Any issues with 4096 alignment for SSD? Also does Acronis require Windows 7 200mb hidden partition for backup/restore?

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I'm planning on installing Windows 7 Professional on my shiny new 256GB SSD next week. I want to make sure my setup works with Acronis True Image Home 2012 for backups and restores as I'm doing a few non-standard things which I'll describe below:

1. I'm using a 4096 alignment for the SSD instead of the default 1024 alignment Windows 7 would have used to format the drive. Why I am doing this? See below:

Why 4096 as partition offset?
SSDs: It is best to use 4K (4096) alignment (partition offset) over the default 1K (1024) because of how SSD's perform their read/write operations. SSDs are erased in 4K blocks.

Will Acronis have any issues with this?

2. For installing Windows 7 Professional, I will not have Windows install the 100-200mb hidden system partition at the front of the SSD. I did the same thing with my current Windows 7 install on my hard drive and did not have any issues at all. So Windows 7 will be installed to my SSD which will be composed of one single partition. Will Acronis have any problems with backing and restoring this Windows 7 install that lacks the hidden partition?

Thanks for any replies!

Sun, 06/24/2012 - 21:36
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mvp

Tec,
I am not sure I understand when you talk about the default 1024 alignment.
To align an SSD, each partition should have an offset that is divisible by 4096 when the offset is expressed in bytes.
To achieve this the easy way is:
- create a 1MB (1024x1024bytes) offset for the first partition,
- have each partition have a size that is a whole number of MB.
Both of the above can be achieve easily with ATI 2011 or 2012 when you restore. SImply restore one partition at a time.

If Windows7 was installed without the system reserved partition, ATI will have no problem. Note that without that partition, you cannot use BitLocker in Windows.

Sun, 06/24/2012 - 22:36
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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If you just NTFS format a drive with Windows GUI tools, they'll do a 1024 alignment, but you can customize this alignment by using the diskpart command. Here's a how-to on how to create an aligned partition in Windows 7: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html

In those directions they do a 1024 offset, however many SSD guides recommend doing a 4096 offset instead, so I used the command: Create partition primary align=4096

Mon, 06/25/2012 - 03:14
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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mvp

Tec,

When you enter the offset in diskpart, it is expressed in KB by default.

So, first, the offset you need must be divisible by 4 when expressed in KB (1024bytes) or by 4096 when expressed in bytes (which is the same).

Why not choose 4KB as the offset then? Well, read on...

The offset must also be divisible by the NAND erase block size, which is typically 512KB. So any offset smaller than 512KB could get you into trouble if you have a typicall SSD...

Finally, 1024KB is chosen by default because it meets the previous conditions and the last one: it can be easily divided by most of the strip sizes in RAID configuration (64KB, 128KB, 256KB), as well by the less frequent strip sizes of 512KB and 1024KB.

So, there you have it. The minimum recommended offset is 1024KB, and multiple of this will work just fine also! So, yes, 4096 offset will work.

Mon, 06/25/2012 - 03:44
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.