Solid-State Drives (SSD)

[jt7747]

I'll be receiving my replacement 64gb m225 tomorrow.

I use acronis 2009 as a boot restore to restore an image file (.tib) from another hard drive to the ssd. I've read that acronis can mess up the alignment and offset of ssds. I don't quite understand the issue, but it's something to do with 4k allocation chunks or some such.

How do I check the offset on my ssd? How do I know the alignment is correct?

And how should I ensure that acronis won't destroy a correct alignment when I restore an image to the hard drive?

Thanks

[stankopp]

Search the internet for a tool called DiskAlign.  I have used Acronis 2009 and 2010 to restore images from HDDs to SDDs and they have maintained the alignment.  This all pre-supposes that the drive was aligned in the first place...

[jt7747]

Thank you. I have a feeling the initial image came from a HDD and I think they might have different alignment needs.

I think Acronis has different options to either copy the whole partition, or copy all the files. I'm hoping the latter will be more alignment preserving friendly!

[jt7747]

Can anyone tell me what the optimal offset / alignment settings are for my crucial 64gb ssd? I really don't understand why info on this topic is so patchy

[alanrob13]

optimal offset is a resulting number divisible by 1024. e.g. on my system, disk 0 is ssd raid. Windows 7 aligned drives.

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

=================================================================
=================================================================
= Alignment Checking tool for all SSDs with Block Size of 512KB =
=================================================================
=================================================================

Device ID: Disk #1, Partition #0
=======================================================
    Total Volume Size:      1863 GB
    Starting Offset:        1048576 (1024 KB)
    Partition Alignment:    Aligned

    --RAID USERS ONLY--
    Alignment valid for RAID Stripe Sizes up to: 1024 KB

Device ID: Disk #2, Partition #0
=======================================================
    Total Volume Size:      1397 GB
    Starting Offset:        32256 (31.5 KB)
    Partition Alignment:    ** NOT ALIGNED!! **

Device ID: Disk #3, Partition #0
=======================================================
    Total Volume Size:      466 GB
    Starting Offset:        32256 (31.5 KB)
    Partition Alignment:    ** NOT ALIGNED!! **

Device ID: Disk #0, Partition #0
=======================================================
    Total Volume Size:      0 GB
    Starting Offset:        1048576 (1024 KB)
    Partition Alignment:    Aligned

    --RAID USERS ONLY--
    Alignment valid for RAID Stripe Sizes up to: 1024 KB

Device ID: Disk #0, Partition #1
=======================================================
    Total Volume Size:      119 GB
    Starting Offset:        105906176 (103424 KB)
    Partition Alignment:    Aligned

    --RAID USERS ONLY--
    Alignment valid for RAID Stripe Sizes up to: 103424 KB

[jt7747]

Do you have a copy of that script? How will I ensure my new drive is aligned when it arrives tomorrow? Thanks for the info

[meddylad]

To check alignment, just click Start, Run, then type in msinfo32, press enter, then go to the Components/Storage/Disks - here you will see your partitions and their starting offset value - if you divide the value by 4096 and it equals a whole number then your drive is aligned  - if it gives a value with . somthing, then it aint.  Or you can just download AS SSD and it will show you in the top left hand corner if your drive is aligned or not (Green writing with the word OK or Red writing with the word BAD)

[jt7747]

Thank goodness! Just the response I was looking for, that's REALLY helpful.

My offset is 'bad' - 7.815 or something crazy. I gather I need to use some tool to put it right, but what I don't understand is how to restore all my files, including the boot info and MBR, without copying over the bad alignment. There is info here http://forum.acronis.com/forum/4140

[alanrob13]

---

jt7747 wrote:

Do you have a copy of that script? How will I ensure my new drive is aligned when it arrives tomorrow? Thanks for the info

---

check your pm

Alan

[meddylad]

Although a pain, to me the easiest thing to do would be to back up all your important files on a usb stick or usb HDD, then use your windows disk to format your hard drive and do a clean install of windows (im assuming your using windows 7).  By doing this, when windows installs, it will automatically create aligned partitions (if you create two or more partitions in the windows setup, you will also get a 100mb 'reserved partition' that windows uses as a recovery environment - this will also be aligned and will help if you need to recover in the future.

Once windows has been installed, you'll have a blistering fast SSD thats aligned - although it can take time to install all your programs and games, once done, use Acronis to back up your files - and you can be sure then that each time you restore, the partitions will be aligned

I use Windows 7 Ultimate, and i find the built in Back Up And Restore function is perfect for me - i just create a complete system image on my external HDD every week - only takes about 10 mins each time and i know if i get into trouble, by restoring the image i have my lappy back to working order and all aligned.

Sorry if this is boring, but hope it helps