Which partitions to copy to ssd. We use the built-in capabilities of Windows. Disabling or moving the swap file
When replacing an HDD with an SSD, you can either transfer the existing OS from the old drive by cloning it or install a new copy of the OS. Disk cloning requires assigning a partition at least as large as the source, and SSD drives are typically smaller than hard drives, so you need to back up and remove unnecessary files from the source.
On your computer, connect the SSD to the SATA slot, leaving your HDD connected. Also, replace the HDD with an SSD, and then connect the HDD to your computer as an external drive. The USB drive converts the drive's SATA connector to USB format so you can use it as removable storage. Boot from the external drive, select Temporary Boot Options or a similar option in the BIOS splash screen, and then select the external USB hard drive from boot options.
Cloning the boot partition
Before cloning your hard drive, defragment it using a disk defragmentation and optimization tool. Select the partition, then click the “Analyze” and “Optimize” button and defragment the disk if necessary. Next, you need to shrink the partition to fit the new drive using the Disk Management utility; Press the “Windows” key, type “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes) and press the “Enter” key to open it. Right-click on the partition, select “Shrink Volume” and then, in the “Enter the Amount of Space to Shrink in MB” field, enter the number of megabytes to remove everything unnecessary from this partition so that it is suitable for an SSD. Transfer files to the new SSD using a disk cloning program such as Clonezilla, EaseUS Todo Backup or Acronis. Each of these programs works differently, but they all include an option that directly allows you to transfer files from the old drive to the new one. Select this option from the main menu, and then select your source and destination drives when prompted.
OS installation and fine tuning
When you don't have many applications installed on your HDD, installing a fresh version of the OS is a little easier than cloning since it doesn't require any additional software. Installing an OS on an SSD is no different from installing it on a hard drive, but when using an SSD drive as a boot drive, some minor settings are required. Enable the Enhanced Host Controller Interface for the SSD by opening Regedit and selecting the following directory:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services
Click the “msahci” button, then click the “Start” button twice and make sure that the DWORD type parameter is set to 0. Confirm the same Start DWORD parameter in the pciide directory. Restart your computer and go into the BIOS, then select “Storage” or similar in the BIOS. In your SSD storage options, select “AHCI” so that Windows recognizes the drive as an SSD. Before exiting the BIOS, open the Boot Options menu and follow the on-screen instructions in Boot Order to install the SSD first.
Optimizing your system
After loading Windows onto the SSD, open Defragment and Optimize Your Disks, and then select Your SSD from the menu. The applet displays the SSD next to the drive letter because Windows recognizes it as an AHCI device. Windows doesn't know whether to defragment it or not, which shortens the life of the disk by making unnecessary writes and erasing bytes. Instead, Windows automatically turns on the Trim feature to optimize SSD performance. Trims are special commands that the OS sends to your SSD to compensate for the difference in how the SSD and HDD process data. SSD data is processed instantly, except for a few seconds or minutes, the HDD needs time to move its mechanical head to search for blocks of data that become fragmented as the disk spins. The disadvantage of using it as a boot SSD is that after writing and deleting data, 10,000 to 100,000 times, the flash memory degrades and no longer stores data. To extend the life of your SSD drive, store documents, media and other files on a HDD with large storage capacity.
And then restore them in a clean installation of Windows. However, I'm sure there will be people who will want to move a carefully configured system from one drive to another. Initially, I did not plan this post, but having received another question by mail, I decided to highlight this simple process on the blog.
There are special programs for disk cloning (for example, Acronis or Paragon). In them, the marketing focus is often on transferring the system from HDD to SSD, as in the title of this guide :) However, you can solve this problem using free Microsoft tools, without unpleasant surprises, and my instructions apply to any disk types.
I want to emphasize that this guide describes the process of cloning a system and moving it to another drive within the same PC. Transferring the system to another PC (even with the same hardware configuration) is only supported for images generalized using the sysprep utility. Formally, Microsoft does not support cloning without sysprep at all (even with third-party software). In my proposed method, support is hampered by several technical limitations, but I do not consider them significant for home PCs.
Today on the program
You will need...
First, let's define the terminology. Where you see the phrases “installation disk”, “Windows PE disk”, “recovery disk”, you can equally well use either an optical disk (CD/DVD) or a removable USB disk (flash drive).
