A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » General Hardware & Peripherals » Homebuilt PC's
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 23rd 16, 05:18 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
John B. Smith
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 163
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?
  #2  
Old July 23rd 16, 06:46 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13,364
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?


You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul
  #3  
Old July 24th 16, 04:52 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Flasherly[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,407
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 12:18:29 -0400, John B. Smith
wrote:

I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?


Decent backup software, partitions, especially FAT32, aren't an issue.
That would be a backup image that's seeing subsequent disk
manipulations, after its creation, and a minor discrepancy for, say
were it resizing within a same sector/cluster ordering, when the
backup routine is again initiated to see the difference.

Then again, I may be spoilt...

Norton's (and later Symantec) back-up tools have distinguished for
that discrepancy for quite some time -- and quite well for what they
actually do..."ghosting" as it goes by their moniker. Also,
"optimizing" a format, per se, is fitted for some pretty narrow
straits: special circumstances for newer SDD drives and speed
constraints related the physics of, otherwise, a spinning platter. A
file optimization, consequently, is a different flavored animal and
usually is treated as such, with a different set of tools than those
used within normal considerations for the creation, format and
definitions permitted partitions. The concept goes: initially build
your image of the OS, the way you like it, on a partition with,
hopefully, the same forethought for longevity in its placement;- a
file optimization is then a discrete process and to be so placed
within a part of an order employed by special utilities relating to
the build stage;- the final "dumbly consecutive" binary-sector image
restore, then, will faithfully account for that accomplishment and
placement.
  #4  
Old July 27th 16, 01:56 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
John B. Smith
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 163
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?


You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul

Downloaded Macrium Reflect. Made the Emergency Boot CD, which worked,
surprising me as 2 other apps failed to make Windows PE work on my
system. I tried Restoring an image backup of the XP partition with the
"Restored Partition Properties" set to 'Vista/7/SSD (1MB)'. It
completed I rebooted, got my WinXP/Win7 menu, chose XP, boot failed:
"selected entry could not be booted because application is missing or
corrupt". Booted into Win7 OK. Went back and did a restore with the
"Restored Partition Properties' set to XP (CHS) and then booted into
XP successfully. So I'm still not partition-aligned, but breathed a
sigh of relief to be back in WinXP without major trauma.
  #5  
Old July 27th 16, 04:35 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

John B. Smith wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?

You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul

Downloaded Macrium Reflect. Made the Emergency Boot CD, which worked,
surprising me as 2 other apps failed to make Windows PE work on my
system. I tried Restoring an image backup of the XP partition with the
"Restored Partition Properties" set to 'Vista/7/SSD (1MB)'. It
completed I rebooted, got my WinXP/Win7 menu, chose XP, boot failed:
"selected entry could not be booted because application is missing or
corrupt". Booted into Win7 OK. Went back and did a restore with the
"Restored Partition Properties' set to XP (CHS) and then booted into
XP successfully. So I'm still not partition-aligned, but breathed a
sigh of relief to be back in WinXP without major trauma.


When you were in Win7, you could have tried a CHKDSK on
both partitions.

*******

I don't have a theory for you, as to why WinXP
would not boot. If there was an Inaccessible Boot Volume, you
would have had a Stop code to hint at the problem. The various
stop codes are listed here.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

*******

If you installed Win7 after WinXP, it should
have picked up an entry in the BCD for WinXP.

In an Administrator Command Prompt in Windows 7,
you can type

bcdedit

to review the boot menu.

Another possibility, is the partitions got put into
different slots than they were originally in. The boot.ini
on WinXP has a path specification that is partition
number sensitive.

