topic Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster in Archive

Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:57:36 GMT

I am wondering if this is going to be an issue with this drive, asI have never seen this before...

I just recently reinstalled Windows 7 Professional x64 with Service Pack 1, and after running

the AS SSD Benchmark, I noticed this (in red) in the information:

Is there any way to fix this?

31 K - BAD

When I move the mouse cursor to it, it pops up the following message:

Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:37:18 GMT

I assume that you did not use the Windows 7 installer originally on this SSD? W7 correctly aligns the disk by default. You must have either cloned the OS or created the OS partition using a 3rd party tool.

Basically, the SSD has to do more work if it writing data near these boundary disk areas.

Here's a calculator to check alignment yourself: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157 http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157

It is fixable.... you have to take an image of your current disk, create a partition to force alignment, and reapply the image. As always, be sure to make backup(s) of your data before these type of work.

Here is just one of many methods using GParted: http://www.tuxyturvy.com/blog/index.php?/archives/59-Aligning-Windows-Partitions-Without-Losing-Data.html http://www.tuxyturvy.com/blog/index.php?/archives/59-Aligning-Windows-Partitions-Without-Losing-Data.html

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:04:02 GMT

I used a 3rd party tool (GParted), as I was trying to avoid Windows 7 creating the 100mb System Partition.

I then installed Windows 7 as normal, and after installing AS SSD Benchmark, that's when I noticed the

Offset/Alignment problem.

I have tried your fix, with no success... These are the steps I took...

Created a backup image of the SSD using Roxio's BackOnTrack, using the Disaster Recovery option.

Saved the image to another hard drive and tested/checked it's integrity -> ok.

Rebooted, went into the BIOS, changed the controller to IDE, rebooted with a DOS 6.22 boot disk and

ran a Secure Erase on the SSD. Rebooted again, changed BIOS back to AHCI, and rebooted with the

Windows 7 installation disc. At the setup page, I opened a command window (shift-F10), and ran Diskpart,

Created an active primary partition, and then formatted it NTFS (quick). Rebooted again and ran the Roxio

BackOnTrack Restore (using a boot cd created when I ran the original backup), and restored the hard disk

image. After booting back into Windows 7, I ran the AS SSD Benchmark program, I see the problem is still

there... Am I still doing something wrong?

Frustration setting in...

Any help here would be really appreciated again, as I don't want to start the whole ordeal again from scratch!

I had a heck of a time trying to activate my copy of Windows 7 last time, dodn't want to have to go thru that again....

Thanks in advance....

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 03:01:22 GMT

That 100MB partition that installer creates is used for alignment.

Are sure the diskpart was the right size?

Sorry, I forget to not that Intel engineers have stated that misalignment does not impact the G1/G2 performance. Your benchmark numbers are in line with expected values.

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 03:12:06 GMT

I have managed to fix the problem....

I used a utiltiy from Paragon called "Partition Alignment Tool",

and after allowing the software to re-align the partition, this is

the result:

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:57:26 GMT

That 100MB partition that installer creates is used for alignment.

No its not you can install windows 7 without that 100MB partition and still have it Aligned.

This is how you do it when installing windows 7 with Method 3

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/08/20/hack-to-remove-100-mb-system-reserved-partition-when-installing-windows-7/ http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/08/20/hack-to-remove-100-mb-system-reserved-partition-when-installing-windows-7/

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:05:03 GMT

Actually, that is exactly the method I followed....

I still ended up with a offset alignment...

I have fixed the problem with Paragon's Alignment tool,

so the situation has been resolved...

Thanks for everyone's help

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:06:43 GMT

PeterUK wrote:

That 100MB partition that installer creates is used for alignment.

No its not you can install windows 7 without that 100MB partition and still have it Aligned.

This is how you do it when installing windows 7 with Method 3

To be clear, W7 can be installed without that 100MB partition if you use diskpart to create the alignment yourself manually. However, if you forgo both these steps, your drive is not aligned.

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

mmokk — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 14:13:12 GMT

Robin Gauld wrote:

Actually, that is exactly the method I followed....

I still ended up with a offset alignment...

i thought you said you used gparted to create the partition you installed to? the method peteruk referenced doesn't use gparted at all.

creating an image of the unaligned installation and then restoring it to the aligned partition didn't work probably because the software did not respect the new partition and restored the old misaligned partition.

Re: Offset/Alignment @ 4K Cluster

idata — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:29:08 GMT

I said Method 3 not Method 1 or 2 from that link Method 3 works 100% and will align the partition correctly without question.