Unable to Achieve Proper Alignment on SSD for "My Lady's" PC

I have a 1 TB Crucial MX200 SSD I'm trying to get cloned for my wife's Dell laptop and have been unable to get a 4K alignment on all the partitions. I'm wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with similar situation.

The WD 750 GB HDD currently in the machine has 4 partitions. The first two are Dell carry-overs from the original 320 GB HDD that came with the machine. The first is 244 MB--it's unnamed--Windows Disk Management simple has it labeled as "Healthy OEM Partition". The second is a 22.46 GB Recovery partition. The third is the Windows 10 OS partition. The fourth (the one currently not aligned) is her data partition.

Here's a brief outline of the steps I've taken so far to get a fully aligned SSD.

1) I used the latest version of Macrium Reflect Free to clone the current drive to the SSD. In that attempt, the first three partitions were aligned, the last was not.

2) I used the lastest version of MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to attempt alignment of the last partition. It said it was aligned, but based on the actual offset reported by msinfo32 and diskpart, it was not aligned.

3) I used MiniTool Partition Wizard again to request alignment on ALL of the SSD partitions just for kicks. It said they were all aligned.

4) I used Disk Copy wizard in MiniTool Partition Wizard to copy the HDD to the SSD and selected the option "Force to align partitions to 1 MB".

5) I deleted all volumes and reformatted the SSD, specifying 4K sectors be used. (The first time I formatted the drive I told Win10 to use the default size which I understand should be 4K, but thought I'd give it a whirl specifically calling for 4K sectors.) Then I repeated step 4 above.

Also, somewhere in between a couple of these steps, I tried re-cloning just the un-aligned partition to no avail.

The last partition remains out of whack in terms of the 4K alignment. No matter what I've done it's remained stuck on a 512 Byte alignment.

Any suggestions? Tongue Tied

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Dave Hooton

The last partition remains out of whack in terms of the 4K alignment.

Is it a Logical partition or a System partition? If it is System the tools may not know about the new UEFI partitioning. If it is Logical then the tools should manage! But I suggest you boot from the SSD with the aligned partitions and unallocated space, create the data partition from unallocated in Windows and copy actual data from the old drive.

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776259#Comment_776259

The last partition remains out of whack in terms of the 4K alignment.

Is it a Logical partition or a System partition? If it is System the tools may not know about the new UEFI partitioning. If it is Logical then the tools should manage! But I suggest you boot from the SSD with the aligned partitions and unallocated space, create the data partition from unallocated in Windows and copy actual data from the old drive.

Dave,

Thanks for taking time with me again on yet another SSD conundrum. The data partition giving me trouble is a logical partition.

I was thinking of trying one of two things next. One was precisely what you suggested. The other was to start over, but scrap the two Dell partitions on the SSD. I have Dell installation CDs and I'd still have the two Dell partitions on the HDD, so it's not like I have to have them on the SSD. That would give my wife an extra 22+ GB for data and leave me with just two partitions on the SSD which would be fine with me if it works out.

I'm leaning toward dropping the Dell partitions to see how that works. If I go that route, I'll delete all the partitions on the SSD and do another quick format. Then between Macrium Reflect and MiniTool Partition wizard, I'lI have a few options I can try.

One option is to create two partitions on the SSD after reformatting (Quick Formatting) the drive. Then, before doing anything else, check what the offsets are on the two partitions. Hopefully they would both be aligned properly--then between basic windows copy functions, SyncToy, MiniTool Partition Wizard, and Macrium Reflect, I'd have a few options I could try for populating the data partition.

Another option is a new feature in MiniTool Partition Wizard listed as "Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard". I haven't looked at it yet, but I expect it will create a single partition on the SSD, then migrate just the OS partition on the HDD to the SSD. I'm hoping the wizard will either create a partition on the SSD the same size as the partition on the HDD, or give me the option of selecting a partition size, but I suspect it might just create a single partition on the SSD taking all the drive space, in which case I'd then have to go in and reduce the OS partition size and create the data partition.

