SSD Alignment, Fresh Install, Win7x64

[kingfoot]

Hey,

So I finally found a deal good enough to pull the trigger on for a boot drive SSD. ($1/gb for a 64gb drive).

Super excited to get it in the next week or two. So to prepare I've been clearing out my computer and making sure things are clean, organized, and ready to go. I plan to do a fresh install route from a Windows 7 disc (64bit). What I've been reading is that a fresh install is the way to go with SSD's, so I figure np. Anyways, I've been reading about "alignment" and while I'm a little familiar with the process, what I don't know is if I need to perform this for a fresh install of the OS to a blank new drive.

And if so, what exactly should I be aligning it to and with what tools (diskpart?).

Thanks!

 

[CaedenV]

alignment is not a huge deal with SSDs, write cache, AHCI, and Trim are the big buzwords for getting the most out of your drive.

 

[kingfoot]

I've just been reading about how many people are having issues with corrupt drives/files/OS and reading bad ratings from people getting nothing but problems and most people are saying to fix this, would be to have proper "alignment". Being my first SSD, I want to know the proper way to align it if I have to, given the circumstances (doing a fresh install of Windows). And knowing any special care needed. I have been using ACHI for years now as my seek times for smaller files is significantly better with my HDDs. As for the other two, I know little about.

More laymen-terms information would be appreciated

 

[Dereck47]

Alignment issues arise when a disk copy or an image restore to an SSD is done incorrectly.
If an SSD is not aligned properly the Read/Write speeds will be lower.

If you are doing a fresh Windows install 99.99% of the time there will be no alignment problems.
Windows does the alignment automatically during the installation process so there's nothing for you to do or click/select on your end.

 

[kingfoot]

Coolio. Thanks.

Looking forward to boot time bliss.

 

[kingfoot]

Best answer selected by Kingfoot.