So, you need:
- Environment in any form. It could be:
- Windows installation disk
- recovery environment on the recovery disk that matches your operating system (see instructions for Windows 7 or Windows 8 and later)
- Windows PE 3.1 or 4.0 disk you created
Why imagex and where to get the utility
With the release of Windows 8, the imagex utility has been deprecated, and Microsoft now recommends using DISM. However, imagex works and is still supported, while DISM requires you to create a bootable Windows PE disk with the .NET Framework and PowerShell, which complicates the process.
If you prefer a GUI, there's Gimagex, but I try not to add extraneous factors to the OS deployment process. The imagex utility can be downloaded as part of the ADK by installing deployment tools only about 50MB (thanks, Semyon Galkin). Once installed, you will find imagex in Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits.
There is an alternative and very interesting way - you can receive a link to the utility by mail from Microsoft by requesting it from the knowledge base article KB2525084.
Capture the system partition into a WIM image
Boot into Windows PE and run all the commands in its console. To reduce image size, page and hibernation files, as well as the Recycle Bin and shadow copies are automatically excluded during capture. If you want to exclude some other folders or files, create an imagex configuration file. You will definitely need it if you are using Windows Subsystem for Linux ( WSL) in Windows 10 - you need to add the %LOCALAPPDATA%\lxss folder to the exceptions (see also KB3179598).
Command line option /compress maximum You can slightly reduce the size of the image. I don’t use it because maximum compression delays the process, and I have no problems with free space to save the file.
At the end of the procedure, turn off the PC and connect the SSD in place of the HDD. The hard drive can be connected to a different connector.
Preparing the SSD for applying the image
The task comes down to creating a new partition in Windows PE. For SSDs, proper biasing is important to avoid performance degradation and shortened drive life. The installer automatically sets the offset to 1024KB, which is easy to verify. When creating partitions on a blank disk using the diskpart utility, the same thing happens, but in my commands the offset is specified explicitly to avoid accidents.
Here is a minimum set of partitions that is suitable for all supported Windows operating systems (a Windows RE partition is not created). Run the following commands sequentially in the Windows PE console. They imply that one main partition will be created on the SSD, occupying the entire disk.
Diskpart:: display a list of disks list disk:: select a disk (instead of N, specify the SSD letter) sel disk N:: clear the disk of partitions (erases all data) clean:: convert the disk to MBR convert mbr:: create a primary partition with an offset of 1024KB create partition primary align=1024:: make the partition active (nbh for booting from it) active:: format in NTFS, set the disk label format fs=NTFS label="Windows" quick:: assign a letter to the partition assign letter=W exit
Now you are ready to apply the saved image to the SSD.
Applying an image to an SSD
This operation is performed in Windows PE with one command:
Imagex /apply E:\migrate.wim 1 W:
- E:\migrate.wim— path to the saved image
- 1 – the index of the single image in the WIM file you created
- W– SSD drive letter in Windows PE, assigned a little earlier in diskpart
Your letters may be different, of course.
Setting up booting into a cloned system
MBR partitioning
Utility bootrec available in Windows PE when booted from the installation disk, but it may not be included in the built you Windows PE disk.
Bootrec /rebuildbcd
This command looks for installed Windows on all drives (equivalent to the /scanos parameter) and offers to add systems that are not there to the BCD. Pressing Y adds the OS to the boot store, and N rejects the offer.
It also makes sense to immediately run two more commands:
Bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot
GPT markup
In the GPT partition, the files necessary to boot the system are copied to the EFI (FAT32) partition with one command:
Bcdboot W:\Windows
Here W is the drive letter to which you transferred the OS.
This completes the transfer process. After restarting your PC, you will see the system that you transferred to the SSD in the boot manager list.
What to do if both drives were connected when creating the image
I warned above that it is better not to do this. In this case, the drive letters in the cloned system are mixed up, although this can be easily corrected in the registry (thanks to reader Artem for the addition). This is the picture observed after loading into the cloned OS. The system is booted from drive D, and profiles and programs are launched from drive C.
To fix this you need rename drive letters in the registry. In fact, you need to swap the letters in the names of the registry parameters corresponding to the problem drives (you don’t need to touch the values).
In this example, you must first change \DosDevices\C: V \DosDevices\K:, after which the name will be freed for renaming drive D.
