Home > IT Answers > Storage > Inquiry about Disk Partition Alignment for better performance
KansasCoder
40 pts.
 Inquiry about Disk Partition Alignment for better performance
Disk arrays, Disk partitioning, Hard disk performance
Hi

I read that disk partition alignments should have an offset of 64k rather than the default 32k for better sql server performance. Can you tell me more about the requirements for implementing this change?

For instance, can this be done after the disks have been inproduction for some time without the risk of losing data? Are there any situations when this change should never be made or when it could be risky to make such a change? What are the implications of this change on a sql server box that also has some Office products installed on it?

 

Thank you



Software/Hardware used:
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, SQL Server 2000 Enterprise
ASKED: January 20, 2010  12:13 PM
UPDATED: January 26, 2010  3:51 PM
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Answer Wiki:
There is no way to change the offset of a disk after there is data on it. You have to move the data to another volume, then delete the partition, then recreate it using the correct offset. Then copy the data back. Doing this typically requires a large amount of downtime. Having office doesn't impact this at all.
Last Wiki Answer Submitted:  January 20, 2010  8:48 pm  by  Denny Cherry   64,520 pts.
All Answer Wiki Contributors:  Denny Cherry   64,520 pts.
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Thanks for your reply! By large amount of downtime does this mean like 6 hours or more? The disks are 1.08 TB, 1.36 TB and 34Gb in TOTAL size with Free Space of 650Gb, 223Gb and 25,8Gb respectively. Is most of the time required for the transfer of the data to the backup disks? Is the reformatting process itself pretty quick?

Thank you!

KansasCoder
 40 pts.