Hi everyone,

I realized that by taking advantage of participating for the automatic free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1
made my SSD / HDD having tons of 4k misalignment. The best way to destroy 4k misalignment = CLEAN INSTALLATION (reformat)

Even after "Restore factory settings" inside Windows 10 recovery setting, the 4k misalignment are still there. Not solving anything.

I tried do it by myself, using my own method and yes i destroyed my system, windows not activated, lagging, getting blue screen
and then no OS in my SSD hahaha. Luckily I had another laptop as back up. These are the step by steps that I suggest you to do:-

1. Transfer every important files to external HDD or simply do a full back up on another HDD (if you have any)

2. Download THIS FILE : Media Creation Tool

3. Run the Media Creation Tool and choose "Create Installation Media For Another PC", then hit "Next"


4. Choose your language, edition and architecture properly. If you're on Windows 10 Home then choose that, don't choose Pro, then hit "Next"


5. Choose "USB Flash Drive" then hit "Next", select your "USB Drive" and then hit "Next"


6. The Windows 10 installation files will be downloaded for 15-20 minutes depending on your internet connection.

7. Once finish, go to SETTINGS >> RECOVERY >> ADVANCE STARTUP >> RESTART NOW


8. A new light blue screen, hit "Use A Device / USB, then wait for it to restart and bring you to the installation area.


9. Keep on clicking "Next" or "Install" until you're at the "Windows Setup" area where you can choose where to install the CLEAN Windows 10.

10. Choose the C : drive and press "Format"

For this step if only your old driver is MBR, if not just skip to #13. It seems like my old drive was MBR so when I create installation media it bring along the MBR configuration into the USB.


13. Choose the C : drive earlier and hit "New", apply your size for the C : drive and hit "Next"

14. Your system will do a CLEAN installation now, just wait until it finish and choose the input for region, time and date.

15. DON'T USE EXPRESS SETTING, press "Customize Settings" and follow the pictures below






16. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME login to windows account, just skip it and type your local name, hit "Next"
Click here - images exceeded for forum LYN, sorry!

17. Windows 10 finally at the final stage of preparing and yeahh you have a CLEAN Windows 10, open AS SSD or any 4k misalignment detector, nothing! 0!

18. Look at my AS SSD result (not in Samsung rapid mode because Windows 10 not yet fully support), previously with 4k misalignment the score was 669 and now its over 1000!
Click here - images exceeded for forum LYN, sorry!



If you think you want to change your drive from MBR to GPT or the other way around without any loss after CLEAN installation
Please download >>>>> HERE <<<<< Kindly install the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition,
run it with administrator, then right click your C : drive (currently MBR) and choose convert to GPT. Make sure your UEFI is ENABLE.

This post has been edited by DellMalaysia: Sep 2 2015, 03:04 PM

good info.

i think you mean the slow down of ssd performance, and how to bring the performance back, not about bad sectors. bad sectors are physical, normally you cannot recover them. for hdd, that means you should prepare yourself a new drive and start data migration. for ssd, died cells will be relocated and replaced by unused cells, and it will continue to work. it will get slower than normal with time. it's normal.

to bring back the performance of ssd, you can reset it to factory state. the simplest way to do this is to use diskpart and issue clean command on target disk before os install.

no its now about slowing down the ssd performance. you open AS SSD software and it will stated

SSD name - ok
storahci - ok
3437426k - BAD (some ppl less some ppl more)
size if ssd - ok

as i stated too above, even reset to factory state wont solve the problem, fresh installation of windows helps.

This post has been edited by DellMalaysia: Sep 2 2015, 10:13 AM

why do we need to do the step 11-13? I do my own format so many times I never do that before. what is it for?

Some HDD / SSHD / SSD need MBR to install OS, most of the HDD / SSHD / SSD = Dynamic / GPT.
If you can install normally then you may skip the steps, usually after you format it first before clean
OS installation, it will change back to GPT / Dynamic.

MBR = Master Boot Record

Amended:
Problem solved, my old drive was MBR so the installation media bring along the MBR configuration into the USB.

This post has been edited by DellMalaysia: Sep 2 2015, 02:29 PM

That's not bad sector. That's 4k misalignment. (4k alignment is important to ssd) You can use partition tools to make it aligned too. Of course a diskpart clean will also wipe it and new os will make sure it's aligned.