I'll report back, just in case the results might be of use to anyone down the road.

Tom Reynolds

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776276#Comment_776276

Intel has a program that will fix the issues caused by nonalignment. I don't think it actually aligns the drive but it will make it think it's aligned... You have to have it running permanently on your system.

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776307#Comment_776307

Intel has a program that will fix the issues caused by nonalignment. I don't think it actually aligns the drive but it will make it think it's aligned... You have to have it running permanently on your system.

Thanks for jumping in, Tom. Just wondering if you have any info that could help me locate said program. I'd like to get some info on it because from what I understand about SSD alignment requirements, there's no way to get around the performance degradation and reduced drive life that will result if the actual alignment is not correct. So if they have figured out a trick to get around the actual 4K alignment requirement without affecting performance or drive life, I suspect a lot of people would like to know about it. [:)]

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776330#Comment_776330

Well, I dropped the two Dell hold-over partitions and went to just two partitions on the SSD--one for the OS and one for data. I used Macrium Reflect Free to copy just the OS and Data partitions from the HDD to the SSD. Unfortunately, the partition copy function in Macrium won't copy to pre-allocated partitions, so I had to delete the partitions I had created and let Macrium build the partition as part of its copy process. Sadly, when finished, msinfo32 once again showed the data partition did not start on a 4k offset, even though Macrium says the partition "is" aligned. I'm beginning to think all "alignment" means to Macrium is that the partition is on a 512 byte offset.

So... I used Macrium to delete the data partition once again, then used it to "create" a partition, with the intention of simply using the Windows copy and paste function to actually populate it. The data partition on the HDD is a logical partition and all the resulting cloned/copied data partitions on the SSD had so far been the same. This time, I created it as a primary partition. After creating it I ran msinfo32 and the offset indicates the partition is aligned correctly. I'm now in the process of using copy and paste to populate the partition. Will report back when the process is finished.

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776333#Comment_776333

Well, I dropped the two Dell hold-over partitions and went to just two partitions on the SSD--one for the OS and one for data.

I think the "OEM" 244 MB is needed - often called System Reserved - as it is the "active" boot partition for Windows. If you have an image copy you can check the contents as there will be a Boot folder and possibly a Recovery folder. If not present, or empty, the latter should be be a hidden system folder on the C: drive with a WinRe sub-folder.

Windows won't boot without System Reserved and Win 10 recovery/reset/advanced tools etc needs WinRe. So check contents of the images (you might be able to assign a letter to view contents in Windows).

Now, the order and placement of partitions is important to maintain e.g. if System Reserved --> Dell Recovery partition ---> C: drive ---> Data drive, removing Dell Recovery will stop Windows from booting (although it could be fixed with a Windows Recovery disc). However, play safe and keep a small System partition where Dell Recovery should be e.g. clone the HDD to SSD, remove Dell Recovery, allocate a 100 MB System partition with the same name, and resize the other partitions to use the unallocated space. If you still have alignment issues for the Data drive, consider different software as mine aligns all partitions (System/Logical) on 1 MB boundaries for both HDD and SSD

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776348#Comment_776348

I think the "OEM" 244 MB is needed - often called System Reserved - as it is the "active" boot partition for Windows.

Now, the order and placement of partitions is important to maintain e.g. if System Reserved --> Dell Recovery partition ---> C: drive ---> Data drive, removing Dell Recovery will stop Windows from booting

I think you be right, Dave!

I just logged on to report what a grand fail that last attempt was with just the OS and Data partitions. When doing system images on the Dell in the past, I had always selected all three of those first partitions in case not having them all would hose the boot process, but I always wondered if I was just wasting space on my backup drives by doing so--especially the 22+ GB Recovery partition. I suppose one positive outcome is that now I know I'm not wasting the space. [:)]

I think I'll go back to your first suggestion of cloning just the first three partitions. In the hope of not having to recopy all 400 GB of data from the data partition on the HDD, I may try using Macrium Reflect to reduce the size of that partition on the SSD, slide it over far enough to make room for the first three partitions, then check to make sure it's still on a 4k boundary. Then I'll see if I can clone the first three partitions. If when finished, all four partitions are on 4k boundaries and I have a bootable drive, I'll probably resize either the OS or the data partition to reclaim any unallocated space from the move of the data partition. If I resize the OS partition, I'll create a system image before doing so.

