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Hi,<br />
<br />
I've a couple of Windows 2003 servers with SQL 2005 DB installed and I plan to install some new ones. They are all VMware virtual machines and they have usually 3 partitions: C: with system, D: with SQL database and E: with some installation files. I've searched in google that to get better performance of system and DB I should customize partition(s) allignment offset.<br />
<br />
A couple of advices I could find in this article: <a href="https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/23977512/Allocation-Unit-Size-in-Disk-Management-vs-Offset-in-Diskpart.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+64+align+offset" rel="ugc">https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/23977512/Allocation-Unit-Size-in-Disk-Management-vs-Offset-in-Diskpart.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+64+align+offset</a><br />
<br />
So... I've made use of Dell's advice and fixed allocation unit size for partition on which SQL DB resides to 64K. Partition's alignment offset has been set to 64K as well. My questions are: <br />
<br />
- Should I also setup the same offset for C: partition (where system resides)? What about allocation unit size for C partition? <br />
- Does somebody have a link to webpage where partition alignment, offsets and all this stuff is described in a pretty simple way?<br />
<br />
Regards.
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Hi,

I've a couple of Windows 2003 servers with SQL 2005 DB installed and I plan to install some new ones. They are all VMware virtual machines and they have usually 3 partitions: C: with system, D: with SQL database and E: with some installation files. I've searched in google that to get better performance of system and DB I should customize partition(s) allignment offset.

A couple of advices I could find in this article: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Misc/Q_23977512.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+64+align+offset

So... I've made use of Dell's advice and fixed allocation unit size for partition on which SQL DB resides to 64K. Partition's alignment offset has been set to 64K as well. My questions are: 

- Should I also setup the same offset for C: partition (where system resides)? What about allocation unit size for C partition? 
- Does somebody have a link to webpage where partition alignment, offsets and all this stuff is described in a pretty simple way?

Regards.

Partition alignment offset and Allocation unit size in Windows 2003 Server system with SQL 2005 DB

Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media used to retain digital data. In addition to local storage devices like CD and DVD readers, hard drives and flash drives, solid state drives can hold enormous amounts of data in a very small device. Cloud services and other new forms of remote storage also add to the capacity of devices and their ability to access more data without building additional data storage into a device.

Storage

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is a suite of relational database management system (RDBMS) products providing multi-user database access functionality.Component services include integration (SSIS), reporting (SSRS), analysis (SSAS), data quality, master data, T-SQL and performance tuning. It includes support for managing XML data and allows a database server to be exposed over web services using Tabular Data Stream (TDS) packets encapsulated within SOAP (protocol) requests.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Storage devices include any device used for storing and retrieving digital information. Hard disk drives (HDDs) use one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. The primary competing technology for secondary storage is flash memory in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs), but HDDs remain the dominant medium for secondary storage due to advantages in price per bit and per-device recording capacity. CD-RW (Compact Disc-ReWritable) is a digital optical disc storage format that allows information to be stored outside the mechanical HDD.