On some boot loaders, even if one part of the
boot loader is successfully pointed at the
right place, some other part may still consult
a configuration file (like a boot.ini) and
then start claiming "cannot access boot disk" or
"inaccessible boot volume", even though it's
running off the boot material right now. Several
Knoppix LiveCDs were famous for this kind of bug,
where the current code is running off the CD,
yet the code claims it "cannot read the device".
Even though microseconds before, it was reading
the stupid device. On the boot line, you had to
"guess" what the boot device identifier might be
and enter it, and it might take a half dozen guesses
until you get it right.

AFAIK, the last boot partition which was "offset
sensitive" was something like Win98. If you shifted
the starting LBA, it might become ****ed off. For the
others, just preserving the partition table number,
or the BLKID, is sufficient.

Paul
  #6  
Old July 28th 16, 10:31 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
John B. Smith
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 163
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

On Tue, 26 Jul 2016 23:35:40 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?
You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul

Downloaded Macrium Reflect. Made the Emergency Boot CD, which worked,
surprising me as 2 other apps failed to make Windows PE work on my
system. I tried Restoring an image backup of the XP partition with the
"Restored Partition Properties" set to 'Vista/7/SSD (1MB)'. It
completed I rebooted, got my WinXP/Win7 menu, chose XP, boot failed:
"selected entry could not be booted because application is missing or
corrupt". Booted into Win7 OK. Went back and did a restore with the
"Restored Partition Properties' set to XP (CHS) and then booted into
XP successfully. So I'm still not partition-aligned, but breathed a
sigh of relief to be back in WinXP without major trauma.


When you were in Win7, you could have tried a CHKDSK on
both partitions.

*******

I don't have a theory for you, as to why WinXP
would not boot. If there was an Inaccessible Boot Volume, you
would have had a Stop code to hint at the problem. The various
stop codes are listed here.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

*******

If you installed Win7 after WinXP, it should
have picked up an entry in the BCD for WinXP.

In an Administrator Command Prompt in Windows 7,
you can type

bcdedit

to review the boot menu.

Another possibility, is the partitions got put into
different slots than they were originally in. The boot.ini
on WinXP has a path specification that is partition
number sensitive.

On some boot loaders, even if one part of the
boot loader is successfully pointed at the
right place, some other part may still consult
a configuration file (like a boot.ini) and
then start claiming "cannot access boot disk" or
"inaccessible boot volume", even though it's
running off the boot material right now. Several
Knoppix LiveCDs were famous for this kind of bug,
where the current code is running off the CD,
yet the code claims it "cannot read the device".
Even though microseconds before, it was reading
the stupid device. On the boot line, you had to
"guess" what the boot device identifier might be
and enter it, and it might take a half dozen guesses
until you get it right.

AFAIK, the last boot partition which was "offset
sensitive" was something like Win98. If you shifted
the starting LBA, it might become ****ed off. For the
others, just preserving the partition table number,
or the BLKID, is sufficient.

Paul



I performed another try and came up with an additional piece of info.
I first chdsk-ed the drive thoroughly. I did find going into Win7 to
check the XP partition very helpful - no reboots.
After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"
I booted to Win7 via the bootup menu and used EasyBCD to restore the
BCD info (which exists on the Win7 partition anyway) no help.
Macrium contains several boot repair tools but hate to try them blind,
without some inkling of what's going wrong with my 'alignment'
procedure. Macrium won't take questions without a license.
  #7  
Old July 28th 16, 10:50 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

John B. Smith wrote:
On Tue, 26 Jul 2016 23:35:40 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?
You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul
Downloaded Macrium Reflect. Made the Emergency Boot CD, which worked,
surprising me as 2 other apps failed to make Windows PE work on my
system. I tried Restoring an image backup of the XP partition with the
"Restored Partition Properties" set to 'Vista/7/SSD (1MB)'. It
completed I rebooted, got my WinXP/Win7 menu, chose XP, boot failed:
"selected entry could not be booted because application is missing or
corrupt". Booted into Win7 OK. Went back and did a restore with the
"Restored Partition Properties' set to XP (CHS) and then booted into
XP successfully. So I'm still not partition-aligned, but breathed a
sigh of relief to be back in WinXP without major trauma.

