“A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk wherein a Native Command Queuing (NCQ) access command is received from a host. The NCQ access command comprises at least one logical block address (LBA) associated with a logical block, and a tag field for identifying the access command. The tag field is evaluated to determine a size of the logical block, and the logical block is transferred between the disk drive and the host. The logical block comprises user data and protection information for implementing end-to-end protection. The tag field comprises a tag number selected from a range of numbers, where the range of numbers comprise a first range of numbers for identifying a logical block comprising user data and protection information, and a second range of numbers for identifying a logical block comprising user data without protection information.”