SSD Alignment clarification..

[greyclear]

Three months ago after I first built the computer everything was lightening fast but now things are slowing down. I had done research on SSD optimization before I installed Windows 7 but I did not catch the alignment part so I am not sure if this is causing a problem.

Screenshots -- is everything correct?

 

[seavixen32]

Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

Personally, I have no idea whether your settings are correct as I've never tried to install and set up a SSD, but this tutorial may be of help to you: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html

 

[armyslowrdr]

I think that is the offset but the tutorial mentioned will tell you for sure. Also if you did a fresh nstall of windows 7 to a brand new SSD, then alignment would be done automatically by the install.

 

[greyclear]

Yea it was fresh install the drives came clean so I caught that part where it says Windows 7 does it for you so I guess it is correct.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Three months ago after I first built the computer everything was lightening fast but now things are slowing down. I had done research on SSD optimization before I installed Windows 7 but I did not catch the alignment part so I am not sure if this is causing a problem.

Screenshots -- is everything correct?

Hiyya greyclear and welcome also - I had a similar quandary in that I did not know what this meant and whs put me right by explaining that as long as the first partition ie Partition 1 as in your shot - the number = 100MB (is actually 1024 KB) is divisible by 4 ie 1024/4=256 then you are good to go - the rest of the drive is then "aligned" as the remainder is also divisible by 4!

Of course I stand to be corrected

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I think you are correct and OK; 1024 is evenly divisible by 4.

I don't get the specs though. RAID0 model? No manufacturer name.

There have been posts here recently about unexpected performance decline on SSDs---I think on Crucial M4 series.

What do you have?

 

[mjf]

You should also verify that trim is on.
Also I suggest you monitor speed with benchmark programs such as
Disk Benchmark | ATTO
and
Alex Intelligent Software - Downloads

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I think you are correct and OK; 1024 is evenly divisible by 4.

I don't get the specs though. RAID0 model? No manufacturer name.

There have been posts here recently about unexpected performance decline on SSDs---I think on Crucial M4 series.

What do you have?

Hum ignazatsonic I do have a Crucial 128GB and my boot and shut down have noticeably decreased since new even though I keep minimal stuff on it anything like music or pics I send through to my Seagate HDD. I am not sure what you mean by RAID model though.

MJF I think it runs TRIM as I was under the impression that it is automatic as an install feature and one just leaves for as long as possible after booting before signing in and using the thing.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hum ignazatsonic I do have a Crucial 128GB and my boot and shut down have noticeably decreased since new even though I keep minimal stuff on it anything like music or pics I send through to my Seagate HDD. I am not sure what you mean by RAID model though.

My mistake.

I was referring to the second picture in the original post in this thread, where the specs are shown. Take a look up there.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hum ignazatsonic I do have a Crucial 128GB and my boot and shut down have noticeably decreased since new even though I keep minimal stuff on it anything like music or pics I send through to my Seagate HDD. I am not sure what you mean by RAID model though.

My mistake.

I was referring to the second picture in the original post in this thread, where the specs are shown. Take a look up there.

No probs mate I will have to look at mine now - a bit more knowledge that hasn't gone amiss on me!

 

[essenbe]

That is correct alignment. The 100MB partition is 1024, which as pointed out is divisible by 4. The 101 is ok because 1024X101=103424 which divided by 4 = 25856. That's the way I was told it is figured, but your alignment is typical of an aligned OS with the 100Mb partition.

 

[armyslowrdr]

I have the Crucial as well and have not done the firmware upgrade yet. Supposedly it is a must do at some point before or at 5000 or 50000 hours I think or the drive just "quits" until it is upgraded. I'm in no hurry to perform it as I understand this upgrade slightly degrades speed. So far I've only been using my new set up for a week or two and so far all I've noticed is the need to delete temp files on occasion.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I have the Crucial as well and have not done the firmware upgrade yet. Supposedly it is a must do at some point before or at 5000 or 50000 hours I think or the drive just "quits" until it is upgraded. I'm in no hurry to perform it as I understand this upgrade slightly degrades speed. So far I've only been using my new set up for a week or two and so far all I've noticed is the need to delete temp files on occasion.

Hum armyslowrdr maybe thats why my M4 is getting slower as I did the upgrade when I put the drive in as if I remember correctly it would not show up in Computer and I was then told to do it ASAP to get the most out of this drive performance and longevity wise.

I wouldn't leave it too long my friend be a shame to have it fall in a heap before it's time.

 

[armyslowrdr]

I figure if I leave the computer on 24/7 I ought to have 200+ days before I must do the upgrade. I understand that even if the drive just quits due the bug it has, it will come back once the upgrade is performed. But I do want to do it before that point. I'm thinking Cinco d Mayo may be a good day -- the 8th is my seniority day at work--I have 3 days of vacation still to burn by then...and the 5th is also the Tom Petty concert in Austin. Only reason I don't do it now is I've just been using this thing a week or two and want to see how it performs pre upgrade after a nice length of time, then how it does post upgrade. Maybe update is a better word than upgrade....

 

[greyclear]

My computer specs are in my profile. Intel 320 series 120gb. Trim is active but I read an article somewhere that I lose some performance because it does garbage collection or something so trim enabled or disable doesn't matter. Its enabled anyways but I cant find the article I read on it at the moment. When I first setup I ran bench tests I was getting 600mb ranges almost peaking 700 read speeds. Writes were above 350.

I store everything on my raid 5 drives such as vmware/vbox, my games, chrome/firefox/ie temp/profiles are on another drive. Just windows and security essentials is running on the ssd drives but occasionally Ive transferred files from laptop to the ssd drives temporary so not much. I shouldnt complain lol far better than what I had before just wondering what happened to the speed..

My computer stays on all the time I dont turn it off except when I am going to be out for a few days