Setting up a hdd for Windows 7. Optimal setup of an SSD drive

Windows 7 was not originally designed to run on SSDs. Since their introduction, Microsoft has released numerous updates designed to improve the performance of the OS on solid-state drives. However, you need to carry out additional optimization manually, which gives much more effect.

SSD drive

A solid state drive is a storage device based on flash memory and a control controller.

They are widely used in computing and have some advantages over HDDs:

• high speed;
• impact resistance;
• heat resistance;
• small size and weight;
• noiselessness.

In Windows 8 and higher, they work stably and quickly, but under older OS, problems with wear and performance are inevitable. To avoid this, you need to optimize the parameters, which is what this article is devoted to.

What does optimization give?

Windows 7 has several services that increase the performance of regular hard drives. But with SSDs, they not only do not bring any benefit, but interfere with operation and significantly reduce the service life of the device. Setting up Windows 7 on an SSD negates all attempts by the OS to destroy it, and allows you to achieve better performance.

Are solid state drives faster?

Even if you compare the maximum read/write speed declared by the manufacturer, the difference will be huge.

The linear speed of solid-state drives is 3-4 times higher.

A typical hard drive can rarely achieve a read speed of 180 MB/s. At the same time, he does not waste time moving the head, but focuses on reading the data.

For a regular SSD, such as the Kingston SKC380S3, the limit is 550 MB/s. for reading and 520 for writing. In linear read mode, it uses all channels and reads data in large blocks. However, if you take a deeper look at performance, the superiority of SSDs becomes even more impressive.

When testing the reading speed of 512 KB blocks (small files), the gap becomes even larger. The SSD does not spend much time searching for a block, as a result of which its speed still remains within 500 MB/s. The hard drive spends more time moving the head than reading files. Its speed is reduced by three times and averages 60 MB/s, which is 8 times slower than an SSD.

Photo: reading test of arbitrary blocks of 512 KB in size

If we go deeper into the tests and check the speed on 4 KB blocks, the SSD will outperform the hard drive by 50 times. Loading the OS, copying documents, small images and launching programs - all this corresponds to this mode of operation. In addition, solid-state drives can simultaneously handle multiple requests, while HDDs are single-threaded.

Video: how to properly configure the system for operation

Setting up an SSD in Windows 7

This process requires patience and includes the following procedures:

Setting up Windows 7 for an SSD begins with flashing the drive's firmware. All manufacturers regularly release new versions of software for their devices, which eliminate errors and weaknesses of previous versions. You can download it from the official websites of the brand. The software usually comes with instructions for installing it and updating the firmware.

AHCI and TRIM

The SATA interface has many features that speed up data transfer. In order for them to become available, you need to enable the AHCI controller, since most PCs are still configured by default to work with the outdated ATA controller. You can switch to AHCI either automatically or manually.

Automatic switching:

The next time you start Windows 7, it will do the rest of the work itself. If for some reason the utility does not work, then you can do everything manually.

Manual switching:

As a result, after a reboot, the AHCI controller will be visible in the device manager.

AHCI is finished, the TRIM command is next. It helps the OS notify the SSD about what data the file system no longer contains and what data the drive can delete. That is, this command removes garbage and does not allow it to reduce the level of performance.

You can enable TRIM if the following conditions are met:

• The SSD controller supports this command;
• SATA: AHCI mode is enabled.

If the conditions are met, you can proceed to enable TRIM:

Disabling system protection

The instructions are quite simple:

It is important to understand that by disabling protection, the OS will not make recovery checkpoints and, in the event of a failure, it will be impossible to resort to Windows recovery. Therefore, it is worth using software from other developers to provide the recovery function, for example, Acronis True Image.

Disable disk indexing

Indexing is carried out only to speed up the search process on the hard drive. Given the multi-threading nature of the SSD and its speed, an indexing and search service is not needed.

Disable search like this:

We disable indexing like this:

1. open “Computer”;
2. Right-click on the section -> Properties;
3. at the very bottom of the window that opens, uncheck the “allow indexing...” checkbox;
4. apply and close the window.

Along the way, you can also disable defragmentation, which is useless on SSD drives due to quick access to cells.

