[snip] >> 1. fdisk won't let me specify a start block before 2048 even though I >> deleted all partitions. >> > > That's normal. It's a long story, but Windows Vista and Windows 7 expects > the first partition to start at sector 2048. > > You can force a lower number by toggling "DOS compatibility"; this should > let you start the first partition as low as sector 63. > > HOWEVER, make sure that all partitions begin at multiples of 8 (e.g., 64, > 72, 80, and so on); this will save you a lot of grief if it happens that the > hard disk you're using has 4KiB-sectors.
I just looked up the start block for my other systems and they're all on 63. Is performance impacted on all of these systems since they aren't started on 64? - Grant
