Partition alignment tool for SSD in old ThinkPads?

[Edward Mendelson]

I'm gradually working my way up toward installing Windows XP on an SSD in an old T23, and want to make sure that the partition is aligned on 4K boundaries for best performance.

What I can't find is a software tool that will align partitions on that old machine.

I've got AOMEI Partition Assistant, but it seems to create only WinPE-based CD-ROMs, and the T23 doesn't seem to boot WinPE disks. I tried the current gParted, but it didn't see the SSD. I downloaded the WD version of the Acronis Alignment Tool, and it booted, but it seems to ignore non-WD disks.

Does anyone know of something that can do this job? Any usable suggestions gratefully received.

[cadillacmike68]

Try Acronis True Image or disk director. You should be able to find an older one on fleabay. If not I have a couple older versions (incl at least one that I never used) that you could buy cheap.

[Edward Mendelson]

I found an Acronis Disk Director CD from 2005, but it doesn't seem to have the partition-alignment feature - probably they added it later on. I'll keep looking - probably what I need is a version from around 2010 or thereabouts. Any alternative would be of interest too...

[cadillacmike68]

I have True Image 2009 and 2011 and Disk Director 10 (2010). I used to use DD for cloning but often got a drive that would not boot so I changed to backup / restore via TI. It had the added advantage of having the backup available for later restore.

You can try "add disk" option in the tools utilities. That should clear out any old partition information and replace it with a new MBR and partition table.

[dr_st]

I seem to recall that Acronis 2014 and later will automatically align the partition correctly, while Acronis 2011 and earlier will not.

[SMA]

Have you considered temporarily moving the drive to a pc that can run aomei?

[Edward Mendelson]

Have you considered temporarily moving the drive to a pc that can run aomei?

That's a terrific idea. I've got an IDE to USB adapter and I can probably plug the drive into it, run AOMEI from the host machine.

Another thought is that something called MiniTool Partition Something runs under XP. I could wait until I've got XP installed, then install the MiniTool app and run it from there.

[Edward Mendelson]

It turns out that there's a bootable ISO of an old version of the freeware MiniTool Partition Wizard here:

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/parti ... e-edition/

It includes the alignment feature.

I was wrong when I said earlier that the TP23 can't boot a Windows PE disk. It can boot a Windows PE disk that uses the Windows 7 PE (as the MiniTool disk does). But the T23 doesn't seem to be able to boot a Windows PE disk created with the Windows 10 version.

[cadillacmike68]

What is a Windows PE disk??

[Edward Mendelson]

What is a Windows PE disk??

Windows Preboot Environment - it's the OS that runs when you boot a CD or USB stick image created by partitioning and backup software so that you can boot to their software. (Some bootable backup/partitioning CDs use Linux, but the ones I've used recently use Windows PE.)

And a Google search for "Windows PE" will give you a much more detailed answer...

[JBUK]

I used gparted-live-0.13.1-2 to realign partitions on T23s running XP if they showed they needed it when I checked the partition starting offset in msinfo32. But it was a pain because it was so slow.
So I usually created the partitions using aomei partition assistant to check and realign or just created the partitions on another machine for both usually using W10. Occasionally, still on another machine, I would boot up Paragon Disk manager to create the partitions and leaving 1mb free before the first partition to force correct alignment.

[Edward Mendelson]

Also, this one works, AOMEI version 6.5 creates a bootable Windows PE disk that boots on the TP23 and includes an alignment feature. Download link here:

https://aomei-partition-assistant.en.up ... s/versions

This one seems preferable to the MiniTool one, which changed the bootable status of partitions that System Commander had marked as bootable.

[Sudos]

Also, this one works, AOMEI version 6.5 creates a bootable Windows PE disk that boots on the TP23 and includes an alignment feature. Download link here:

https://aomei-partition-assistant.en.up ... s/versions

This one seems preferable to the MiniTool one, which changed the bootable status of partitions that System Commander had marked as bootable.

don't mean to resurrect a months-old thread, but I have an X31 here with a copy of XP I set up on it a year or so ago running on a Samsung PM841 in an mSATA adapter. Did you run this after installing XP or before? I've finally gotten the system set up how I need it to be to do things and I'm curious as to if anything reacts weirdly after the alignment takes place if it was done after installation.

I know the first time I did it with minitool v10 I had the issue where XP started lightning fast, but then it stopped booting a few reboots later... so I've been hesitant to do anything with the alignment ever since.
right now a full boot takes less than 30 seconds from power-on to desktop with a password in the middle... but I'd like it to be aligned properly to prevent unnecessary wear.
This is also information I'd love to know for later, since I'm planning on dropping in a 256 or 512GB SSD down the line, or even a 1TB if I can find such a beast, possibly m.2 SATA with an adapter.

[Edward Mendelson]

Also, this one works, AOMEI version 6.5 creates a bootable Windows PE disk that boots on the TP23 and includes an alignment feature. Download link here:

https://aomei-partition-assistant.en.up ... s/versions

This one seems preferable to the MiniTool one, which changed the bootable status of partitions that System Commander had marked as bootable.

don't mean to resurrect a months-old thread, but I have an X31 here with a copy of XP I set up on it a year or so ago running on a Samsung PM841 in an mSATA adapter. Did you run this after installing XP or before? I've finally gotten the system set up how I need it to be to do things and I'm curious as to if anything reacts weirdly after the alignment takes place if it was done after installation.

It's been almost a year, but I'm fairly certain that I used the tool AFTER installing XP. I wouldn't have bothered before that.

[JBUK]

It is worthwhile actually checking the alignment on the SSD as it may be OK already. Its easy to do by running msinfo32 (thats WIN + R and enter the command) then looking for the starting offset of the first partition on the SSD which is usually 1048576. Anyway whatever it is, to check correct alignment, you need to divide it by 4096 and if the answer is a whole number the entire disk will be correctly aligned as long as there is no gap between any other partition.
Its a quick and easy check to do.