You can do this:

Disabling paging

The paging file is necessary for running programs that require a large amount of memory. If there is not enough RAM, then temporary data is loaded into this file. You can disable it only if you have sufficient RAM installed on your computer (at least 8 GB). Otherwise, it is better to move the swap to another partition, that is, to the hard drive.

Disable:

Disabling hibernation

Hibernation or deep computer sleep was invented by Microsoft to prevent the computer from spending a lot of time starting up. This feature allows you to turn off the computer's power without closing applications. When you wake up the next time, all programs continue to work.

At the same time, when the PC goes to sleep, a large amount of data is written to the drive and the SSD wears out faster. Also, for many people, hibernation is not necessary, since a PC with a solid-state drive boots very quickly.

If you decide to disable hibernation, you can do it like this:

To optimize your system to use the SSD drive automatically, you can use the SSD Tweak Utility. The program allows you to quickly and easily do everything that was stated above, except for enabling the AHCI mode. The program is published with a different set of tools.

There is a free version with a basic set of functions:

• disabling defragmentation;
• disabling recovery;
• stop indexing.

Other features available in the paid version of Tweaker Pro:

1. enable and disable services;
2. setting hibernation settings;
3. validation and experimental optimization of the TRIM command.

The program also allows for deeper customization, which includes many more parameters. After launching the program, on the right side of the window you can see a detailed description and tips for setting up the system.

To start optimization, just click the big button in the middle of the program window - auto-tuning configuration. The utility itself will configure the basic parameters and provide a report.

Setting up and optimizing Windows 7 for SSD is not a quick process, accompanied by several system reboots and visits to the BIOS. However, if you do not configure it or disable unnecessary services, then after a few months the once fast SSD may exhaust its supply of write cycles and stop working.

To prevent this from happening, after each reinstallation of the system, it is necessary to optimize it. This can be done either manually or automatically using the SSD Tweaker utility.

For many users, replacing a hard drive with an SSD is the most effective PC upgrade. In terms of reading information, an SSD drive is many times faster, therefore, the performance of the computer significantly increases. But they have one drawback - the limitation on the number of rewrite cycles, characteristic of flash drives.

Configuring an SSD under Windows 7 is necessary because you want to minimize unnecessary write cycles to flash memory cells to increase the life of the SSD.

If you have Windows 10 installed, then it already automatically detects SSD drives and makes adjustments to their operation to achieve maximum performance. Therefore, on Windows 10, setting up an ssd is not so important and is performed at the operating system level.

During the defragmentation process, logically interconnected data blocks that are scattered throughout the media are arranged in a single sequence. SSD drives do not need to be defragmented. If for HDD hard drives defragmentation can increase efficiency in reading speed and thereby speed up the PC, then in the case of SSDs this process can only do harm.

Disabling Perfetch and SuperFetch

The Perfetch folder is designed to speed up Windows boot and program launch. The folder contains information about frequently used programs on the computer and stores them in the initial (system) part of the hard drive.

The SuperFetch service monitors the programs you use frequently and loads them into random access memory (RAM) when you start your computer, so they start faster when accessed. Thus, when you run a program, the computer begins to read its files faster from RAM than from the hard drive.

But given the high read speed of solid-state drives, these functions are superfluous.

To disable them, go to the Windows Registry Editor with administrator rights.

In the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” directory, find the “SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/MemoryManagement/PrefetchParameters” key and change the “Enable Prefetcher” and “Enable Superfetch” values ​​to “0”.

Disabling ReadyBoot

ReadyBoost and work together with the SuperFetch service. While SuperFetch loads program files into random access memory (RAM), ReadyBoost uses the flash drive as a cache for the slow hard drive.

To disable ReadyBoost you need to do the following:

• Start;
• Control Panel;
• System and safety;
• Administrative tools;
• Performance Monitor;
• On the left side, expand the Data Collector Groups section and select Startup Event Tracking Sessions;
• double click on “ReadyBoost”;
• Tracking sessions;
• Uncheck the box next to “Enabled”.

Disabling or moving the paging file to the HDD

The page file increases the size of your computer's cache. In the event that there is not enough physical RAM memory, the Windows operating system moves some of the data from the RAM and thus prevents software or system errors.

If the computer is equipped with a small SSD and a traditional HDD, then the page file can be placed on the SSD. If you have Windows x64 installed, the page file can be disabled.

