"wasn't it the logical volume that had the 2048 sector offset? The partition containing the Vista OS had a 63 sector offset. "

Technically, the logical partition had an offset of 343119872.  That was 2048 after the EPBR (the extended partition table), which itself had an offset of 343117824 from the beginning of the disk.

The Vista OS partition was the third partition, whose offset was 21069824.  When we talk of a 2048 offset, we should really mean a partition aligned on blocks of 2048 sectors.  The offset will be exactly 2048 only if the partition is one block after the partition table--ie, the first partition after the table that references that partition.  If it's not the first partition, the offset won't be exactly 2048, but it will be some multiple of 2048.

21069824 is an exact multiple of 2048, but is not an exact multiple of 16065 (the size of a cylinder).  So the Vista partition on the original Dell disk was aligned on 2048-sector blocks, not on whole cylinders.

The only cylinder-aligned partition on the Dell disk was the first partition (the small Dell Utility partition).  BTW, in case people missed this point, notice that it is permissible to mix cylinder-aligned and 2048-aligned partitions on the same disk.  That's exactly what Dell is doing on all their Vista systems.  (You do end up with a small amount of wasted space, though, at the point where the alignment switches from cylinders to 2048s.  In Ghost4me's disk, the wasted sectors are 96390-98303.)

Ghost4me

Quote:

I'm going to bet it's because Ghost 12's ability to create a new MBR on a HDD that is either brand new (virgin), or wiped to re-create the *virgin* state, by design, is to create the old style MBR with the 63 boot region--and is not programed like the new Vista partitioning tool that has abandoned the old 63 sectors, and now uses the 2048 sector offset.

"I think I now understand what the offset means."

I hope I wasn't misleading anyone into thinking I was defining the term.  Offset is just as it sounds: the relative difference from some reference point to the beginning of the partition, as measured in sectors.  A 2048-sector offset would literally mean a partition that is 2048 sectors after the partition table.

But that only describes a very narrow group--specifically, the first partition and only the first.  But of course, the operating system partition need not be the first partition.  The broader matter we're discussing is the difference between a partition, first or otherwise, that is aligned on cylinder boundaries versus a partition, first or otherwise, that is aligned on blocks of sectors, where those blocks contain 2048 sectors each.  It could be the first partition, with an offset of 2048, or it could be a subsequent partition, whose offset is not 2048 but is some multiple of 2048 (because it can be defined by some number of full blocks).

That's what I meant by, "When we talk of a 2048 offset, we should really mean a partition aligned on blocks of 2048 sectors."  That's not the definition of a 2048 offset, which would literally be only the first partition.  Yet, the first partition is no different from the second, or third--they're all aligned on full blocks, where the block size is 2048 sectors.  The issue being discussed isn't restricted to just the first partition, but any partition that is aligned on blocks of 2048 sectors.  That's what I'm calling 2048-aligned.  Others may call these Vista partitions, but I think that's misleading because Vista doesn't require 2048-aligned partitions, and because it confuses whether we're talking only about the Vista OS partition or mean to include non-OS partitions, as well.

The same goes for references to "63 offset" partitions.  Again, a 63 offset would literally be only the first partition, but what's really being discussed is partitions aligned along cylinder boundaries, first or otherwise.  I choose to call these cylinder-aligned, or simply legacy partitions.

With his experiments, Ghost4me was seeking to explore the conversion from one type of partition alignment, 2048-aligned vs cylinder-aligned, to the other.  The issue wasn't converting from some specific offset xxx to offset yyy.  That, I'm sure, is already familiar territory to everyone.  We all know you can Ghost from one partition to another--from a partition at offset xxx to a partition at offset yyy--so there's no mystery as far as that goes.

Brian wrote on Oct 4^th, 2007 at 12:19am:

Brian, I don't have a retail Vista DVD.  However, Dell does provide a DVD with their Vista pc's.  On the front it says, "Reinstallation DVD, Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit" and also says "for distribution only with a new Dell PC".  I didn't use it (or need to use it), and I assume it is customized for Dell pc's.

You can also obtain an official Microsoft Vista DVD for $5 from CompUSA according to this True Image thread (reply #5).  I ordered one but haven't received it yet.

Fix Vista so a Repair is not needed after a restore or clone

CompUSA Windows Anytime Upgrade Disc, NAmerica, English, 32 bit by Microsoft  (PC)