I'll be out of town most of the day, so it will have to wait until this evening or tomorrow--possibly even Monday--but I'll provide another update when finished. In the meantime, please feel free to let me know if you think this is a bad strategy.

For those who might be interested, all I got in the boot process with my "two partition" SSD, was the Dell splash screen followed by a screen that was blank with the exception of the letter "J" in the upper left corner. [:(]

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776392#Comment_776392

If when finished, all four partitions are on 4k boundaries and I have a bootable drive, I'll probably resize either the OS or the data partition to reclaim any unallocated space from the move of the data partition.

Make sure System Reserved is the active System partition, and note that you can reduce the size of the Dell recovery partition as I suggested above when you know you have a working SSD (and uninstall any Dell recovery software as it was not designed for Windows 10).

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776433#Comment_776433

Well, I think I'm finally good to go on my wife's Dell, but before reaching this point, I had another major fail. The last major fail occurred after following the plan describe in my previous post. In summary, that plan consisted of using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to reinsert the two original Dell partitions I had previously removed--an OEM partition of 244 MB and a Recovery partition for the Win 7 OS of apx 22.5 GB. The process appeared to go fine and when I was finished, all four partitions were on 4K boundaries, but attempting to boot from the drive still resulted in getting no farther than the Dell splash screen, followed by a blank screen with the exception of the letter "J" in the upper left corner. Sigh.

After that, I deleted all partitions and once again used Macrium Reflect Free, to clone the HDD to the SSD, but this time I excluded the data partition. I excluded it because every clone attempt in the past had resulted in the offset of that partition NOT being on a 4K boundary. In doing the clone this time, I instructed Macrium to maintain the partition sizes of the original partitions. This left me with a large unallocated area on the drive following the three cloned partitions. After the clone process finished, I verified they were all on 4K boundaries. Then I manually created a fourth partition for data and verified it was on a 4K boundary.

At that point I removed the HDD and installed the SSD on the laptop an attempted a boot. Success! I then used plain old Windows drag-and-drop to copy all 400 GB of data from the HDD to the SSD.

Following another successful reboot, I downloaded ATTO Disk Benchmark and got the following test result.

Next, I downloaded Crucial's Storage Executive and enabled Momentum Cache on the drive. Then I ran ATTO again and got the following.

Thank you Dave and Tom for your input. And Dave, thank you especially for your advice regarding the OEM and Recovery partitions. At this point, I plan to leave the Recovery partition in place until such time as my data hungry helpmate needs to scrape the bottom of her 1TB drive for last bite I can possibly give her. When that time comes, your help (and prayers) may once again be requested. [:)]

Dave Hooton

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776619#Comment_776619

I'm glad it is now working so well. The Crucial Momentum Cache may pinch a significant amount of physical memory, so you could disable that until your helpmate craves for even more speed!

Rick Ausdahl

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/776649#Comment_776649

I'm glad it is now working so well. The Crucial Momentum Cache may pinch a significant amount of physical memory, so you could disable that until your helpmate craves for even more speed!

Did you say until she craves more speed? We're well past that, I'm afraid. [;)]

The next thing already on the agenda is to up her 4GB of RAM to 8GB. I told her, that other than continuing to monitor and tweak her startup/background processes, that after the SSD, the RAM increase is the last thing I can do to maximize the potential for a performance boost short of a new machine.

Until I get the additional RAM, I'll keep an eye on the impact of the Momentum Cache, but per Crucial, it is suppose to monitor your system's memory demands and always be adjusting what it's using so that it never uses more than a certain percentage (don't remember the figure right now) of the unused RAM.