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Windows 7: SSD - Fix Misalignment
SSD - Fix Misalignment
Published 02 Jan 2012
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Featured Tutorial | | | If the alignment of your SSD is not divisible by 4, you will suffer a noticeable performance degradation. On an SSD with an installed OS, this situation is not easily corrected. You can try the Paragon Alignment Tool, but I am not sure whether they will do the job without a fee.
The steps below and the program I use are completely free and a lot of fun. I hope it can help you when your SSD is in an unfortunate misalignment situation.
Step 1 - Transfer the bootmgr to C:
Note: This step only applies if you have the 100MB active System Partition - in case of a Dell system it may be the active Recovery Partition. If not, start with Step2.
Eliminating the 100MB active System Partition or the active Recovery Partition will make the job a lot easier and is prerequisite for the following steps to properly work. As first step we will move the bootmgr from the 100MB partition to the C: partition. This is extremely easy with EasyBCD. Follow the picture and the instructions below.
After "Perform Action" you will be prompted to select which letter you like to use as the new boot partition - C: will most likely already be selected as default. When you confirm the selection, EasyBCD will automatically:
v Install the bootmgr to the selected partition
v Make the selected partition active
v Install the bootmgr to both the bootsector and the MBR of the selected partition
v Copy all entries from the old boot partition to the newly-selected one
v Update partition references to work with the new boot partition
Step 2 - Image your system
This is the most important step because it will be your only lifeline. I recommend to use free Macrium or free Paragon for imaging. Make sure you have a good image - better even, make two identical images on two different disks.
Step 3 - Delete the volume
For this and the following steps we will use Command Prompt (cmd) from your installation or recovery disc. In fact, you can use an installation or recovery disks from any system - it need not necessarily be from the system you work on. We only need a cmd.
Once you have opened cmd, run these commands:
Diskpart (Do not exit from Diskpart until all steps are done)
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
List Partition
Select Partition=0
Delete Partition (that will give you unallocated space for the first partition on the SSD)
Note: If you have the 100MB system partition, you just deleted that one. You now have to Select and Delete for Partition=1 to get rid of the OS partition.
Option: If you want to reset the SSD to factory state, you could run a Secure Erase before you start with the Diskpart steps. In that case you would skip Step 3 and start with Step 4 after the Secure Erase. The first command for Step 4 would then be Diskpart.
Step 4 - Define an aligned partition
Select disk n (same as above)
Create partition primary align=1024
Active
Step 5 - Format the new partition
Select disk n (same as above)
Select partition=0
Format /fs:NTFS Quick
Step 6 - Assign drive letter (optional)
List volume
Select volume n (n is from the list and it is not necessarily 0 - the numbering follows the partitions within the Sata port sequence)
Assign letter=M (or any other higher letter - once it is the OS partition, it will become C anyhow)
Step 7 - Double check the alignment
List disk
Select disk n
List partition
Now you should see a result like this.
Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 59 GB 1024 KB - but 64KB or any number divisible by 4 is also good
The offset (in KBs) has to be divisible by 4.
Exit (we now exit Diskpart because we are done with cmd)
Step 8 - Load the image and boot Windows 7
Now you boot from your imaging CD and reload the image to the newly created partition. After that you reboot and hopefully the OS will work.
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Loading | Computer type Laptop
System Manufacturer/Model Number Sony Vaio VPCEB47GM Laptop
OS Win 7 Pro 64-bit
CPU Intel i5 2.4 Ghz
Memory 8GB DDR3
Graphics Card Intel HD 3000
Sound Card IDT High Definition
Monitor(s) Displays 15.6 WGXA Anti-Glare LED
Screen Resolution 1280x800
Hard Drives 640Gb 7200rpm
Antivirus MSE
Browser Opera (primary) with IE9 backup
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02 Jan 2012
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#2 | |
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Well written and will prove to be very useful.
A quick question : how do you tell if your SSD is misaligned, and any performance degradation is not easily noticeable? | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop
System Manufacturer/Model Number Golden Mk. I.3
OS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (x64)
CPU Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution 1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Keyboard Logitech G110
Mouse Logitech MX518
PSU Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Hard Drives 1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
3*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID5;
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
Internet Speed Not fast enough!!!
Antivirus MSE and Malwarebytes Pro
Browser Chrome Version 27
Other Info Laptop: ASUS X54C, Intel Core i3-2330M @ 2.0Ghz, 4GB RAM, Intel HD on-board graphics, Windows 7 Professional SP1 (x64), LinuxMint 14 (x64), PepperMint 3 (x86)
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02 Jan 2012
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#3 | |
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Quote: Originally Posted by Golden  Well written and will prove to be very useful.
A quick question : how do you tell if your SSD is misaligned, and any performance degradation is not easily noticeable? see step #7 - can be done with Diskpart any time. | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays 2x HP w2207
Keyboard with trackball - no mices
Mouse Trackball mice
Hard Drives 5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Internet Speed DSL 6000
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02 Jan 2012
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#4 | |
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Very nice and needed tutorial.
