Windows Update Broken After Cloning Hard drive. You just migrated your system to a new hard drive by cloning or restoring a backup. Things seem to be working, but Windows Update fails. The error popup says that the service isnt running but task manager says that it is. Youve just been bitten by the new Advanced Format 4k byte sector hard drives. I recently upgraded my Think. Pad T4. 00 Windows 7 Pro 6. GB 7. 20. 0RPM drive to a 5. GB 7. 20. 0RPM drive. It was a simple process using Acronis Cloning Hard Drives With Acronis. I specifically shopped for an older style drive that used 5. Installing Gom Player Codecs Pack on this page. The industry is rapidly going to Advanced Format drives that have 4k type sectors Advanced Format wikipedia. The AF drives can cause problems with performance if their partitions arent correctly aligned, especially when running Windows XP. Unfortunately, the on line drive documentation I consulted when selecting a drive was incorrect, and I ended up with an AF drive. Im running W7 which supposedly supports AF drives. It wasnt that simpleFirst, a note about how I ended up with an AF drive. I was aware of possible issues with 4k byte sectors, so I specifically looked for a non AF drive. My first choice was a Western Digital WD5. BEKT from Amazon. It worked OK, but was too noisy Strange Laptop Drive Noise Whoosh Next choice was a Hitachi 0. S0. 28. 58.   All the comments on Amazon indicate that its a 7. K5. 00 5. 00 drive with 5. The one I received was actually a 7. K7. 50 5. 00 Advanced Format drive. So was its replacement. A Hitachi tech told me that the 0. S0. 28. 58 part number indicated a 7. K5. 00 drive, and that I should have Amazon replace it. He later said that Hitachi might ship either model under that part number. GrrrrBack to the Windows Update problem. Windows 7 is supposed to understand AF drives, and correctly aligns partitions. Sort of.   Without the updates in a hotfix or SP1, Windows cant detect the drives physical sector size, and Update and some other features fail. I was already running SP1, so it should have been OK. Microsoft explanation and hotfix link An update that improves the compatibility of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2. R2 with Advanced Format Disks is available  On my Think. Pad T4. 00, the hotfix just errored out with no additional information. To cut to the chase, SP1 and the hotfix werent correctly updating the storage driver, so it couldnt report sector size to Windows. The clue here was that fsutil see that Microsoft link, above was reporting bytes per physical sector as lt Not Supported. My fix was to manually install the latest Intel driver Intel Rapid Storage Technology  link may be stale see update below That installs a lot more than necessary AFAICS but was an easy fix. JTinyMedia_1.png' alt='Macrium Reflect Server Serial Number' title='Macrium Reflect Server Serial Number' />When it comes to having a certain PC streamlined, base lined, or simply reformatted, there are various ways to do so. Many resort to using the traditional clean. Repair the files on a USB Flash drive or any drive. Also useful for damaged SD cards. WoUwt.jpg' alt='Macrium Reflect Server Serial Number' title='Macrium Reflect Server Serial Number' />Windows Update works. Ive also heard that installing the AHCI driver from the Lenovo driver matrix for one of the Huron River Think. Pads T4. 20T5. 20X2. Intel crapware but I have not tested that. After updating the storage driver the hotfix happily announced that it the hotfix was already installed. Update 2. 01. 2. 1. The Intel driver download is a moving target. Try this search link if the one above doesnt work http downloadcenter. Search. Result. aspxProduct. Art Dabbler 2.1 Update on this page. FamilySoftwareProducts Product. LineChipsetSoftware Product. ProductIntelC2AERapidStorageTechnology2. IntelC2AERST2. Update 2. Have a look at the readme that comes with the Intel driver. There are some command line options that allow installing the driver only without all the other unnecessary stuff. Update 2. 01. 2. 1. That Intel link target keeps changing. Try going to Intel. Pick the latest result that matches your operating system. Pm Fastrack V8 Activator on this page. Then download the iataenu. Update 2. 01. 5. 0. For some Lenovo machines Think. Vantage System Update may install an old or buggy Intel Matrix Storage Manager that can cause the same problem. Some discussion here   Think. Vantage System Update 5. Windows 7 Windows Update to fail and inhibits IE downloads. For XP users, the story is more painful. Here are a couple of links to drive manufacturers tools that should help Western Digital documentation and tools Advanced Format Software. Hitachi whitepaper  Advanced Format Drives   Hitachi Alignment tool  Hitachi Align tool. Those alignment tools are the private labeled Acronis alignment tool. Sorry about the long post. Hope it helps someone. How to repair your USB Flash drive.