Did you use an SP3 version of XP?  If not, I found that XP doesn't work with another alignment.  Is that true?  I think the XP default is 63K?

What is the difference between a sector alignment and cylinder alignment?  Is the sector alignment the one that SSD's like?

Anyway, since I do not have a complete understanding of partition alignment or where it resides, does it make sense then that if I was to do "partition to image" and "image to partition" in order to do my backup, it would be preserved because that alignment is on a lower level?  Whereas the "disk to image"/"image to disk" would be like restoring to unallocated space?  Am I on the right track?  Which one should I use? 

I've always used "disk to image"/"image to disk" because I only ever use the whole disk (not just a partiition of it) for my system OS drive.

Is there a difference between using Ghost from a boot CD and booting to v.793 from a floppy?

And, if by mistake I take the wrong path and restore an image to find that the alignment is not preserved, can I turn to BING to get it back, without reinstalling my OS?  In a way, knowing this would be like a backup for my backup.   

Sorry if I'm a little repetitive and thanks for your answers and patience.

26kick wrote on Mar 26^th, 2010 at 9:22am:

26kick,

I think it may help if you view the image restore process as consisting of two independent steps.  Think of it like pouring soup into a cup, or a bowl, or whatever.  First you have to have the vessel; that's the first step.  The second step is pouring in the soup, and the soup will adopt the shape of the vessel.

A partition image is like soup; you need a partition "shell" to pour it into.  If your restore destination is a predefined partition, Ghost doesn't question how it is aligned, it simply pours in the contents from the image and the finished product keeps the shape of the preexisting partition.

If your restore destination is unallocated space, however, either you or Ghost will have to create the shell (the empty partition) first.  If you do it, you can align it however you like.  If you let Ghost do it, the only kind of alignment v2003 knows how to do is CHS-alignment.  Either way, pouring in the soup is a separate operation.

Understand this, and it's easy to see why partition images are so versatile.  That's also why you can restore to a partition of a different size.  I don't use whole-disk images, but IIRC they have to be restored to unallocated space, which means you're going to let Ghost create the partition shells . . . and it will do that the only way it knows how.

You'll find a similar discussion in this thread.

As for your question about what alignment XP supports, see my posts #15 and #18 in that thread.  There is a distinction between what the OS supports, and what the OS installer supports.

BTW: It's not an official term, but in the above I use the term "shell" to hopefully make it clearer that all you need are the boundaries of the partition.  Literally, that's all a partition is (so "partition shell" is redundant), but a lot people get confused by thinking the file system (FAT32, ext3, NTFS, HPFS, et al) or the OS is part of what defines the partition.  Ghost 2003 pours in the file system and all the files, but it needs the shell before it can do that.

(p.s.: all of the above assumes we're talking about conventional image/restores.  The kind using "bit-for-bit", forensic-type switches are a different topic.)

Ah, good--thanks for the clarification, NightOwl.  I wasn't sure if you could pull out single partitions from a whole-disk image.

26kick wrote on Mar 25^th, 2010 at 8:25pm:

Your alignment is 1024 kb. Which is 2048 sectors. In Diskpart..

create partition primary align=1024

refers to kb.

So, all OK. BING can work with 2048 sector aligned partitions. (1024 kb aligned) (1 MB aligned)

26kick wrote on Mar 30^th, 2010 at 1:22pm:

As long as you restore into a partition with the same alignment.

PCUnites

Quote:

There it is--finally, the answer I've been wondering about for a long time!  I thought *surely--there must be a way to use the Win7 partitioning tool to avoid the 100 MB System partition*!  And, this solution does not apply just to SSD based systems--this works on any system!

There have been previous threads on how to avoid the 100 MB non-drive letter assigned, but *required* System partition--which included using a WinXP installation CD to pre-partition one's HDD before booting the Win7 installation CD.

I've always wondered if you get the *latest and greatest* current Master Boot Record on your HDD if you use the 7 year old WinXP installation CD--rather than the actual partitioning tool that comes with Win7. 

Once I saw your solution, I then knew what to Google for and have found another method using the Win7 installation routine as well:  How to Prevent Windows 7 from Creating a Hidden /Recovery /System Reserved Partition during Installation

Here's another reference:  Hack to Remove 100 MB System Reserved Partition When Installing Windows 7

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!!!