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Why does the partition start on sector 2048 instead of 63?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026126060 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I had two drives partitioned the same and running two RAID partitions on each. One died and I replaced it under warranty for the same model. While trying to partition it, the first partition can only start on sector 2048, instead of 63 that was before. Drive have different geometry as previous and remaining ones. (Fewer heads/more cylinders) Old drive: Remanufactured drive received from warranty: Why is that?

Error Output

$ sudo fdisk -c -u -l /dev/sdb 

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk …

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1 Fix

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Fix for: Why does the partition start on sector 2048 instead of 63?

Low Risk

Because your old disc was partitioned with a old utility, such as the Linux , that uselessly implemented track-alignment using the entirely fake disc geometry that you see reported, and your new disc has been or is being partitioned by a newer utility that (by default) aligns to 1MiB boundaries instead. Further reading Jonathan de Boyne Pollard (2011). The gen on disc partition alignment. Frequently Given Answers.

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