Solved 102 MB Primary Partition bad for an SSD in Windows 7?

[lister]

Hi, can you please take a look at my screenshot? I am trying to optimize my SSD and I think that the 102 MB partition is causing me issues?

To check if my partitions are aligned correctly, I hit the Start menu and typed in msinfo32. Then Components > Storage > Disks. Looking for the SSD on the list and finding the "Partition Starting Offset" item - the number was NOT divisible by 4096 (that is, if dividing it by 4096 equals a whole number and not a decimal).

Apparently that means that your partition is NOT correctly aligned because it must be a whole number...

Any ideas how to correct this? THANKS

 

[lister]

I think that the issue might have been that the SSD has not been correctly aligned owing to the Partition Starting Offset not being divisible by 4096? I read this here

 

[Hopalong X]

It has to be divisible by 4.

Below is how to check alignment from Cmd.

If you want to verify that the alignment is correct, you use these commands:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n
List partition

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 has to be divisible by 4.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

What number are you seeing as "partition starting offset"?? in msinfo.exe?

I have an ordinary SSD install and have 1,048,576 as a starting offset--which is evenly divisible by both 4 and 4096.

You can realign it with this tool:

Paragon Paragon Alignment Tool - Overview

or do a reinstall and use diskpart with a command such as "create partition primary align=1024".

 

[lister]

What number are you seeing as "partition starting offset"?? in msinfo.exe?

My partition offet is:

Partition 0: 101 MB (which divided by 4 = 25.25 so this is incorrect?)
Partition 1: 41 GIG (which by my calculations is:

1 GIG is that same as 1,073,741,824 bytes * 41 / 4 = 110,058,536,96 which seems correct?

I have an ordinary SSD install and have 1,048,576 as a starting offset--which is evenly divisible by both 4 and 4096.

You can realign it with this tool:

Paragon Paragon Alignment Tool - Overview

or do a reinstall and use diskpart with a command such as "create partition primary align=1024".

Maybe it is best to realign the 102 MB Partition - thing is that it doesn't really matter much to the operation of the machine - but I might as well get it to the best that it should be.....

You reckon my idea to realign PArition 0 will fix the overall "problem"?

Thanks

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Lister:

Are you the guy who has Windows installed in a logical partition inside an extended partition, along with the small "system reserved" as the boot partition?

I'm wondering if your alignment is off because you have used a logical/extended setup for a Windows install rather than the more traditional simple primary partition.

 

[Hopalong X]

To check the offset you need added Cmd command List partition as you will see in Snip below.

I have no partition so it is one continuous area. Offset is 1024KB.
You can check both of your partitions.

The first partition is usually 1024KB but some turn out at 2048 up to 8000 odd KB.
Mike

 

[Corazon]

lister: Your alignment is fine. Don't worry about the unused 102MB space at the beginning of your drive or the partition sizes (in GB).

Your mistake lies in dividing an MB size (100 or 101 or 102MB) by a number meant for KB sizes. Remember that 100/101/102MB equals 102400/103424/104448KB which is evenly divisible by 4.

Similarly, dividing by 4096 is meant for byte sizes, for example 1,048,576 bytes (which is 1024KB or 1MB). (Also, one NTFS cluster = typically 4096 bytes or 8 sectors of 512 bytes each.)

Incidentally, there must once have been a 100MB system partition on your HD which was later removed. That would explain the 102MB unallocated space, because the system partition would have had a 1MB offset from the beginning of the disk, and a 1MB gap between itself and the following partition. (1MB + 100MB + 1MB = 102MB)

 

[dsk04]

the 102mb partition is a factory type drive, leave it alone so everything works right, i have one on my dell thats 100mb it for the fn buttons backround OS system, you can get a copy of ubuntu and make a cd boot with it / choose try out and see everything thats on it

 

[lister]

THANKS everyone - really appreciate the advice and help. As Always.