If you use a partitioned disk and if you have performed operations such as, for example, the transition of Windows from hard disk to SSD, it may be that the partitions are not correctly aligned and, therefore, that the performance and speed of the disk or SSDs are not optimal . Put simply, and leaving aside the technical notions, let's say that a typical mechanical hard disk, generally, starts the first partition after 63 empty blocks (offset), while an SSD disk starts its first partition after 64 empty blocks.
The Windows installer knows how to handle this correctly, so most people don't have any alignment issues, whether they bought a computer from scratch or installed it on the SSD.
However, if there was a migration of a Windows installation from an old mechanical hard drive to a solid state drive, the software may not have properly managed the alignment of the disk partitions.
Leaving aside the meanings, we see here a quick way to check if the partitions have this problem and quickly solve it if they were not aligned .
Without using any program, just search for the msinfo32 program from the Windows Start menu and start it.
This is the internal tool that provides all the details on your computer.
From the System Information tool window, expand the Components> Storage> Disks section on the left side.
On the right side of the window, scroll down, locate all the " Partition startup offset " entries and look at the number indicated.
This value is present for each disk on the computer.
If the disk partitions are aligned, the Offset number must be divisible by 4096. otherwise the partition is not aligned correctly.
For example, in my case I have two disks, both with Offset 1.048.576.
Using the calculator, 1048576/4096 = 256, then the number is divisible and the sectors are aligned correctly.
If the result of the division had been a number with decimals and with a comma, then there would be an alignment problem.
In case the disk partitions are not aligned, it is possible to solve the problem and recover full speed of the computer using a simple free program called MiniTool Partition Wizard, without obviously reinstalling Windows.
From the interface of this program just select the disk and press on it with the right button to find the Align option.
Click on Align (which means Align ) and let the program do the work.
This is one of the most important operations to optimize and manage SSDs of every make and model
