Western Digital or Hitachi Advanced Format Drive (AFD) performs too slowly after Symantec Endpoint Encryption Full Disk (SEE-FD) is installed

Products

• Endpoint Encryption

Issue/Introduction

Encryption time and performance are much slower for Advanced Format Drives (AFD).

None. Only slow performance.

Cause

SEE Full Disk is not fully compatible with Advanced Format Drives. A workaround is needed in order for the drive to encrypt and perform at an acceptable level.

Resolution

Solution and workaround is provided with SEE Full Disk v8.2.1 MP4 and later versions

Note: Symantec recommends that you back up the Windows Registry before making any changes.

To optimize encryption on these drives, perform the following steps:

1. Open your Windows Registry.
2. Go to the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Encryption Anywhere\Hard Disk\Initial Computer Data] key.
3. Create a new DWORD Value and name it as EnableOptimization.
4. Set the Value data to 1. To disable optimization set the Value data to 0.
5. Restart the computer for the change to take effect.

The solution mentioned above has worked for both Hitachi and Western Digital Advanced Format Drives.