Actions after cloning
Take a Windows Performance Assessment
Running an assessment will tell the system that it is installed on an SSD. As a result, Windows will apply the appropriate settings - from sending TRIM commands to disabling SSD defragmentation (a must for Windows 8 owners).
Set up a download manager
I cannot provide all possible multiboot configurations, but in any case, at the end of the process, you will have two systems with the same names (old and new) displayed in your boot manager. I will give some examples of commands that may be useful to you.
The command displays information about the systems displayed on the boot manager screen bcdedit. In its results, the system identifier (ID) is indicated by the parameter identifier. The system you booted into this moment, always has an identifier (current).
These examples assume that the commands are executed in new system.
Renaming a New System Entry
Bcdedit /set (current) description “My New Windows”
Bcdedit /default (current)
Deleting an old system entry
Bcdedit /delete ID
If you are unable to boot into the cloned system or need help setting up the boot manager, please write here following the thread rules.
Discussion and poll
From previous surveys, I know that most readers have already acquired an SSD. This survey will show you how you approached the issue of installing the system on a brand new drive.
If you transferred the system, write in the comments what software you used for this. I know some of you have already talked about this in other posts. But then it was off-topic, but now this will help other readers looking for information on the topic!
After purchasing a solid state drive (SSD), many people do not think about additional system settings to For optimal SSD operation, you need to do 12 steps to unlock the full potential of your SSD. In this article we will analyze all 12 steps, let's get started!
1. Enable AHCI mode
Advanced Host Controller Interface ( AHCI) is a paramount feature to ensure that the Windows OS will support all the functions of running the SSD on the computer, especially the TRIM function so that the SSD does not directly access the affected sectors/pages on the drive.
To turn on AHCI, you need to log into your computer and enable it somewhere in its settings. I can't tell you exactly where, it may be in a different place in each BIOS. Most likely, new computers have this enabled by default. It is recommended to enable this feature before installing the operating system, although you can enable it after you have installed Windows.
2. Enable TRIM
We have said enough in the previous section about TRIM. This command gives a big increase in speed and stability.
Open a command prompt and enter the following command:
Fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
3. Disable System Restore
This is not necessary, but be aware that your SSD has a write limit and a space limit. System Restore slows down performance and consumes SSD space. Why don't you just get rid of it?
Click the Start menu, right-click “Computer” - “Properties” and click “System Protection”:
Once in the window, click the “Configure” button, for example like this:
Click the "Turn off system protection" button. Click "OK" and you're done!
4. Disable indexing
A significant portion of your SSD speed is consumed in indexing files for Windows Search. This can be useful if you store everything on an SSD; there is a slowdown in performance after re-indexing, which happens every time you add new data to the disk. In order to disable indexing on SSD do the following:
Click the Start menu and select Computer. Right-click on the SSD drive and click Properties. Uncheck "Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties" and click OK. Once you do this, the operating system will apply this to all files and folders on the drive. If you see a dialog box saying that it cannot remove the file from the index, click Ignore All. This will streamline the process and ignore all errors.
5. Disable scheduled defragmentation
An SSD is a solid state hard drive, with no moving mechanical parts, so there is no need for the drive to defragment itself offline. That's why we're going to disable it!
Click on Start, select “All Programs”, “Accessories”, click “System”, “Disk Defragmenter”, and then click the “Schedule Setup” - “Disk Defragmenter” button:
Uncheck the "Run on schedule" checkbox. Click OK.
6. Windows swap file
The Windows page file refers to a file on disk reserved for storing application components that would otherwise fit into physical memory. It's like a form of memory on a hard drive. Disabling the page file on a solid state drive will significantly increase system speed. Don't do this if you only have one SSD drive. If you pair an SSD with an HDD, then you can easily configure the HDD to process the page file. The most ideal solution is if you have two SSDs, run a swap file on the first one, and on the other one to run Windows and store files.
The process for setting up the page file varies depending on the settings, so I'll show you how to get to the configuration window.
Right-click Computer in the Start menu and select Properties. Click the "Advanced System Settings" button on the top left side of the window and go to the "Advanced" tab. Click the "Options" button in the "Performance" section: 
Go to the "Advanced" tab and click the "Change" button, uncheck "Automatically select paging file size" and select "No paging file"
7. Disable sleep mode
Sleep mode takes up at least 2 GB. If you want to save this volume, write on the command line:
Powercfg -h off
8. Disable Prefetch and Superfetch
Windows places information in physical memory and virtual memory that belongs to programs that you don't currently use but use very often. This is known as "Prefetch" and "Superfetch." You can disable this through the registry editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
as two values: EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch. Set both values to zero (0)!
