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 drives to 512 or 4096 sector size.
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 (x64) or newer
Windows Server 2012 (x64) 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 for both personal and commercial use.
BPS Converter supports most SAS HDDs and SSDs from the various manufacturers. However, certain drives with specific firmware may not allow sector size changes. The only way to confirm if your drive is compatible is to try BPS Converter with your specific drive.
For the highest success rate, try to format drives to a sector size within the same family:
Yes, the conversion process will erase all data on the drive. Be sure to back up any important data before proceeding, as recovery is not possible once the conversion begins.
Yes, some 512e drives (displayed as “512 (4096)” in the interface) can be converted to 4Kn mode, which allows the drive to expose its 4096 byte physical sectors to the host system. This is useful if you need to mix the drive with existing 4Kn drives.
However, not all 512e drives support this conversion. To check if your drive is compatible, consult the drive's datasheet. BPS Converter cannot reliably detect whether a drive supports 4Kn mode by querying the drive itself. If your 512e drive does not support 4Kn mode, you will likely receive an invalid parameter error when you try to start the conversion.
If the drive loses power or is disconnected during the conversion, it may end up in a corrupted state. To resolve this, restart the conversion from the beginning and let it complete. Once the process finishes, the drive should be usable again.
The duration of the conversion depends on the size and type of the drive:
This indicates the drive is formatted with Type 1 or Type 2 Protection Information (PI), which adds 8 bytes of metadata to each sector. This feature provides enhanced error detection and correction when used with supported RAID cards.
However, this protection type is not compatible with software RAID solutions like TrueNAS, which may display the error: “Formatted with Data Integrity Feature (DIF), which is unsupported”.
To resolve this, select the Type 0 protection option (this is the default setting) and start the conversion.
If the progress bar shows “Not Ready”, it means the drive was unable to start the conversion because it’s currently busy with another operation, like formatting or sanitizing. BPS Converter will display a progress bar and provide an estimated time remaining for when the drive will be ready. This can also happen if you close and reopen the program. Once the drive is finished, refresh the drive list. If the drive still requires a conversion, you can then start the process.
New: Show the progress bar if the drive is in a busy state.
Fixed: Minor display issues.
New: Copy the drive list to the clipboard from the right-click menu.
Fixed: Right-click menu on multi-monitor setups.
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.