BPS Converter
Easily convert second-hand SAS drives with non-standard sector sizes to 512 or 4096.
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Easily convert second-hand SAS drives with non-standard sector sizes to 512 or 4096.
SAS drives removed from decommissioned enterprise storage systems (like NetApp, EMC, 3PAR, etc.) can often be found for cheap on various online marketplaces. However, you may run into issues when you attempt to use these drives in your server. Common problems include RAID cards failing to recognize the drives or Windows displaying errors like “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error” when trying to initialize them.
While it might seem like you've received a faulty drive, the real culprit is often the drive's non-standard sector size, such as 520/528 bytes or even 4160/4224 bytes. Many sellers, either unaware or indifferent, don't disclose the drives they are selling have this formatting. The good news is that most SAS drives support variable sector sizes and can be easily reformatted to 512 or 4096 bytes per sector, making them fully compatible with Windows or Linux servers.
BPS Converter is a free Windows application designed to streamline the process of reformatting SAS drives to a standard 512 or 4096 bytes per sector. This allows these drives to be repurposed and used in both Windows and Linux servers without issue. While existing command line tools are available for this task, BPS Converter stands out with its intuitive graphical user interface, allowing you to effortlessly initiate and monitor the bulk formatting of multiple disk shelves at once.
512/4k Sector Sizes: Format the drive to 512 or 4096 sector sizes.
Fast Format: Support for Fast Format between 512e and 4Kn. The tool will automatically detect and prompt when available.
Drive Health: Show a simple overview of the health of HDDs and SSDs.
Self-Encrypting Drives: Support for resetting SED drives with the PSID to allow changing the sector size.
Graphical User Interface: Intuitive Windows based GUI for easy starting and monitoring the bulk formatting of drives.
WinPE: Supports running on a WinPE bootable usb, enabling use on a system without a native Windows installation.
Compatibility: Works with a wide range of SAS HDDs and SSDs connected through a compatible SAS host bus adapter (HBA).
Windows 7 SP1 or newer
Windows Server 2012 or newer
The software should work with any controller that can present the drives directly to Windows. While some RAID cards can be placed into a pass-through mode that can work, the best compatibility will be with a Host Bus Adapter (HBA) or a RAID card that has been flashed with IT firmware.
Attach Drives - Connect the SAS drives to your system and verify that they are recognized by the SAS controller.
Launch Application - Open the self-contained application by running the executable. No installation is required.
Select Drives - From the detected drives, choose the SAS drives you wish to format. Drives without 512/4096 sector sizes are automatically selected.
Configure Settings - Go to the Options menu to adjust target settings, such as Sector Size and Protection Type. The default settings of 512 BPS and Type 0 Protection will generally have the best compatibility.
This next operation is irreversible and will erase all data on the selected drives!
Start Conversion - Click the Convert button to initiate the formatting process. The duration will vary from about 1 minute for small SSDs to over 24 hours for large capacity HDDs.
BPS Converter is completely free to use for both personal and commercial purposes.
Yes, the conversion process will erase all data on the drive. Please ensure that you have backed up any critical data from your drives before proceeding, as recovery will not be possible after the conversion is complete.
This tool has been successfully tested to work with a wide range of SAS hard drives and SSDs from various manufacturers. However, certain drives may use custom firmware that restricts changing sector sizes. The only way to confirm is simply to try the tool with your specific drive. For the highest success rate, it's recommend to format drives to a sector size within the same family.
A 512e drive uses 4096 byte physical sectors but presents 512 byte logical sectors to the host, maintaining compatibility with older RAID cards. Some 512e drives feature firmware that allows you to switch to 4Kn mode, where the drive directly exposes its 4K physical sectors to the host. This is useful when redeploying the drive in a system with a RAID card that supports 4K sectors.
As this capability is not available on all drives, confirming support will generally involve consulting the drive's datasheet for supported sector sizes. Unfortunately, there's no reliable method for this software to query a drive and detect its supported sector sizes. If you attempt to convert a 512e drive that doesn't support 4Kn, the drive will typically throw an invalid parameter error and refuse to start the format.
If the drive is disconnected or powered off during the conversion, it will be left in a corrupted state. To resolve this, simply restart the conversion process from the beginning and allow it to fully complete. This should restore the drive to a usable state.
This means the drive has been formatted with Type 1 or Type 2 Data Integrity Features (DIF), which adds 8 bytes of metadata per sector. When used with a supported RAID card, DIF provides enhanced error detection and correction at the sector level. However, if you're using a software RAID solution like TrueNAS, you'll need to reformat the drive with Type 0 protection to remove DIF, as attempting to create a pool with drives that have DIF enabled will result in the error: “Formatted with Data Integrity Feature (DIF) which is unsupported.”
New: Right-click context menu to trigger the drive LED, simplifying physically locating the drive in large storage arrays.
New: Support for target sector sizes: 520, 528, 4112, 4160, and 4224 bytes.
Fixed: PSID revert issue on ST1800MM0078 drives.
Fixed: Fast Format compatibility with HGST drives.
Fixed: Start button displayed an incorrect count under certain conditions.
Updated: Revised wording in the Disable Media Certification dialog for improved clarity.
First public release
Whether you've encountered an issue, have feature ideas, or just want to share that this tool has been helpful, your feedback is always welcome. I work on this project in my spare time so updates may be sparse, but I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to leave feedback.