9. Setting up caching
Disk caching can have different effects for many users, check how your computer will work without caching, then with caching, this function is enabled very easily:
To get to the configuration window, right-click Computer in the Start menu and select Properties. Click "Device Manager", expand "Disk Devices", right-click the SSD, and click "Properties". Select Policy. In this tab, you will see an option that says “Enable device write caching.”
Compare your SSD with and without the option.
10. Disabling services for Windows Search and Superfetch
Even with the above registry tweak and index removal, your computer may continue to load your hard drive. Press "Win + R" and see "services.msc" press the "Enter" button. Find both services mentioned in the title of this section and disable them.
11. Disable ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache
SSD runs on flash memory, making it easy to write data to the disk. This way, files do not have to be erased when the computer is turned off. This will make the Windows shutdown process much faster. LargeSystemCache, on the other hand, exists primarily in Windows server versions, and tells the computer whether to use a large page cache on disk.
Both of these options can be found in the Registry Editor according to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management
Set them to 0.
12. Set the power supply to “High Performance”
Perhaps you notice when, after a long absence from the computer, the system slows down a little, for this you need to set high performance throughout the entire work session.
To toggle the power setting, click the System and Security button, and then click the Power Options button. Select "High Performance" from the list. You may need to click the Show More Diagrams button to find it.
Now solid-state drives, or SSDs, are actively taking over the market and are replacing the good old HDD drives. They gradually fall in price, and their volume is constantly increasing. But it's not that simple. These drives have their drawbacks. The fact is that the service life of memory cells is limited, and it is greatly affected by the number of rewrites. That is why the correct configuration of an SSD drive under Windows 7 directly affects the service life of this device. Let's look at all this in more detail.
SSD Lifespan
This disk is a regular flash memory, i.e. microcircuits. There are no mechanical, moving parts. This flash memory consists of cells, and they tend to wear out. The more information you write to the disk, the more they wear out. Therefore, setting up an SSD drive is very important. If the disk is being read, then this does not affect its wear.
There are various utilities that can be used to obtain information about the operation and status of the drive. One of them is CrystalDiskInfo. With its help, you can find out many characteristics and performance indicators of the disk. For example, firmware, serial number, total number of operating hours, number of starts, rotation speed (if we are talking about HDD), etc. We will be interested in the field showing the number of host records. The disk controller counts the total amount of data written to memory during its entire operation. This is due to the way flash memory works. Therefore, the figure shown here in gigabytes will exceed the capacity of your disk.
Setting up an SSD under Windows 7
Modern flash memory (MLC) is designed for a fairly large number of rewrite cycles, for example 1000, 2000, etc. This means that you can completely rewrite the disk, for example, a thousand times. If you have 128 GB, then you multiply this value by a thousand and get the final result - the total amount of data that you can write to the drive over its entire service life. This indicator appears in the “Total host records” column. It indicates the amount of data written to the disk since it began operating. For comparison, it must be said that 128 GB SSD drives are designed to record 40-70 TB of information. With very active use of the disk, on average, about 10 TB of information is accumulated per year. Thus, its service life will be about 4-7 years.
With moderate use of an SSD drive, the amount of data written to the disk will be two or even three times less, and its service life will be correspondingly longer. That is why they are recommended for But first you need to achieve the correct SSD settings. Installing and configuring an SSD under Windows 7 will not take much time. But that is not all. In order to achieve the best results, another process is performed. This is a Windows 7 setup for optimal performance with an SSD drive.
How the system is configured
Above we learned how flash memory works and what its resource is. Now let's look at how to configure and optimize Windows 7 for proper operation of the SSD drive. It does not require deep knowledge of computer science or deep knowledge of the system. Even a novice user can do this. You will need to complete eight steps to optimize Windows to use an SSD drive. Myths and reality are closely related to each other, and some may get a little confused. We will tell you step by step where to click and what commands to set.
