Align for NTFS

User discussion and information resource forum for BootIt Bare Metal and BootIt UEFI
tarunp
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:40 am

Align for NTFS

Post by tarunp »

I have a generic 32GB flashdrive formatted as Fat32 which, for some unknown reason, Windows 7 is unable to format as NTFS - the formatting fails every time. So I struck upon the idea of using BootIt NG (ver 1.87) to Slide & Align the partition and then use the command-line function: convert X: \fs:ntfs to format the drive and voila ! the drive formatted as ntfs with the "right" 4096 K cluster size.

I tried to repeat the procedure using BootIt Bare Metal (ver 1.09) which has a seperate Align tab (as compared to BING which combined the Slide and Align commands). Now when I convert to ntfs, the formatted drive shows a cluster size of 512 K.

Does anyone know why this would happen ? Are the default parameters for "Align" different in BootIt BM vs NG? How do I ensure a cluster size of 4096 K using the Align function in BootIt Bare Metal?
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by Brian K »

tarunp wrote:
> I have a generic 32GB flashdrive formatted as Fat32 which, for some unknown reason,
> Windows 7 is unable to format as NTFS - the formatting fails every time.

Did you try to format with Win7 Diskpart?
tarunp
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:40 am

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by tarunp »

Yes - formatting fails.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by Brian K »

How about using command line Diskpart from a Win7 boot disk?
tarunp
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:40 am

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by tarunp »

I have already formatted the disk to NTFS using BING - the question I am raising is that why is it not possible for me to do the same thing with BIBM and get the right cluster size.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by Brian K »

tarunp,

I know this doesn't answer your question but you should be able to create a NTFS partition on that USBFD (in BIBM) with any cluster size you like. I just did it with a 2 GB USBFD. Finished in a few seconds.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by TeraByte Support »

They should be the same. But, you can just format it NTFS from BIBM as
well.

"tarunp" wrote in message news:2560@public.bootitbm...

I have a generic 32GB flashdrive formatted as Fat32 which, for some unknown
reason, Windows 7 is unable to format as NTFS - the formatting fails every
time. So I struck upon the idea of using BootIt NG (ver 1.87) to Slide &
Align the partition and then use the command-line function: convert X:
\fs:ntfs to format the drive and voila ! the drive formatted as ntfs with
the "right" 4096 K cluster size.

I tried to repeat the procedure using BootIt Bare Metal (ver 1.09) which has
a seperate Align tab (as compared to BING which combined the Slide and Align
commands). Now when I convert to ntfs, the formatted drive shows a cluster
size of 512 K.

Does anyone know why this would happen ? Are the default parameters for
"Align" different in BootIt BM vs NG? How do I ensure a cluster size of 4096
K using the Align function in BootIt Bare Metal?

TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by TeraByte Support »

do you have a partinfo (free downloads) listing so I can see your exact
partition size? The tests I just did get the same results using BING or
BIBM.


"tarunp" wrote in message news:2560@public.bootitbm...

I have a generic 32GB flashdrive formatted as Fat32 which, for some unknown
reason, Windows 7 is unable to format as NTFS - the formatting fails every
time. So I struck upon the idea of using BootIt NG (ver 1.87) to Slide &
Align the partition and then use the command-line function: convert X:
\fs:ntfs to format the drive and voila ! the drive formatted as ntfs with
the "right" 4096 K cluster size.

I tried to repeat the procedure using BootIt Bare Metal (ver 1.09) which has
a seperate Align tab (as compared to BING which combined the Slide and Align
commands). Now when I convert to ntfs, the formatted drive shows a cluster
size of 512 K.

Does anyone know why this would happen ? Are the default parameters for
"Align" different in BootIt BM vs NG? How do I ensure a cluster size of 4096
K using the Align function in BootIt Bare Metal?

tarunp
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:40 am

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by tarunp »

Unfortunately no.

Anyway I managed to format the drive to ntfs by specifying the cluster size in BIBM. However Windows 7 does not recognize it. I have come to the conclusion that my cheap generic 32GB USB stick can only work with a Fat32 partition. Windows 7 fails to format it to ntfs and if I format using BIBM, Windows 7 fails to recognize it.

I have now formatted it to Fat32 and everything works fine.

Thanks for all those who provided inputs.
tarunp
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:40 am

Re: Align for NTFS

Post by tarunp »

Update - finally figured out how to format the drive to ntfs AND enable recognition by Windows. I first formatted it to Fat32 in Windows 7, then used BING to slide the partition with the "Align for NTFS" feature. Then using the Command Prompt in Windows 7, I converted it to ntfs using the following command line: "convert x: /fs:ntfs (where x is the drive letter assigned to the drive).

Now the drive is formatted to ntfs with a 4096k cluster size AND is recognized by Windows 7.
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