TRIM function

In the Windows 7 operating system, it is important to check whether the TRIM function is enabled. Note that this function informs the SSD drive which area on the disk is no longer in use and can be cleaned. If the feature is disabled, it may result in reduced SSD performance.

To check:

• go to the command line as administrator;
• enter the command “fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify”;
• If after execution DisableDeleteNotify = 0 appears, then the service is enabled.

Disabling sleep mode (hibernation)

The hibernation feature clearly reduces the time it takes for the Windows operating system to start from the hard drive. Compared to hard drives, SSD drives are much faster in terms of readout time, which makes the startup process much shorter. Therefore, hibernation mode in computers with SSD does not bring tangible benefits and can be disabled.

When entering sleep mode, all data from RAM is saved to the hard drive in the hiberhil.sys file, which is quite a decent size. Especially important for small SSDs, disabling sleep mode frees up valuable space on the SSD drive.

To disable, use the Win+R keys to launch a command prompt as administrator and type the command “powercfg -h off”.

AHCI mode

For full operation of the SSD drive, including using the TRIM function, you need to enable AHCI mode in the BIOS. If you simply change the mode, then after turning on the Windows boot process may be interrupted by an error (blue screen).

For correction:

• go to the Windows Registry Editor as an administrator;
• find the entry “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Msahci” or “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/lastorV”;
• Click twice on “Start” and change the value to “0”;
• restart your computer;
• change the SATA controller mode to AHCI in the BIOS.

Today we will talk about setting up new hard drives, so-called SSD drives. After reading the entire article, you will be able to configure your SSD drive under Windows 7.

Before we start setting up the system, let's understand the difference between HDD and SSD. An SSD is a solid-state drive that uses memory chips to store information, and an HDD is a drive on hard magnetic disks that rotate inside the hard drive at enormous speed.

The main advantage of SSD is the absence of mechanical moving parts, which increases the reliability of this device. There is also a difference in the speed of operation, in the heating of device parts, and in the absence of extraneous noise. However, not everything is so good, because an SSD drive has its drawbacks. The main disadvantage of this device is the limitation of write/rewrite cycles. Regular MLC SSD drives are capable of writing data about 10 thousand times. At more expensive prices, SLC memory drives write data approximately 100 thousand times. In order to reduce the number of accesses to the SSD drive, it is necessary to correctly configure the operating system, thereby extending its life.

So, let's look at what needs to be done to configure a microcircuit drive under Windows 7.

1st point. Here we will transfer the page file to another hard drive. Go to the computer properties again: My Computer – Properties – Advanced system settings – category “Performance” – Settings. We do the same as shown in the screenshot below, or you can set a larger volume.

2nd point. You need to disable hibernation. Why is this being done? Every time the system switches to this mode, a huge amount of information is written to your drive (hard drive). Personally, I always recommend disabling this feature. Plus, by disabling hibernation we will free up space on the system local disk, which is equal to the amount of your RAM. Hibernation by default is necessary for fast system boot, but if an SSD drive is installed, then Windows will start in 5-10 seconds. Therefore, we disable hibernation. To do this, we need to get into the command line. Open Start and type cmd at the very bottom of the search window.

Now enter powercfg.exe /hibernate off in the command line and press Enter. When you restart your computer, you will see that there is free space on the C:\ drive.

3rd point. In this step, we will transfer the folder where temporary files are stored to a plain hard drive. To do this, right-click on the Computer icon - Properties - Advanced system settings - Advanced.

Here we find the Environment Settings button and change the TEMP and TMP path to another folder on the HDD. Personally, I created it on my D:\ drive.

4th point. You also need to disable System Protection. Again, open the computer properties – System protection – “System protection” tab – Configure – Disable system protection.

However, we will not be able to restore from a backup copy if a system failure occurs. However, we don’t need this, because the operating system is installed in 10-15 minutes.

5th point. Disable file indexing. Indexing is needed to quickly search the disk for various files. However, the average user does not search for anything very often, especially since search on an SSD is fast. So you can turn off this function without hesitation. To disable indexing, go to My Computer, right-click on the C:\ drive, and select “Properties” at the very bottom. Now, in the “General” tab, you need to uncheck the “Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties.”

6th point. Disabling Preftch and RedyBoot.