Disabling System Restore
We need to disable Next - "System and Security", then - "System". Then you need to open "Advanced system settings". In the "System Protection" tab, click on "Configure". There are several options here: “Enable protection” and “Disable protection”. We can also configure the number of gigabytes that we allocate for system protection.
This refers to the automatic creation of a copy of the system, the so-called recovery point, and how much disk space is allocated for this. The default is from 2.5 GB to 10 GB. Accordingly, if we disable system recovery, the specified number of gigabytes will be freed up on the disk. This setting makes sense to increase the free space of the SSD drive and at the same time reduce the amount of data written to the SSD. However, system protection is a very useful feature, and it is up to you to disable it or not. If your SSD storage capacity is large enough, then you can leave everything as is. If not, or you do not use protection, you can disable it.
Turning off data indexing
This point has a more practical meaning, which directly affects the speed of your SSD drive and its durability. In the “My Computer” tab, find “System Disk” and go to “Properties”.
Below, by default, the option to allow indexing of files on disk is enabled. This function was developed to optimize the performance of HDD media. This was due to the specific operation of their magnetic plates and heads. There is no such need for SSD drives, so we uncheck this function. This will eliminate unnecessary writes to the SSD disk. If an error suddenly occurs, it will be related to the swap file. You will need to disable it, reboot the system and repeat disabling the above option again.
Disabling the page file
By default, Windows creates a special file on the system disk - this is the paging file. It is used to write some information from RAM to an area on the system disk. This is used in resource-intensive applications such as Photoshop. Some information is unloaded from RAM onto the hard drive, and when necessary, it is loaded back. If you have enough RAM (8 GB or more), then this page file can be safely disabled. This will reduce the number of writes to the system disk. If your RAM is small and the applications you use are quite powerful, then disabling this file may cause system instability. Here you need to look individually.
To disable the file, follow the following path: “Control Panel”, then “System and Security”, then “System”, then “Advanced Settings”, then “Advanced”, then “System Performance”, “Settings”, then “Advanced” , "Change". By default it is enabled, you need to uncheck the box and then click “No paging file”.
Turning off hibernation
Hibernation is a special sleep mode with a new feature. It was developed for Windows Vista. In this mode, data from RAM is rewritten to the system partition, and we can turn off the computer from the network. After switching on, all information is restored, automatically read from the system media into RAM. This way, all open programs are back on the desktop. Data will not be restored in normal sleep mode. If you do not use hibernation, you can disable it. This will reduce the number of writes to the SSD drive and free up additional space.
Go to the command line: Start menu, enter “cmd” in the search, run it as administrator. Enter the following phrase there: “powercfg-hoff”, and then press Enter. After this, restart the computer. If in the future you want to return everything back, you will need to enter “powercfg-hon” in the command line and then restart the computer.
Disabling Prefetch (Files in RAM)
This feature loads some data into RAM if you access it frequently. The operating system itself monitors these files and anticipates this possibility. For example, you often use the Word text editor. Some files are already loaded into RAM, and this program launches faster.
For an SSD drive you will not get any noticeable increase in speed, since it works faster than an ordinary HDD, so you can turn off this function. Most often, the operating system itself disables this function when installing Windows on an SSD drive.
How can you check if this option is enabled and how can you disable it? This is done using the system registry. You need to open the system registry editor. Go to the “Start” menu, enter “Run” in the search bar and open the “Run” window in the results. Enter the word regedit there and click OK. The system registry editor window opens. Here we go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE directory, then to the SYSTEM tab, then CurrentControlSet, then Control, then SessionManager, MemoryManagement and PrefetchParameters. Click EnablePrefetcher, select “Change” and replace the number 3 with 0. Click OK, reboot, and the function will be disabled.
Disable SuperFetch (disabled by default) and Windows Search
This function can be disabled more easily, without the system registry. Go to: “Control Panel”, then “System and Security”, then “Administration”, then “Services” and look for Superfetch in them. Click the mouse and select "Properties". Then click "Startup Type" and then "Disabled". Next, click “Apply”, OK. After a reboot, the changes will take effect.
If you wish, you can turn off the Windows Search service. It helps you search for files on your computer. Accordingly, turning it off will be at your discretion. If you still decide to do this, then in the “Services” described above you need to find Windows Search, then “Properties”, then “Startup Type”, then “Disabled”, OK. In principle, this is not necessary.
