User Manual

seCtor size
A sector is the smallest addressable area on a physical drive. Sector size refers to the number of data
bytesasectorcanhold.Asmallersectorsizeisamoreefcientuseofaphysicaldrive’scapacity.512
bytes (512 B) is the most common sector size, and the default in the PROMISE Utility.
When you create your logical drive using the Wizard Advanced option or you create a logical drive
manually, you can choose a sector size of 512 B, 1 KB, 2 KB, or 4 KB.
See “Creating a Disk Array and Logical Drive with the Wizard” on page 59 and “Creating a Logical
Drive Manually” on page 74.
initiAlizAtion
Initialization is done to logical drives after they are created from a disk array. Full initialization sets
alldatabitsinthelogicaldrivetoaspeciedpattern,suchasallzeros.Theactionisusefulbecause
theremayberesidualdataonthelogicaldrivesleftbehindfromearliercongurations.Forthisreason,
Initialization is recommended for all new logical drives.
See “Initializing a Logical Drive” on page 77.
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