Multibooter Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago I am about to combine software downloads, spread out over several smaller HDDs, onto a single 4TB GPT HDD. The 4TB GPT HDD will be read and written to mainly under Window XP (using GPT Loader) and under Windows Server 2003, with occasional read/write access by Windows 10. The 4TB GPT HDD will be used only for data storage, and I will create both a master 4TB GPT HDD and a backup 4TB GPT HDD. Should I create aligned or not-aligned (=CHS-aligned) partitions on the 4TB GPT hard disk drives? The two 4TB GPT HDDs are Toshiba HDWD240, the label on them has an "AF" symbol and Hard Disk Sentinel displays under WinXP "Bytes Per Sector: 4096 [Advanced Format]". Victoria v5.23 displays under WinXP: "Sector: Logic 512 bytes, Phys 4096". PartitionGuru v4.7.0 under WinXP displays "Sector Size: 512 Bytes, Physical sector Size: 512 Bytes". A major criteria is backward compatibility. Which Windows XP software doesNOT work with aligned partitions? Which Windows 10 software doesNOT work with not-aligned partitions? Which hardware or driver doesNOT work with aligned/not-aligned partitions? Does Windows XP/2003 have serious bugs when using aligned partitions? Does Windows 10 have serious bugs when using not-aligned partitions? Does boot-time Checkdisk of WinXP/2003/Win10 have issues with aligned/not-aligned partitions on a 4TB GPT HDD? Is the question about partition alignment on a 4TB GPT HDD irrelevant? Do both aligned and not-aligned partitions work OK on a 4TB GPT HDD under WinXP/2003/Win10? Is there a worth-while increase in computer efficiency/speed, with a 5400rpm 4TB data storage HDD, when you use aligned partitions under Windows XP/2003? If the 4TB GPT HDD should ever go bad, is it easier to recover data from aligned or not-aligned partitions? When the onboard SATA controller (e.g. the Intel ICH5 onboard the Asus P5PE-VM motherboard of 2006) incorrectly detects under WinXP a disk geometry of 855388/121/34 (instead of 219051/255/63) for the 4TB GPT HDD connected to onboard SATA, will aligned or not-aligned partitions work OK? In Paragon Hard Disk Manager 11, 12, 14 and 15 you have the choice of creating aligned or not-aligned partitions under WinXP, with the selection -> Tools -> Settings -> General Options Partition Alignment Mode. You can also create a mix of aligned and not-aligned partitions on a GPT HDD with Paragon HDM under WinXP/2003 by switching between "Legacy" and "Vista" Alignment mode in Settings -> exit PHDM -> restart PHDM -> create partition. There are several alternatives: 1) create not-aligned partitions on both the Master and Backup 4TB GPT HDD 2) create aligned partitions on both 4TB HDDs 3) create aligned partitions on one 4TB GPT HDD, and not-aligned partitions on the other 4TB GPT HDD 4) create a mix of aligned/not-aligned partitions depending on e.g. the file system (FAT32/NTFS) Again the main question: Should I create aligned or not-aligned partitions on the two 4TB GPT hard disk drives?
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