Turn off clearing Windows cache
This step will not have a positive impact on performance for all drives. For example, on Intel SSD drives, the company itself does not recommend disabling this option.
Select: “My Computer”, “System Disk”, “Properties”, “Hardware”, the desired SSD, “Properties”, “General”, “Change Settings”, “Policy”. Check the box "Disable cache buffer clearing...". If after these steps the performance of your disk has dropped, it is recommended to uncheck this box.
Disabling ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache (disabled by default)
The ClearPageFileAtShutdown option allows you to clear the page file when the computer boots, and the LargeSystemCache option is the size of the file system cache memory. By default, when installing an operating system on an SSD, these options should be disabled. Windows 7 disables them itself. In order to check this, you need to go into the system registry.
We also go to the system registry editor (see how to do this above). In the branch, go to the following folder: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/MemoryManagement". In the right field we find the file LargeSystemCache. Click on "Change". If the field is 0, then it is disabled. We immediately find and also check the file ClearPageFileAtShutdown. If the field is 3, then you need to change it to 0, then click OK and restart the computer. You will learn further how to set up an SSD drive for Windows.
conclusions
That's basically it. The basic settings have been touched upon here. It is definitely necessary to disable the ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache, SuperFetch and Prefetch, data indexing options. If desired, if RAM allows, you can turn off the paging file. System Restore and Windows Search are also disabled at will. To clear the cache, you need to look at the performance of your drive.
Setting up an SSD drive for Windows 7
Now let's talk about how to configure an SSD drive so that it optimally uses the resource stored in it. What steps and points must be followed in order for the disk to work as quickly as possible and its memory cells to remain operational for a sufficient amount of time? Setting up an SSD under Windows 7 does not require much time and is quite simple.
There are two modes of operation of the SATA controller. The first is the IDE, and it is usually enabled by default in the BIOS. The second mode is AHCI. It is this that will allow us to use NCQ and TRIM technologies, which will increase the speed of random writing and reading from an SSD drive. The TRIM command is sent by the system and allows disk cells to be freed from physically deleted data, thus increasing its performance.
Enabling AHCI Controller Mode
If you have not yet installed Windows, then you can change the mode from IDE to AHCI without any problems in the BIOS. After this, Windows 7 is installed and configured on the SSD drive, and everything works. If you have already installed the system, the procedure will be described below.
We need to go to the registry editor, finding the file regedit.exe. How to do this was discussed above. In the system registry editor, you need to open a branch according to the following scheme. SSD configuration under Windows 7 occurs in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci directory. Here we need to find the ErrorControl parameter. Click and select "Change". The default value will be 3. You need to replace it with 0, then OK. Just below we find the Start parameter. We also change the value from 3 to 0 and click OK. Next, reboot the computer and go into the BIOS. Now we change the controller mode from SATA to AHCI, save the BIOS and load the operating system.
Now we need to check whether changes have occurred in the system. To do this, go to “My Computer”, then “Properties”, then “Device Manager” and find the IDEATA item here. It needs to be opened, and if you have the line “Standard PCIIDE controller”, then nothing has changed. If you have AHCI in this place, then everything is in order, setting up the SSD under Windows 7 was successful. These steps can be carried out before making changes to the registry and BIOS. You may already have AHCI mode enabled.
Now we have the TRIM command, which will allow the disk to function faster when littered with data, and NCQ technology is available, which allows you to increase the speed of random reading and writing of information.
Thus, the optimization of the SSD operation under Windows 7 was successfully completed. The tips given above should help you in setting up the system for the SSD. All this will make your computer work as efficiently as possible.
The advent of solid-state hard drives, or SSD for short, can certainly be considered a breakthrough in the development of technologies for creating devices for recording and storing digital information. The first SSDs to hit the market, with the exception of high speed access to arbitrary blocks of information, were in many ways inferior to traditional HDDs. Not only could their volumes, without exaggeration, be called more than modest, they also had low fault tolerance and cost a lot of money.
What's wrong with SSDs?
The high speed, quietness and low power consumption of solid-state drives have served as good drivers for their development. Modern SSD drives are lightweight, very fast and quite reliable from a mechanical point of view, devices used in tablets, ultrabooks and other compact devices. The price of SSDs has also dropped significantly. But still, they cannot be called perfect. All SSDs have a significant drawback - a limited number of rewrite cycles.
