Steve:
In the link you posted ... if you follow the
Advanced Format Utility link on that page, it shows how you can make the drive work with XP by using jumpers, plus other instructions.
If you still want to use it with NL -- and maybe someone else can comment to confirm -- but I am pretty certain the formatting with ext3 should wipe out the existing format and no troubles should result (disclaimer: I can't be responsible for any data loss you may incur). But NL may use more than one partition, depending on your use of the drive ... so this "WD Align" could become confusing. As a double check, I filled in "Other' under O/S on the right-hand side of the link above and it tells me:
Quote:
Download WD Align utility
Thank you for your interest in WD Align utility. This utility is only intended to be run with Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP operating systems. You do not need to run the WD align utility based upon your system selections.
I wonder if there are any performance benefits with these new "Advanced Format" drives under NL. Probably not, other than that they also have larger buffers.