Disk Alignment - Does it Matter ?

In Windows (since XP) If you go START and run msinfo32.exe all the System info for your PC is displayed. It is a long document msinfo32.txt on earlier versions of Windows but about a quarter down you come to  Storage -Disks. Later Versions of windows  are easier to read and tabbed.
There is a line at the bottom of the disk info called Partition Starting Offset and a figure in bytes.
If you take this figure and divide it by 4K (4 x 1024)which is 4096 and end up with a whole number then your disk is "aligned".
example:- 1048576 divide by 4096 gives 256, a whole number.
If you end up with a decimal point your disk is "not aligned"
example:- 32256 divide by 4096 gives 7.875
Why is this important?

 

AS SSD  is a Freeware Utility that will do this much easier and also do a Benchmark test of disk performance. It  also works on conventional  hard drives bit is also a handy tool for SSD owners as it allows them to reveal the performance of their device and detect potential problems in due time/

Here is a SSD drive that is not aligned with RED Text in the top left and an overall  score of 411,due to low readings in the 4K-64 Thrd for read and write

 

 

After using an Alignment tool in another piece of Freeware called MiniTool Partition Wizard the results are improved and the SSD Drive now aligned.