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Advanced Format Software

WD Align software aligns partitions on the Advanced Format drive to ensure it provides full performance for certain configurations. Click here to learn more about Advanced Format hard drives.

Alignment - Fast GUI-based alignment solution that can be performed out of Windows. This option also provides a feature called Media Builder to create a Bootable WD Align CD.

Cloning - If you are cloning a hard drive, WD provides a separate Windows utility for cloning hard drives that supports WD Advanced Format Hard Drives. Acronis True Image WD Edition creates drive images with aligned partitions. Many cloning software tools have not been updated to support Advanced Format hard drives, so using True Image WD Edition for cloning or creating drive images is advised.

NOTE: If you have already cloned a hard drive onto a WD Advanced Format Hard Drive using another cloning utility, you should use the WD Align software program to optimally align the drive.

WD advises that you back up the files on the source drive to another drive before using any of these utilities. The utilities employ techniques to keep data safe, but certain events, including power failure to the Windows machine or to an external drive can cause irretrievable data loss.

Please refer to the table below for a comparison of the important features of the options.

Alignment:
WD Align - Acronis Windows 		Drive Imaging Option:
True Image WD Edition
Download File Installs Acronis WD Align and WD Align Media Builder

Acronis WD Align >>

Installs True Image WD Edition and True Image WD Edition Media Builder

True Image WD Edition >>

Runs in Windows Yes Yes
Reboots during operation A reboot may be required to complete alignment process A reboot may be required to complete the drive imaging process
User Interface Graphical User Interface including a wizard that guides the user through the process Graphical User Interface including a wizard that guides the user through the process
Completion Time Depends on the amount of data on the drive Depends on the amount of data on the drive