Since this is aimed at SSD's, I would suggest a secure erase as an option to replace Step 3. This could be particularly important for smaller SSD's since the delete and re-imaging process would create a fairly large amount of activity for the internal garbage collection process. A secure erase would bring the SSD to "fresh" speeds. | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Homemade
OS Win 7 64 bit professional
CPU CPU: 3930K @ 4.8 MHz Stable as a rock
Motherboard ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011
Memory CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3
Graphics Card EVGA SuperClocked+ GeForce GTX 680
Monitor(s) Displays Dell 3007WFP
Screen Resolution 2560 x 1600
Mouse ratZ-7
PSU CORSAIR AX1200i 1200W Digital ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 SLI
Cooling Water cooling EK Supremacy ELITE
Hard Drives Vector(256gb) x 2
RevoDrive 3 X2 space (240 GB)
Crucial C300 256 GB SSD
Other Info WEI-7.8
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02 Jan 2012
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#5 | |
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Quote: Originally Posted by Snakeyeskm Very nice and needed tutorial.
Since this is aimed at SSD's, I would suggest a secure erase as an option to replace Step 3. This could be particularly important for smaller SSD's since the delete and re-imaging process would create a fairly large amount of activity for the internal garbage collection process. A secure erase would bring the SSD to "fresh" speeds. Good suggestion. Option added. Thanks! | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays 2x HP w2207
Keyboard with trackball - no mices
Mouse Trackball mice
Hard Drives 5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Internet Speed DSL 6000
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02 Jan 2012
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#6 | |
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Great writeup. Just checked my SSDs. Both doing well. | | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom
OS Windows 7 Pro x64 -- PCLinuxOS KDE4 FullMonty 2011
CPU i7-875k @ Turbo - 7,6,5,5 - 3.6ghz
Motherboard Asus P7P55D-E Deluxe
Memory Corsair CMD8GX3M4A1600C8 8gb
Graphics Card Asus EAH5850 DirectCU/2DIS/1GD5
Sound Card On Board
Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster T220 - Panasonic VT30a 50"
Screen Resolution 1680x1050 -
Keyboard Logitech Wireless MK700
Mouse Logitech Wireless MX620
PSU Corsair HX-850 Power Supply
Case Coolmaster HAF 932
Cooling Corsair H50
Hard Drives Corsair Force 3 SSD 120GB x 2 ::
WD VelociRaptor 150GB WD1500HLFS x 2
Internet Speed Good enough for now
Other Info Voip. Insanely cheap phone calls.
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02 Jan 2012
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#7 | |
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Very nice Wolfgang 
A Guy | | My System Specs | | OS Windows 7 Home Premium x64 SP1
CPU INTEL Core i5-750 Quad-Core 3.37GHz
Motherboard ASUS P7P55D
Memory KINGSTON 4GB (2 x 2GB) HyperX PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL8
Graphics Card MSI N240GT-MD1G/D5 GeForce GT 240 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Monitor(s) Displays Samsung SyncMaster B2430H 24"
Screen Resolution 1920 x 1080
PSU ANTEC TruePower New TP-550, 80 PLUS, 550W
Case ANTEC Three Hundred Illusion
Cooling COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus, 4 x 120mm 1 x 140mm Noctua's
Hard Drives Intel X25M Gen2 80GB, SEAGATE 500GB Barracudaź 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache
Internet Speed 20 + Mbps
Antivirus Avast
Browser Opera
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02 Jan 2012
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#8 | |
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Quote: Originally Posted by whs see step #7 - can be done with Diskpart any time. Ahh...thanks. I completely missed that. | | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop
System Manufacturer/Model Number Golden Mk. I.3
OS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (x64)
CPU Intel i7 860 @ 2.80 GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte P55A-UD3R Rev.1. Award BIOS F13
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengance DDR3 @ 661 MHz Dual Channel (9-9-9-24)
Graphics Card EVGA NVidia GTX 560 1024MB
Sound Card Realtek Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays Dual Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Screen Resolution 1920*1080 and 1920*1080
Keyboard Logitech G110
Mouse Logitech MX518
PSU Thermaltake ToughPower QFan 750W
Case Thermaltake Element S VK60001W2Z
Cooling Corsair H60 Water Cooling, 2*230mm and 2*80mm case fans
Hard Drives 1*OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD;
2*Samsung F3 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID0;
3*Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB in RAID5;
1*Western Digital 500GB External USB 3.0
1*Seagate 500GB External USB 2.0
Internet Speed Not fast enough!!!
Antivirus MSE and Malwarebytes Pro
Browser Chrome Version 27
Other Info Laptop: ASUS X54C, Intel Core i3-2330M @ 2.0Ghz, 4GB RAM, Intel HD on-board graphics, Windows 7 Professional SP1 (x64), LinuxMint 14 (x64), PepperMint 3 (x86)
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02 Jan 2012
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#9 | |
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Great tutorial whs, well done. | | My System Specs | | Computer type PC/Desktop
System Manufacturer/Model Number 76~2.0
OS Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 Pro x64
CPU Intel Core i5-3570K 4.6GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z77X UD3H, f18
Memory 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengeance CL8 1.5v
Graphics Card Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X OC 1GB DDR5
Sound Card Onboard VIA VT2021
Monitor(s) Displays 22" LCD Dell
Screen Resolution 1680x1050
Keyboard Logitech Wave
Mouse CM Sentinel
PSU Corsair HX650W
Case Cooler Master Storm Scout
Cooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12 , 2x14cm case fans
Hard Drives Samsung 840Pro 128GB SSD,
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache,
Internet Speed Dismal
Antivirus Avast
Browser Opera Next
Other Info eSATA ports,
External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,
External USB WD 500GB
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