SSD Alignment

whs · 17 Sep 2015

This is not a good scenario for a variety of reasons. Starting with XP is no good and then XP does not support Trim which means your SSD is going to be slowed down over time. XP should not be on SSDs - period.

I suggest you start anew. Clear the whole SSD - best with a Secure Erase - but that is compulsory. The commands below will clean the disk too.. Then allocate an aligned partition for Windows 7. You can use these commands:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary align=1024 size=xMB (where x is the amount of MB's you want the partition to be)
Format fs=ntfs quick
Active
Exit

If you leave some remaining space on the SSD (e.g. your planned 33GBs for the XP partition), then you can define that partition with Disk Management.

Then install Windows 7 in the first partition without any XP and see whether that works. If yes, add XP to the second partition. In principle it should work too except for the performance degradation part mentioned earlier. If you run into new gremlins, post back.

Budge72 · 17 Sep 2015

whs said:

This is not a good scenario for a variety of reasons. Starting with XP is no good and then XP does not support Trim which means your SSD is going to be slowed down over time. XP should not be on SSDs - period.

I suggest you start anew. Clear the whole SSD - best with a Secure Erase - but that is compulsory. The commands below will clean the disk too.. Then allocate an aligned partition for Windows 7. You can use these commands:

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary align=1024 size=xMB (where x is the amount of MB's you want the partition to be)
Format fs=ntfs quick
Active
Exit

If you leave some remaining space on the SSD (e.g. your planned 33GBs for the XP partition), then you can define that partition with Disk Management.

Then install Windows 7 in the first partition without any XP and see whether that works. If yes, add XP to the second partition. In principle it should work too except for the performance degradation part mentioned earlier. If you run into new gremlins, post back.

Thank you, whs. As you have explained it, I completely understand how these instructions would streamline and speed up my computer, making it more efficient. However, it's very important for me to maintain the ability to use Windows XP. And since I don't have an extra copy of it, I have to use the restoration disk that came with my laptop, which completely wipes the drive and reinstalls everything. I don't think I have the option to install it on a partition that I create myself. (Update: I guess I could download an ISO for XP and use the product key from the bottom of the laptop.) And though I'm early enough into this project to start over and experiment with different setups, my MAIN concern is the fact that I cannot get Windows Update to work with W7. So unless there's a reason why my disk alignment might be causing that problem, I need to keep looking for another solution before I decide to bail on XP for good.

whs · 18 Sep 2015

Windows update not working can have many reasons. I would run an sfc /scannow operation in W7 and if that foes not help a startup/repair (Startup Repair).

Using the XP key from the bottom of the laptop is a good option for installing XP. As long as you install XP as first system, you will have a mess.

mjf · 18 Sep 2015

Free Partition mini tool is a useful tool to align your SSD partitions. I mucked up one of my installs and it realigned nicely. Backup important data or better make a system image before you do these sort of operations.
How to Align All Partitions | MiniTool Partition Wizard Tutorial

Drumming Pete · 20 Feb 2017

Nevermind I got it now.

If I partition my 120gb ssd and create a 20gb partition for installing windows on it. Will setup still create the ESP/EFI partition needed for my machine (not talking about the MSR partition)?

ICIT2LOL · 20 Feb 2017

Drumming Pete said:

Nevermind I got it now.

If I partition my 120gb ssd and create a 20gb partition for installing windows on it. Will setup still create the ESP/EFI partition needed for my machine (not talking about the MSR partition)?

Pete now I would just install Windows onto the drive and partition it afterwards with the Partition Wizard - that is very simple to do. When the partition is resized the unallocated part of the partition can then be made a new partition with the wizard. This is how I do it and maybe the others may not agree but I have had no problems doing it this way.

Anyhow the choice is yours of course

Edit: this is the PW software download Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

mjf · 22 Feb 2017

120GB is now considered a small SSD but fully capable of supporting Windows plus installed programs.
20GB is far too small for your OS partition and I wouldn't consider going below 60GB. If your total drive capacity is 120GB then you don't really have much room to play with.

ICIT2LOL · 22 Feb 2017

mjf said:

120GB is now considered a small SSD but fully capable of supporting Windows plus installed programs.
20GB is far too small for your OS partition and I wouldn't consider going below 60GB. If your total drive capacity is 120GB then you don't really have much room to play with.

Oops I missed that one completely - I should have looked properly as I thought we were dealing with a larger drive

Drumming Pete · 24 Nov 2018

Why an offset of 1024 kilobyte = 1megabyte?

I thought old drives use 512Bytes/sector, SSDs use 1024Byte =1k/sector. And AF HDD drives use 4096Bytes=4k/sector.
Is 1024kilobyte=1Megabyte not a bit much?