Prefetch allows your system to boot quickly by reading data ahead of your hard drive. This technology is useless for an SSD drive, because it already provides enormous data reading speed.

In order to disable Prefetch, go to the registry editor (Start Menu - Run - type regedit and press Enter). The registry editor will open: here you should find the following registry branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

here we need to change the value of the Enable Prefetcher key to “0”.

RedyBoot is an addition to the Prefetch technology. To disable it we follow the path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\ReadyBoot

Go to the Start parameter and change the value to “0”.

So we configured our operating system for an SSD drive, thereby extending its life! Of course, it will last a long time without any settings, but if you want to extend the life of the drive as much as possible, then follow all these steps. That's all, good luck!

Setting up an SSD under Windows 7

Introduction

Solid-state drives, as manufacturers claim, work significantly faster than mechanical-based hard drives. Of course, their cost is much more expensive. Although the performance of SSD drives is high, many users claim that they can be improved. All that is required is appropriate optimization and configuration of the SSD for Windows 7. The most effective methods will be discussed in this article:

• Enabling AHCI and TRIM
• Disabling system protection
• Disabling the page file
• Disabling hibernation
• Disable Windows 7 record caching
• Disabling Super fetch and search Windows 7
• Power Options Settings

Enabling AHCI and TRIM

Before you start executing optimization, you need to make sure that the SATA controller can operate in AHCI mode and the TRIM function in Windows 7 is activated.

During system startup, press the DELETE key and see that AHCI mode is activated in the BIOS for your SATA controller. This mode is required to support TRIMa on SSD. You can also verify this by performing the following steps in the system:

• In the start menu "Start" select "Control Panel"
• Select “System” and switch to classic view (small and large icons mode)
• Go to "Device Manager"
• Look for an item with a list of ATA / ATAPI and IDE controllers
• If such an item is present, your system is already loaded with AHCI mode enabled

If the operating system was installed in IDE mode, then you need to switch to AHCI mode in the BIOS, provided that the motherboard supports this functionality.

• Check that TRIM support is activated
• Check TRIM to ensure that mode commands are sent by the Windows 7 operating system to the SSD.
• In the Start application launch menu, type [cmd] on your keyboard to search for the built-in command line
• Right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”
• On the command line you should write [ fsutil behavior query Disable Delete Notify ]

If the Disable Delete Notify parameter is 0, the TRIM function is activated. If the value is 1, it is disabled.

When entering a command, do not use parentheses.

The SATA – TRIM protocol command will tell the OS which blocks of previously recorded data on the SSD will never be needed in the future due to file deletion or disk formatting.

Disabling system protection

The “System Protection” function should be disabled to limit the number of write operations on SSD drives, as well as to return the freed-up space back to the solid-state drive.

Disable disk indexing

Description of the deactivation process:

A pop-up window may appear indicating an error in applying attributes to the files, which is normal. Selecting the “Ignore all” option, continue with your steps.

The meaning of disabling disk indexing boils down to the following:

1. Disk indexing was developed for mechanical devices to provide quick access to information. Considering that the response time of an SSD drive is approximately 0.1 ms, there is no need to enable this technology.
2. By eliminating unnecessary read-write operations on the SSD, we get minimal effect. But keep in mind that taking steps to limit the number of write cycles on your SSD will help extend the life of your SSD.

Disabling the page file

• Right-click on the “My Computer” icon
• Select "Properties"
• Select the “Advanced” tab
• In the “Performance” item, click on the “Options” button
• Select the “Advanced” tab and click on the “Change for virtual memory” button
• Remove the checkbox “Automatically select paging file size”
• Agree to accept the changes, confirming to reboot the system, and the next step is to disable paging for your SSD drive.

A paging file is a Windows functionality that is designed to help the computer's physical memory if its capacity is insufficient, allowing some information to be moved from the RAM to the hard drive to free up the available RAM. Disabling the PageFile function will free up the space reserved for swapping on your hard drive.

Disabling hibernation

Disabling hibernation mode will free up 2 Gb (possibly more, depending on the amount of installed RAM) of SSD disk space. This functionality will not provide significant benefits due to fast loading.