Er.. No. All disks support both mbr and gpt. It's your bios and the os installer that dictate the disk type. for w8 and up, if the bios is legacy the installer will install the os with legacy bios support, and make the disk an mbr type. (To be compatible with legacy bios). If your bios is set to uefi, the installer will make the disk to be a gpt disk, and install the new os in uefi mode. (To be compatible with uefi bios)

For w7 you need at least sp1 to install the os in uefi mode. (Hence your os drive will become a gpt disk)

I tried the method above because I've been on the phone with Dell technician and he suggested the same too, still same problem appeared. Trial and error with the technician for
an hour plus until we got through with the method in first post. I guess I will update the tittle to bye bye misalignment. Hahaha

in your case, the key thing to do is the diskpart clean method (i.e. wipe all partitions on the disk and starts over). normally i just boot the computer with windows installer, press shift+f10 and run diskpart clean on the first installation screen. there is no need to convert the disk, the os installation will do that for you. note that your step is good for a single disk setup, so doing 'sel disk 0' makes sense because the target disk is the only one in the system. if you have more than one disk, it's better to double check if you're selecting the right disk before you issued the clean command. a safer way is to disconnect all other data disks, only leave the os drive before a clean install.

if you don't wanna mess with current installation, you can use linux liveusb with gpart to realign the partitions. run gpart, then start with the first partition of the target disk, move it 2MB away from the beginning of the disk, then move it back 1MB from the beginning of the disk (for both steps, uncheck 'round to cylinders' option, or select MiB in newer gparted). you will make the first partition to start at the exact 2048 blocks of the disk (meaning the partition is aligned properly). repeat the steps to all partitions, but make sure the partition offset of each can be divisible by 4096.

this is a good step-by-step howto btw

edit: for easier on-the-fly 4k alignments on windows, use this tool instead, http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

This post has been edited by horns: Sep 2 2015, 02:37 PM

i personally highly recommend use GPT instead of MBR.

For UEFI boot is better with GPT. Me too, just convert MBR to GPT using AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition.

i use rufus very user-friendly

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Downloaded it earlier but i guess my brain isnt that friendly with rufus i dont know why hahaha so i opted for AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional Edition.

personally preference. important successful converted to GPT.

by the way, AOMEI need to pay but rufus is FOC

This post has been edited by ngkhanmein: Sep 2 2015, 02:36 PM

demo 30 days can use full version. if expired just uninstall, use ccleaner to remove registry and then install back worth the hassle.

IIRC , if u just clicked on "reset this pc" in step 7 . It's basically the same thing as clean install. minus all the hassle.

Nope, done that. Still have the 4k misalignment around.

Anyway, both Dell and Microsoft representative agreed that "Reset this PC" isnt the same as CLEAR installation.
I even copied and pasted my logs to Microsoft forum and most of the senior asked me to make a CLEAR installation instead of waiting for a miracle.

I see, didnt know that, thanks

right. they are actually different. a clean install (i.e. a clear installation as mentioned above) basically clear everything on the physical disk, and let us start everything from scratch.

the 'reset this pc/device' feature is a convenient way for users start fresh at application level. however it's not useful when things involve os level.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-showcases-bombs...hanced-effects/

i cant activate my windows 10 after clean format from windows 8.1. what should i do

Using the same method as above?

so this method don't need any product key to activate windows?

if this method is proven, can this thread be pinned?

Yup. Its keyless if you follow the step by step.

does that mean that in order to have clean install without key, i need to upgrade to win 10 first then only start step by step of this guide?

yes you are correct.

Updated.

This is for Dell system only?

nope every system in the whole wide world

Any sifu know how to reinstall win 10 wihtout format my hdd? I got this blue screen message "bad_system_config_info".

one question remind puzzle to me, is the windows activate bound on the motherboard? what if motherboard being replace will it still being activate on new motherboard?

up to make people see the thread!

i know this was an old post. fyi and for the records, you can try a refresh, http://www.howtogeek.com/132428/everything...r-windows-8-pc/

do not try reset.

this part depends on your old os licensing terms that you have used for the upgrade. for oem key, you get a new key. however if you have a retail key, you can contact customer support at microsoft to regain the entitlement, source: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows...n-in-windows-10

i going to do a clean format after upgrade from window 7 to 10 yesterday...my bios currently in legacy boot, so should i change the boot mode to uefi first? and did i need to convert MBR to GPT first or can i do it during the installation as mention in step 11 &12? which step shall i do 1st? thaks for help

This post has been edited by broga_night: Feb 26 2016, 10:13 AM

before you do anything, make sure you have backed up all data. for additional safety, unplug other disks from system, just leave the os disk connected.

set up the bios first (usually secureboot on, fastboot on, csm disabled), then boot with w10 installer in uefi mode. when you're in the installation screen, press shift+f10 to bring up command prompt. type diskpart > list disk (find out the disk number of your os disk) > sel disk x (replace x with correct disk number; usually in a single disk system it's disk 0) > clean

after the disk is cleaned, exit diskpart and close the command prompt. proceed with installation.

good guide for clean install , thumbs up

Thanks man!

you are welcome

The best way is, use the official mediacreation tool frm m$
It will do some checking upon ur system for valid license before proceed to do clean instll

Yes media creation tool:-

Windows 10 Media Creation Tool (USB / EXTERNAL)