When you were in Win7, you could have tried a CHKDSK on
both partitions.

*******

I don't have a theory for you, as to why WinXP
would not boot. If there was an Inaccessible Boot Volume, you
would have had a Stop code to hint at the problem. The various
stop codes are listed here.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

*******

If you installed Win7 after WinXP, it should
have picked up an entry in the BCD for WinXP.

In an Administrator Command Prompt in Windows 7,
you can type

bcdedit

to review the boot menu.

Another possibility, is the partitions got put into
different slots than they were originally in. The boot.ini
on WinXP has a path specification that is partition
number sensitive.

On some boot loaders, even if one part of the
boot loader is successfully pointed at the
right place, some other part may still consult
a configuration file (like a boot.ini) and
then start claiming "cannot access boot disk" or
"inaccessible boot volume", even though it's
running off the boot material right now. Several
Knoppix LiveCDs were famous for this kind of bug,
where the current code is running off the CD,
yet the code claims it "cannot read the device".
Even though microseconds before, it was reading
the stupid device. On the boot line, you had to
"guess" what the boot device identifier might be
and enter it, and it might take a half dozen guesses
until you get it right.

AFAIK, the last boot partition which was "offset
sensitive" was something like Win98. If you shifted
the starting LBA, it might become ****ed off. For the
others, just preserving the partition table number,
or the BLKID, is sufficient.

Paul



I performed another try and came up with an additional piece of info.
I first chdsk-ed the drive thoroughly. I did find going into Win7 to
check the XP partition very helpful - no reboots.
After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"
I booted to Win7 via the bootup menu and used EasyBCD to restore the
BCD info (which exists on the Win7 partition anyway) no help.
Macrium contains several boot repair tools but hate to try them blind,
without some inkling of what's going wrong with my 'alignment'
procedure. Macrium won't take questions without a license.


That doesn't seem like a WinXP error.

That could be related to the boot manager in Windows 7,
before it hands off (chain loads) WinXP or something.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...w8itprogeneral

And by chance, does the volume involve GPT ? WinXP doesn't
support GPT, and would likely freak out if chain loaded
and it was partitioned that way.

If you can get any tool to boot, have a look at the disk
setup first, to see what's happened to it.

Paul
  #8  
Old July 29th 16, 01:57 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
John B. Smith
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 163
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

On Thu, 28 Jul 2016 17:50:15 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
On Tue, 26 Jul 2016 23:35:40 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jul 2016 13:46:39 -0400, Paul wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:
I have the ambition to align my main C: (XP) partition. It is on a
500gig hard drive partitioned in half for XP and Win7. Msinfo.exe says
that the Partition Offset for the XP partition is NOT divisible by
4096. AOMEI promises to align the partition and Optimize it, and I'd
like to try, if only I KNEW I could safely recover a backup if things
went south. I have a couple image backup restorers which I'm pretty
sure wouldn't work if AOMEI tampers with the partitioning. I think
what WOULD work a rescue is COPYING the files back onto the
'Optimized' partition if push comes to shove. My Easeus backup, when
booted from a CD will not do this. My ancient Drive Image 7 will, and
rewrite the MBR if I desire. So I'm here to pick some brains and MAYBE
get scared off enough to leave well enough alone if that's the
consensus. Thoughts?
You can never be too rich, or have too many backups.

Macrium Reflect Free, you can back up as your mixed
alignment image. Then, during Restore to the SSD, re-align
the partition on the fly.