The flash memory of most SSDs is of the MLC type and allows data to be written approximately from 3 to 10 thousand times, while conventional USB exhausts its resource in 1000 or less rewrite cycles. There are also SSDs, for example, with SLC memory type, which can withstand several hundred thousand rewrite cycles. There are many nuances, so it is not surprising that it is precisely this feature of SSD drives that raises a lot of questions among ordinary users regarding their operation, and most importantly, extending their service life. Is SSD optimization necessary in Windows 7/10 or is this just another myth created by the manufacturers and developers of commercial software themselves?
Basic training
Yes, you can leave everything as is on a PC with an SSD, and you might be right, but if you really care about your drive and want it to last as long as possible, it's worth considering customizing it. Let's start with whether you bought a computer with an integrated SSD or just the drive itself, which you want to replace the HDD with, transferring Windows from it. In the first case, you can limit yourself to setting up the system. If you install the SSD yourself, be sure to check whether the AHCI connection mode for the SATA controller is enabled in the BIOS.
There are two points here: after enabling AHCI and transferring Windows to the SSD, the system may not boot, since it will not have the appropriate drivers. Therefore, either install drivers ahead of time, or reinstall Windows from scratch. Second. The BIOS of older PCs may not have AHCI mode. In this case, the BIOS will have to be updated. Now regarding the firmware of the SSD controller. Owners of solid-state drives often ask whether the drive will run faster if they install the latest firmware. Yes, it will, but if you decide to update it and in general, if the need arises, it is better to contact the service center for help.
System settings. Disabling defragmentation
Defragmentation is a useful thing for HDDs, but it can harm SSD drives, so Windows usually automatically disables it. However, it's worth checking to see if it's actually disabled. Run with the command dfrgui Disk Optimization Utility and click Change Settings.
Make sure the “Run on a schedule” checkbox is unchecked. If it is there, be sure to remove it.
Enabling TRIM
The TRIM mechanism optimizes the SSD drive by clearing memory cells of unnecessary data when removing them from the disk. Using TRIM ensures uniform wear of the disk cells and increases its speed. To check whether TRIM is active on your system, run the command in a command prompt running as administrator: fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify.
If the value of the returned parameter DisableDeleteNotify will be 0, it means everything is in order and the trim function is enabled, if 1 it means it is disabled and should be enabled with the command fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0.
This SSD setup is only applicable to Windows 7/10, while Vista and XP do not support it. There are two options: either install a newer system, or look for an SSD with hardware TRIM. Please also note that some older models of solid-state drives do not support TRIM at all, however, the likelihood that they are still sold in digital stores is very small.
During the process, a significant amount of data, comparable to the amount of RAM, can be written to the hiberfil.sys file on the system disk. To extend the service life of the SSD, we need to reduce the number of write cycles, so it is advisable to disable hibernation. The downside to this SSD setup is that you will no longer be able to keep files and programs open when you turn off your computer. To disable hibernation, run the command running with administrator privileges powercfg -h off.
Restart your computer and make sure that the hidden system file hiberfil.sys is removed from the C drive.
Disable file search and indexing
What else can be done to properly configure an SSD drive for Windows 7/10? The answer is to disable indexing of the disk contents, because the SSD is already fast enough. Open the disk properties and uncheck “Allow file contents to be indexed...”.
But here's the thing. If in addition to an SSD you have a HDD, then you are unlikely to want to disable indexing on it. What will come of this? By default, the index file is located on drive C and data from drive D will still be written to the solid-state drive.
If you do not want to disable indexing on the user volume, you will need to move the indexing file from the system SSD to the user HDD. Open with command control /name Microsoft.IndexingOptions indexing options.
Now click “Advanced” and specify your index location, having first created a folder on the user disk.
If your PC only has an SSD, you can completely disable indexing and search by opening the service management snap-in with the services.msc command and stopping the Windows Search service.
Disabling system protection
Controversial point. By disabling the creation of system shadow copies, on the one hand, you will reduce the number of write cycles, on the other hand, you will increase the risk of getting a non-working system in the event of some unexpected failure. Using rollbacks is one of the most effective and simplest ways to return Windows to a working state; for this reason, we would not recommend disabling this function, especially since points are created infrequently and do not take up much space.
