Windows 10: Can I use System Image to move Windows 10 from SSD using 512 byte sectors to new SSD using...

Can I use System Image to move Windows 10 from SSD using 512 byte sectors to new SSD using 4K sectors?

:)

 

Will I harm my SSD if Windows 10 image created from an old HDD with 512 bytes per sector is installed on it?

You have no problems as your sectors are aligned properly.

Many manufacturers have set their hard disks to 4k per sector but considering compatibility with operating system, manufacturers emulate a 4k sector to 8 512-byte sectors to manage data, which is the so called 512e.

Moreover, as NTFS becomes the standard file system whose default allocation unit size (cluster size) is 4K, the physical 4K sector may be misaligned with the 4K cluster.

As a result, reading data in 1 cluster will read 2 physical 4K sectors so that data read and write speed will be reduced. Cluster size is set by the system rather than hard disk manufacturers.

Therefore, it is very necessary to make them aligned if we want to get best SSD optimization, and to align partition can achieve this goal.

In Windows 7 and more recent OS, all newly created partitions will be aligned automatically. However, if you migrate Windows to SSD or change partition size and location on SSD frequently, your partitions may be misaligned. To check whether partitions are aligned:

Run diskpart as administrator and type these commands one by one:
list disk,
select disk n (n being the number of SSD),
list partition.

If the value under "Offset" can be divided by 4, the very partition is aligned. For example if the offset value is 32K it is aligned as 32/4 gives a whole number (8). However, if the volume cannot be divided by 4, you will need to perform a partition alignment.

Another way of checking alignment is to look at "partition starting offset" in your second picture. 173,012,942,848 bytes can be divided by 4k (4096 bytes). 173,012,942,848/4096=42,239,488

 

System Image on new SSD

Recently my HDD failed in my laptop, I had previously created a system image on an external hard drive and a repair disk on a DVD. I created the system image in a subfolder of the external drive as it contains multiple system images for different computers.
I have a new SSD that I am installing in place of my failed HDD, I have tried booting with the repair disk and recovering my system image to the new SSD without success, and just tried using AOMEI partition assistant but from what I can see, this software
only installs current OS onto new SSD. I am using a second laptop and want to transfer/recover the system image from my external drive to the new SSD, any ideas on using AOMEI, other software, or figuring out how to properly do this using Windows recovery?

 

System Image on new SSD

Hi,

It may be that it is not looking for the System Image in sub folders...

It may also be because the SSD is Not "Initialized" and\or formatted...

A System Image is normally not recognized if the Repair Media you are booting with is of a older version, but that shouldn't apply to you if you made them both at the same time..

There are a number of free BOOTABLE 3rd party utilities that would allow you to Initialize\Format your SSD...

If you have any Windows 7 installation media you can boot with, you can use that to setup the SSD... Just start a Custom Install, then either format the drive as is, or select "NEW" and proceed… Once the drive is setup click NEXT, then cancel the install...

BTW... This is a Windows 7 machine correct ? Sometimes Windows 10 machines end up in the Win 7 forum because of the name of the imaging tool...