In the filmstrip here, about a bit past the middle of
the strip, there is "Partition Properties". And there,
you can select 1MB alignment if you want. The one megabyte
alignment was invented by Microsoft, as their solution
to doing the best job possible for Flash Memory on
SSDs. Using 4KB alignment (not an OS feature), is of
usage for HDDs with 512e emulation. It makes them
perform a bit better. But 1MB alignment handles both
cases at the same time, doing a good job on a HDD with
internal 4K sectors, as well as SSDs with large
power-of-two flash memory pages.

https://s9.postimg.org/6mko7k7m5/Macrium_Restore_CD.gif

The process is not cosmetically perfect, but it is
functionally correct. While not shown in the example,
when I did a four-partition disk, there were "gaps"
between partitions. So it's not as suave as a real
Partition Manager. But considering it is free (i.e.
cheaper than a copy of the Paragon Alignment Tool),
it's a good deal.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

The download process consists of:

A stub downloader program
Download main program
Download WinPE5 for making the Rescue CD

During the install, the WinPE5 is re-packed and
stored somewhere on C: . You make the Rescue CD,
in case you ever need to boot the CD, and overwrite
your entire OS disk from a backup. The Rescue CD,
while it is being prepared, can have NIC drivers
added. And that raises the possibility of using
file sharing for the backup. In my experience, it
doesn't always work, so you should always have
some facility on hand for connecting the backup
drive, locally to the machine. Like, a USB drive
enclosure, or an available bay with SATA port in
your tower. The WinPE5 should have some USB3
drivers.

Paul
Downloaded Macrium Reflect. Made the Emergency Boot CD, which worked,
surprising me as 2 other apps failed to make Windows PE work on my
system. I tried Restoring an image backup of the XP partition with the
"Restored Partition Properties" set to 'Vista/7/SSD (1MB)'. It
completed I rebooted, got my WinXP/Win7 menu, chose XP, boot failed:
"selected entry could not be booted because application is missing or
corrupt". Booted into Win7 OK. Went back and did a restore with the
"Restored Partition Properties' set to XP (CHS) and then booted into
XP successfully. So I'm still not partition-aligned, but breathed a
sigh of relief to be back in WinXP without major trauma.
When you were in Win7, you could have tried a CHKDSK on
both partitions.

*******

I don't have a theory for you, as to why WinXP
would not boot. If there was an Inaccessible Boot Volume, you
would have had a Stop code to hint at the problem. The various
stop codes are listed here.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

*******

If you installed Win7 after WinXP, it should
have picked up an entry in the BCD for WinXP.

In an Administrator Command Prompt in Windows 7,
you can type

bcdedit

to review the boot menu.

Another possibility, is the partitions got put into
different slots than they were originally in. The boot.ini
on WinXP has a path specification that is partition
number sensitive.

On some boot loaders, even if one part of the
boot loader is successfully pointed at the
right place, some other part may still consult
a configuration file (like a boot.ini) and
then start claiming "cannot access boot disk" or
"inaccessible boot volume", even though it's
running off the boot material right now. Several
Knoppix LiveCDs were famous for this kind of bug,
where the current code is running off the CD,
yet the code claims it "cannot read the device".
Even though microseconds before, it was reading
the stupid device. On the boot line, you had to
"guess" what the boot device identifier might be
and enter it, and it might take a half dozen guesses
until you get it right.

AFAIK, the last boot partition which was "offset
sensitive" was something like Win98. If you shifted
the starting LBA, it might become ****ed off. For the
others, just preserving the partition table number,
or the BLKID, is sufficient.

Paul



I performed another try and came up with an additional piece of info.
I first chdsk-ed the drive thoroughly. I did find going into Win7 to
check the XP partition very helpful - no reboots.
After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"
I booted to Win7 via the bootup menu and used EasyBCD to restore the
BCD info (which exists on the Win7 partition anyway) no help.
Macrium contains several boot repair tools but hate to try them blind,
without some inkling of what's going wrong with my 'alignment'
procedure. Macrium won't take questions without a license.


That doesn't seem like a WinXP error.

That could be related to the boot manager in Windows 7,
before it hands off (chain loads) WinXP or something.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com...w8itprogeneral

And by chance, does the volume involve GPT ? WinXP doesn't
support GPT, and would likely freak out if chain loaded
and it was partitioned that way.

