F120 and partition alignment

[xtremis]

Hey everyone!

 

I've recently bought a F120 and it's amazing! :bigeyes:

 

The single best upgrade I ever did :laughing:

 

Regarding partition alignment: I've imaged my old disk (Win7+ubuntu 10.10) into the SDD, and I've done the "divide by 4096" and I found out my partition is not aligned :eek: :biggrin:

 

I've done some ATTO benchmarking and the SDD seems to be performing just fine (although the write values stay a bit below 250MB).

 

My question is: is it worth it to reinstall the system, just to get the partition aligned? Both in terms of performance or disk life span?

 

Thanks!

[RAM GUY]

I would suggest using Accronis to make an image of the drive (if you are using Windows) then use Parted magic to Wipe the drive under tools select Erase Disk and Secure Erase and then, install the drive on the system you will be using it as a second HDD and format it with the QUICK Option Only and 4k Allocation if not using Windows 7 other wise the default format in Windows 7 will properly align the partition, then test it with Atto again to be sure its running properly then delete the partition and image the drive back to its original image and you are done.

[xtremis]

I would suggest using Accronis to make an image of the drive (if you are using Windows) then use Parted magic to Wipe the drive under tools select Erase Disk and Secure Erase and then, install the drive on the system you will be using it as a second HDD and format it with the QUICK Option Only and 4k Allocation if not using Windows 7 other wise the default format in Windows 7 will properly align the partition, then test it with Atto again to be sure its running properly then delete the partition and image the drive back to its original image and you are done.

 

Hum The thing is that right now the SSD is my primary disk (system). But taking your advise, I should:

1 - image the disk;

2 - secure erase it with Parted magic;

3 - attach SSD as a secondary (USB/SATA? is it important?) disk on some other machine;

4 - format it (for the alignment part);

5 - benchmark it;

6 - if everything is fine, delete the partition and redeploy the image taken on step 1

 

Is this right? :)

 

Won't the imaging software on step 6 mess up the alignment again? Since I'll be destroying the aligned partition and the new one will be done by the imaging software....

 

Would it work if I just image the system (for backup sake), and reinstall Windows 7 on it (blowing up the partitions in the process)? From what I read, if the Win7 setup takes care of the partitioning, everything will be aligned, right?

 

Thanks! :)

[Synbios]

Yes W7 installation re-aligns everything correctly, but alignment is a hardware issue and is not involved with the data itself. When you make an image you will not be imaging the "mis-alignment".

[xtremis]

Yes W7 installation re-aligns everything correctly, but alignment is a hardware issue and is not involved with the data itself. When you make an image you will not be imaging the "mis-alignment".

 

Hum... But if I image my disk as it is, and if I just reimage it, won't the alignment problem still be there? Or is it the secure-wipe and Win7 sponsored format the "secret"? :laughing:

 

I was under the impression that the mis-alignment was "software" related (as the imaging software doesn't do it properly, but Win7 during setup does, WinXP doesn't, etc.), but I guess I was wrong :)

[Synbios]

Alignment is a problem at the hardware level per se, but it is induced by software. Regardless, you can image and you will not be taking the mis-alignment with you is my point.

 

When you image, then secure erase, then format to align it, then re-apply the image, the image should go onto the drive in the correct alignment. The fact that you imaged the drive while it was mis-aligned is completely irrelevant.

[RAM GUY]

And Accronis will not copy the cluster information by default only the raw data so when it restores the information it should restore it to the drive properly aligned and fix the problem you see.

[xtremis]

And Accronis will not copy the cluster information be default only the raw data so when it restores the information it should restore it to the drive properly aligned and fix the problem you see.

 

What Accronis product do you recomend? :) They have a bunch of products that do imaging :)

 

Also, should I image online or offline? :)

 

Thanks!

 

Cheers

[Synbios]

Acronis True Image Home is the only home version.

 

Backup and Restore is for servers.

[RAM GUY]

If you use another application make sure it copies raw data only and is compatible with SSD's. I am sorry but Accronis Home is the only software we have tested. I will be looking at other vendors in the future but that will not happen right away. If you use something like Ghost just make sure it is set to NOT COPY cluster information.

[xtremis]

Acronis True Image Home is the only home version.

 

Backup and Restore is for servers.

 

Cool, I'll look into this :biggrin:

 

By the way, do you use the 2011 version?

[RAM GUY]

Personally I use 2010 Version, but have used the 2011 Version both work well.

I think the biggest difference is the 2011 Version you have to register the software before you can clone a drive. And one of the reasons I will be looking at other software.

[xtremis]

Well, I got some updates on this. I've imaged the system with True Image 2011. I've plugged the SSD on another system (secondary sata), and I've done the secure erase part (I had to do the power unplug thing, as the Parted Magic kept saying the disk was frozen). However, the secure erase was suspiciously quick, as I was expecting at least a few minutes (it took under 2 minutes).

 

I've restored the system with True Image again, and after some struggle with 7 (kept booting into blue scree with 0x7b code), I was able to check that the partition is still misaligned :(

 

I guess the secure erase didn't go well, as it took very little time to do...

 

Is there any other way to "reset" the SSD and the partitions?

 

I plan to reinstall my Windows 7 system, with the 64bit version anyway, but I'm wondering if the partition alignment problem will be fixed with that, or if the secure erase problem might be signaling something else...

 

 

Crap, my bad! I was fixated on the secure erase, and I forgot to format the drive after erasing! That's what aligns the partitions... Crap... :D Well, tonight I'm reinstalling the whole thing, so it's ok :D

[RAM GUY]

Create another Image then connect the SSD as a second HDD and Secure erase and then quick format with 4K allocation and check with ATTO to see if its running properly the drive should be properly aligned and the just delete the partition and re-image the drive and you should be good to go.