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Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs - Page 302

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5/14/12 at 1:50pm

EarlZ
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Just to verify this steps right, will be performed while my current mech harddrive is still up and running as the boot drive in preparation for my SSD.

Quote:

Wipe a drives partitions:
Open the Start Menu, type diskpart, press Enter
Type list disk, press Enter
Type select disk X (where X is the number your drive shows up as), press Enter
Type clean, press Enter
Type create create partition primary align=4096, press Enter
Type format quick fs=ntfs, press Enter
Type assign, press Enter
Type exit, press Enter

After that begin installation with the SSD as primary boot.

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post #3012 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:02pm

Italianguy
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Webster

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarlZ

Ok thanks, next question would be how do I make sure that the alignment is at 4096, are there steps to be done before or after performing a fresh install ?

When you make the primary partition in diskpart when installing you need to type create partition primary align=4096.

Sean Have you seen this link? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2510009

It has some good info on the 4K sector change. Including a way to check what you currently have installed:
From that link (Make sure windows is up to date):
1. Run the following command from elevated command prompt: Fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo x: [where x: is the drive you are checking]
2. Then use the values for “Bytes Per Sector” and “Bytes per Physical Sector” to determine the type of drive you have
If it shows:
Bytes Per Sector: 4096
Bytes per Physical Sector: 4096
You have: 4K native

Bytes Per Sector: 512
Bytes per Physical Sector: 4096
You have: Advanced Format or also called 512E

Bytes Per Sector: 512
Bytes per Physical Sector: 512
You have: 512 native

So that can be a quick way to check what partition format you currently have set up (I'd recomend adding that info to the guide somewhere).

One thing I noticed that I'm a little confused about. In that same article Microsoft states, "4K native: Currently not supported on any released operating system version." So what does that mean in respect to SSDs? Does the OS actually see the SSD the same way it would see the "Advanced Format or 512E" drives? An example of one of those new magnetic drives would be the recently released Western Digital 3TB Caviar Green, which uses Advanced Format.

I don't have my system built yet so I can't check. Can someone run the above line in cmd and see what Windows 7 comes up with for a SSD that was partitioned for 4096?

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post #3013 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:09pm

candy_van
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Webster

It is better to have it on the SSD because of its far faster random read/writes, tho it really makes no difference unless you actually use the page file for something. I just leave mine on my SSD when I use it and set it to 512MB.

Firstly, thanks for the response & the guide; extremely well done

Only one more followup question regarding pagefile (I promise..ish

):

So the SSD is obviously faster in that regard, but what about minimizing writes to the drive?
I'd previously read keeping page file off the SSD was good because it was effectively prolonging it's life in doing so.

Suppose what I'm getting at here, is that just being overly cautious (this was from a guide at least a year ago roughly)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snooter

I used to have my pagefile at 400mb following sean's guide but then when I went to play Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2, through steam, the game told me I needed at least 1.5gb of space in my pagefile to play. I thought it was really weird but I changed it to 1.5gb and the game would boot up. Not sure how many games you but if one game requires a certain pagefile size maybe others do as well. I know this really has nothing to do with your question but I figured I would add it here. keeping it on your SSD might give you better performance, I dunno though.

I believe mine is set at 1GB now (been so long I forgot lol), haven't run into any issues with that yet, but thanks for sharing

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post #3014 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:16pm

Xylene
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I just did it and it still comes up 512 so I wiped my drive for no reason.. awesome.

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post #3015 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:22pm

Italianguy
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Xylene

I just did it and it still comes up 512 so I wiped my drive for no reason.. awesome.

It said 512 for both Bytes Per Sector and Bytes per Physical Sector?

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post #3016 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:30pm

Xylene
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Italianguy

It said 512 for both Bytes Per Sector and Bytes per Physical Sector?

It said

Bytes Per Sector: 512
Bytes per Physical Sector: 4096

But it already said that before I did anything. I guess I was under the impression it would say 4096 for both after I did it.

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post #3017 of 4645

5/14/12 at 2:39pm

Italianguy
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Xylene

It said
Bytes Per Sector: 512
Bytes per Physical Sector: 4096
But it already said that before I did anything. I guess I was under the impression it would say 4096 for both after I did it.

Thanks for the clarification! Your result is what I was expecting to see since, from what I understand, Windows does not yet support 4K native. Can a couple more people confirm that their SSDs partitioned with 4096 show the same result?

I'm not entirely sure if this impacts anything though. Essentially the SSD is functioning in the same way as an Advanced Format magnetic drive would with the OS. Does anyone know a bit more about this that could shed some light on this finding? I think this means windows is still functioning on 512 sectors but the SSD is functioning at 4096?

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5/14/12 at 2:41pm

Italianguy
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Xylene

But it already said that before I did anything.

*Adding to the post i just submitted. So hold on your SSD had said the exact same thing before you formatted it with 4096?

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post #3019 of 4645

5/14/12 at 3:18pm

Xylene
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Italianguy

*Adding to the post i just submitted. So hold on your SSD had said the exact same thing before you formatted it with 4096?

Yes. I originally set it up like this..

Booted from my current Windows 7 installation
Updated firmware
Formatted drive in Disk Management by selecting "create simple volume"
Installed Windows 7

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post #3020 of 4645

5/14/12 at 4:15pm

Italianguy
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Xylene

Yes. I originally set it up like this..
Booted from my current Windows 7 installation
Updated firmware
Formatted drive in Disk Management by selecting "create simple volume"
Installed Windows 7

Very interesting. We need more people to test this out on their SSDs before and after installing windows.

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