat this x15

 

[fzabkar]

I'm sure there are 4KB enclosures, but all that the sellers seem to know about their products is the price and how many they can move. :-(

 

[BraveTiger55]

I'm sure there are 4KB enclosures, but all that the sellers seem to know about their products is the price and how many they can move. :-(

Fair point. At least I know Sabrent and Orico don't make them anymore. I'm pretty sure all the guys on amazon use the people to source parts, so I doubt there would be many 4KB. Maybe some European brand that doesn't use the same supplier. On the off chance my last 4kb enclosure breaks. If I connect it to my dekstop PC via sata will they still work, or am I screwed and just lost all of my data?

 

[fzabkar]

The inside of your PC is a 512B environment, so your OS won't see your 4KB file system. DMDE will still access it, though.

 

[BraveTiger55]

The inside of your PC is a 512B environment, so your OS won't see your 4KB file system. DMDE will still access it, though.

so essentially I have to transfer as soon as possible or I will never be able to access my data again? unless I can transfer with DMDE?

 

[fzabkar]

DMDE will always be able to see your data. In fact DMDE is a neat way to transfer files to Windows from file systems that it doesn't understand.

To test this for yourself, use DMDE to access the partition in your 512B enclosure, expand the $Root, r-click the desired file and Recoverit to your C: drive.

 

[BraveTiger55]

DMDE will always be able to see your data. In fact DMDE is a neat way to transfer files to Windows from file systems that it doesn't understand.

To test this for yourself, use DMDE to access the partition in your 512B enclosure, expand the $Root, r-click the desired file and Recoverit to your C: drive.

None of my windows PC have enough space to accommodate a whole transfer. Can I try to transfer a single file or two to see if it works? Again I truly thank you for all the help and time you gave to me.

 

[BraveTiger55]

To double post. Upon some more research. Isn't 4K sectors the new standard. Why do new enclosure go back to old standards?

 

[fzabkar]

You can transfer single files.

As for standards, most current drives have a physical sector size of 4KB, but they present a logical sector size of 512B for compatibility reasons. Some more recent drives can be either 512e or 4KN (4K native), and can be converted from one format to the other by the user.

The original reason that manufacturers used 4KB enclosures was to enable Windows XP to make use of external drives larger than 2TB. An MBR partition is limited in size to 2^32 sectors, which amounts to 2TiB. Increasing the sector size to 4KB allowed Win XP to see 16TiB capacities.

 

[BraveTiger55]

You can transfer single files.

As for standards, most current drives have a physical sector size of 4KB, but they present a logical sector size of 512B for compatibility reasons. Some more recent drives can be either 512e or 4KN (4K native), and can be converted from one format to the other by the user.

The original reason that manufacturers used 4KB enclosures was to enable Windows XP to make use of external drives larger than 2TB. An MBR partition is limited in size to 2^32 sectors, which amounts to 2TiB. Increasing the sector size to 4KB allowed Win XP to see 16TiB capacities.

Thank you!

 

[BraveTiger55]

Fingers crossed 🤞 asking and hoping another user knows of an enclosure I can buy and use.

Would this work? It supports 4K

2-Bay USB 3.0 Hard Drive Docking Station - HDD Docking Stations | StarTech.com

2-Bay USB 3.0 to SATA Hard Drive Docking Station, USB Hard Drive Dock, External 2.5/3.5' SATA III SSD/HDD Docking Station, Hot-Swappable

www.startech.com

Or do I need an enclosure that does 512n/512e to 4K conversion, not just an enclosure that supports 4Kn.