If you can get any tool to boot, have a look at the disk
setup first, to see what's happened to it.

Paul


Did I mention that I again Restored via the XP CHS Macrium ooption and
am now typing from within my XP again?
I'm wondering if Macrium is implementing a GPT boot when I specify the
Restored Partition Propertie be Vista/7/SSD. Their directions say
"This could be used to 'convert' and (sic) XP aligned partition for
SSD alignment". That doesn't PRECISELY say it IS an XP partition, just
an XP aligned partition. On XP I have a free Active Disk Editor, if I
install that over on Win7 I could look at the defective XP partition,
but how do I determine if it's set up for GPT? I suppose I could also
just rewrite the MBR from within the Macrium CD but it seems like
shooting in the dark. I'm getting frustrated enough to just pay the
$30 for that Paragon Alignment Tool
http://www.paragon-software.com/home...rements.html#0
  #9  
Old July 29th 16, 09:43 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

John B. Smith wrote:

After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"


I've managed to reproduce your problem (in a dual boot VM).

https://s32.postimg.org/jfkjmc1c5/pr...reproduced.gif

You can see right away, what's wrong. The "restored,bad" BCD
info is on the right. The good one, on the left.

https://s32.postimg.org/kffk030yd/bc...ixing_ouch.gif

It should take some bcdedit commands to fix that,
and you can do them from an Administrator Command
Prompt window in Windows 7.

*******

As is usually the case with these, I never invent
anything myself, just copy the command from somewhere :-)

http://windowsitpro.com/systems-mana...cratch-bcdedit

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=d:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=d:

All fixed :-)

*******

The bottom frame, the numbers on the right are now
divisible by 2048, so they're both now aligned. In
the top picture, the WinXP partition is divisible
by 63, the Win7 one divisible by 2048. I used Macrium
to realign-on-restore, the WinXP partition. The bottom
partition table shows the results.

https://s32.postimg.org/y0rqn8m6p/realigned.gif

Paul

  #10  
Old July 29th 16, 09:45 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,467
Default Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

Paul wrote:
John B. Smith wrote:

After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"


I've managed to reproduce your problem (in a dual boot VM).

https://s32.postimg.org/jfkjmc1c5/pr...reproduced.gif

You can see right away, what's wrong. The "restored,bad" BCD
info is on the right. The good one, on the left.

https://s32.postimg.org/kffk030yd/bc...ixing_ouch.gif

It should take some bcdedit commands to fix that,
and you can do them from an Administrator Command
Prompt window in Windows 7.

*******

As is usually the case with these, I never invent
anything myself, just copy the command from somewhere :-)

http://windowsitpro.com/systems-mana...cratch-bcdedit


bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=d:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=d:

All fixed :-)

*******

The bottom frame, the numbers on the right are now
divisible by 2048, so they're both now aligned. In
the top picture, the WinXP partition is divisible
by 63, the Win7 one divisible by 2048. I used Macrium
to realign-on-restore, the WinXP partition. The bottom
partition table shows the results.

https://s32.postimg.org/y0rqn8m6p/realigned.gif

Paul


The very last link is wrong. It should be:

https://s32.postimg.org/8uqsgekwl/realigned.gif

Paul
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
HardDrive question : if lost partition chances to get data back foo1 Homebuilt PC's 3 January 8th 07 10:03 PM
Trying to install Win2000 on harddrive with bad C partition jbclem Storage (alternative) 5 November 1st 06 07:18 AM
Creating a bootable partition on a new harddrive Ken Storage (alternative) 12 February 4th 05 05:39 PM
How to Partition/Format an External USB Harddrive Ben Nguyen General 1 January 7th 04 11:18 PM
How to Partition/Format an External USB Harddrive Ben Nguyen Storage (alternative) 1 January 7th 04 06:16 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:12 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.