Crucial M4 w/ fresh install - Not Aligned

[xmf]

Bought this drive new and did a fresh Win7 Pro 64 install last year. I just checked alignment using this guide:

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/checking_ssd_alignment

to find "Starting offset: 32,256 Bytes" on the drive's only partition (ever). Not divisible by 4096 = not aligned.

A check with AS SSD shows:

msahci - OK

31 K - BAD

59.62 GB

Does someone know why this could be and how to fix it without data loss?

Edited December 29, 2012 by xmf

[xmf]

Anyone?

[submix8c]

Google

crucial m4 partition alignment

gave a wealth of "hits", one being this.

edit - back here is when installed -

You sure ask for a lot of help and opinion, don't you? Have you tried Google?

Edited December 31, 2012 by submix8c

[xmf]

Google

crucial m4 partition alignment

gave a wealth of "hits", one being this.

Thanks, I had done some searching, but for whatever reason I didn't come up with anything definitive. So it appears that user had the exact same issue, and I'm wondering how many M4s are misaligned.

[submix8c]

Silly question - by the Google given it seems obvious. Look at this. Seems they all do (READ THAT LINK!).

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

According to Intel

The Acronis AlignTool* – Intel® SSD Edition fixes a partition alignment issue caused by Microsoft Windows XP* installation of New Technology File System (NTFS).

from a link inside http://www.overclock...-hdd-partitions

May I just say WOW!

[submix8c]

That link is inside the link(s) I gave, one of which specifically states that a Firmware exists for them or they may fail. See this.

[xmf]

Silly question - by the Google given it seems obvious. Look at this. Seems they all do (READ THAT LINK!).

I do not think it is obvious from that link that all M4s are misaligned. There could be a number of wildcards, or circumstances needed to produce such a result.

[submix8c]

One might ask oneself - what difference does it make unless you plan on buying another, in which case the fix is there? Do you think we all buy these things en-masse to test them?

You have the solution. Done!

[xmf]

One might ask oneself - what difference does it make unless you plan on buying another, in which case the fix is there? Do you think we all buy these things en-masse to test them?

You have the solution. Done!

I do appreciate the solution you've provided. And you're right, in a self-centered, practical sense, knowing at what rate those ssds are misaligned is fairly unimportant. However, I think my further curiosity portrays a desire to know how this may have occurred in the first place, and surprise that such a highly rated ssd would have such an issue.

I also felt a desire to respond because I felt that your statement "Silly question - by the Google given it seems obvious" was both harsh and incorrect. And now you've made another statement, "Do you think we all buy these things en-masse to test them?" that I think is uncalled for. I think my raising the question about the rate of misalignment on these drives is not entirely out of place, and not so inappropriate as to make me a target of ridicule.

I do appreciate your expertise though, and I imagine it may be difficult and frustrating for you to encounter people who know astonishingly less than you do on these issues

I appreciate your help

Edited January 1, 2013 by xmf

[submix8c]

First, forget it - I'm not necessarily an "expert". Second - I have no clue why this "condition" exists but simply deem it irrelevant as this seems to be prevalent and a workaround has been found.

Happy New Year.

[allen2]

The root cause might be that you didn't remove the partition before formating and installing win 7 x64 as usually Windows 7 align automatically.

For the resolution, the easiest way, is to boot to live linux CD with gparted (for example systemrescuecd) and resize and move to the right the first partition to let at least 1MB before.

Edited January 2, 2013 by allen2

[xmf]

The root cause might be that you didn't remove the partition before formating and installing win 7 x64 as usually Windows 7 align automatically.

For the resolution, the easiest way, is to boot to live linux CD with gparted (for example systemrescuecd) and resize and move to the right the first partition to let at least 1MB before.

Thanks. So a new M4 comes pre-partitioned, and because I failed to recognize that I formatted the rest of the drive and that partition caused misalignment? Seems like a recipe for disaster for a whole slew of ssd users.

I wonder what that small partition is for anyway.