It does not recommend disabling system protection for your Intel SSDs; Microsoft shares the same opinion. However, it's up to you to decide. If you use other backup tools, such as Acronis True Image, system protection can be disabled. To do this, go to system properties, on the “System Protection” tab, select the SSD drive and click “Configure”. Next, in the recovery options, activate the “Disable system protection” radio button, move the slider to zero and click the “Delete” button.
Should I disable the page file or not?
An even more controversial solution is to disable the page file. Some people advise moving it to the HDD, others completely disabling it, but it’s not that simple. The paging file is necessary to optimize the performance of the system and programs that require significant RAM resources. Disabling paging can indeed reduce disk load, but the resulting effect will be very small. In addition, this shutdown can significantly reduce the performance of the computer.
There is also no particular point in transferring the swap file to a hard HDD, since it is many times slower than an SSD, and the system’s constant access to it will slow down its operation. Disabling, or better yet, reducing the paging file is only permissible in one case - if your computer has more than 10 GB of RAM, and you do not use resource-intensive applications. And so, of course, it’s better to leave everything by default. You can perform all manipulations with the paging file in the performance parameters window, called up in the “Run” window with the command systempropertiesperformance(hereinafter Advanced – Change).
Prefetch and Superfetch
In theory, it’s also better to leave everything here as default. The function does not affect the durability of solid-state drives in any way, since it does not produce any records. Moreover, when installing Windows on an SSD, the system automatically disables it. Want to make sure it's disabled? Go to Registry Editor at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/Memory Management/PrefetchParameters and look at the parameter value EnableSuperfetch. It should be set to 0. You can also disable it through the service management snap-in.
As for Prefetch, the disk writes it produces are so insignificant that it can be ignored. However, you can turn it off, nothing bad will happen. To do this, in the same registry key, set the value of the parameter EnablePrefetcher 0.
The same can be said about disabling the additional Prefetch ReadyBoot feature, which logs the process of downloading applications. The volume of records it produces in the folder C:/Windows/Prefetch/ReadyBoot is negligible, but if you want to disable them too, set the Start parameter in the key to 0 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/WMI/Autologger/ReadyBoot.
Programs for SSD disk optimization
Almost everything that was shown in the examples above can be done using special utilities. How to configure an SSD under Windows 7/10 using third-party programs? Very simple. Most of them have an intuitive interface, presented with a set of options that can be turned on or off. There are many SSD optimizers, but we will focus only on the most popular ones.
SSD Mini Tweaker
The most convenient portable program for optimizing solid-state drives. The utility supports work with the functions of defragmentation, hibernation and system protection, Trim, Superfetch and Prefetcher, management of the paging file and Layout.ini, indexing, file system cache and some other settings.
The SSD Mini Tweaker interface is represented by a window with a list of functions available for management. After applying the new settings, you may need to restart your PC.
A shareware utility for optimizing and tuning the performance of an SSD drive. There is no Russian language in Tweak-SSD, but there is a convenient step-by-step wizard that offers optimal settings. Features of this program include disabling file indexing, Program Compatibility Assistant, hibernation, paging file, defragmentation, recording the last access time of a file, working with TRIM, increasing the file system cache, removing the NTFS memory limit, and moving the kernel into memory instead of unloading parts of modules to disk.
SSD Fresh Plus
Another SSD optimizer. Unlike analogues, it supports working with S.M.A.R.T. data. With Abelssoft SSD Fresh Plus, you can disable defragmentation, the use of short names for folders and files, timestamps, Windows log, and prefetch services.
In total, the utility supports nine different settings that optimize the operation of the SSD. Additional features of the program include viewing detailed information about the disk. Distributed in paid and free editions.
Conclusion
That's probably all. There are also other recommendations for optimizing SSDs, but for the most part they are either dubious or harmful. In particular, it is not recommended to disable write caching for the SSD disk and the USN journal of the NTFS file system. You should also not transfer programs and Temp temporary folders, browser caches, etc. from the SSD, because then what is the point in buying an SSD drive? We need programs to run faster, but transferring them to the HDD will only slow down the system.
And finally, here's some good advice for you. Don't bother too much with SSD optimization. It will take you at least a dozen years to reach the lifespan of even a budget 128GB solid-state drive, unless you write and delete terabytes of data every day. And during this time, not only the disk model, but also the computer itself will become hopelessly outdated.