Description of the deactivation process:

• In the Start search menu, type [ cmd ] to search for Windows 7 utility
• Right-click on the cmd program and run it as administrator
• At the command line type [powercfg -h off]

Hibernation helps to quickly restore the system after inactivity. When using it, the information contained in the random access memory device is written to disk and then read when waking up.

Disable Windows Record Caching

Description of the deactivation process:

• Right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”
• Select Device Manager
• Select "Disk devices"
• Right-click on the SSD, selecting "Properties"
• On the “Policy” tab, remove the checkbox from the “Allow caching of records on this device” item.

The record caching functionality in Windows 7 can access high-speed RAM and accumulate commands that then need to be executed on the SSD drive. SSD drives are faster than mechanical hard drives, so there is no speed gain when using a cache.

Disabling Superfetch and Windows Search

Description of the deactivation process:

• Press Windows key + R to enter the application launch dialog.
• Type and press the Enter button.
• Scroll down to the “Superfetch” item, right-click on it, selecting “Properties”
• From the Startup Type drop-down menu, select Disabled and click OK.
• Scroll the “scrollbar” to the “Windows Search” item, right-click on it, selecting “Properties”
• Click on the “Stop” button, then on “Startup Type” and select “Disabled”.

Windows Search creates an index of some folders, files, and additional items on your devices. It is located in the Program Data Microsoft Search folder on the TRIMa:/ drive and takes up approximately 10% of the content of the indexed information. When searching for a file, parts of the indexes are loaded into memory. This will ensure a fairly fast search. This functionality will not make much difference and can also negatively affect the performance of the SSD drive.

Disabling Clear Page File At Shutdown and Large System Cache

Description of the deactivation process:

• Type in the Start menu
• Select the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM Current Control Set Control Session Manager Memory Management
• Right-click on “Clear Page File At Shutdown” and “Large System Cache”
• After selecting "Change", change the value from 1 to 0, and then restart the system.

This OS functionality is designed to clear the page file. This leads to an increase in the number of read-write operations. Since the page file was previously disabled, there is no longer any reason to use cleanup since there is nothing left to clean up.

The Large System Cache parameter indicates whether the operating system supports a standard cache size or an increased one, and is also responsible for the frequency of processing cached data. Enabling Large System Cache mode will reduce the amount of physical memory available to applications and services.

Setting up energy options:

• Open your “Control Panel”
• Select "System and Security"
• Select Power Options
• Check the “High performance” checkbox and apply it with the OK key
• Select "Power Plan Settings" for your "High Performance" plan
• Click on Change advanced power settings
• In the “Hard Drive” item, set the hard drive disconnection drop-down menu to “Never”
• Click OK to save the setting.

Conclusion

Setting up an SSD under Windows 7 can affect system performance, both positively and negatively. Let's assume that there is no need to enable record caching when using the Intel X25M/G2, since, as is usually the case, there is no increase in performance in this case. So is it even worth performing the actions discussed in the article?

One important factor in SSD optimization is the increase in storage capacity.

This will provide an undeniable advantage if the Windows 7 operating system is installed on the SSD. It becomes possible to install more software, games and other software. If you disable system protection, disk indexing, paging file, and hibernation mode, there will be a slight increase in performance, but the free capacity of the solid-state drive will increase significantly.

The most discussed issue among SSD drive users is disabling, moving or saving the page file. There is no clear opinion here and there are many supporters of various options. If you plan to disable the paging file, you need to check the amount of memory used by Windows 7. Make sure that the amount of installed memory is half the maximum used. In this case, the page file can be disabled without losing PC performance. Alternatively, its size can be reduced or moved altogether.

Disabling unnecessary operations when reading and writing data to an SSD drive effectively affects the service life of the device. Considering the cost of SSDs, this is an important advantage.

As a result, the user himself decides whether he needs to configure an SSD for Windows 7 or not. This OS from Microsoft already works very well with SSDs, but with the help of additional optimization steps, there is the possibility of a small gain in increased performance compared to working with the “default” settings.

So, you got a brand new SSD. You installed the system on it, armed yourself with an optimization guide you found on the Internet, and after a couple of hours you did everything possible to... slow down your work in the system!

Don't believe me? Think about what makes for high performance. Advantages SSD speeds you can feel in three categories:

• system, for example, the speed of its loading and operation
• programs, including web surfing and working with documents, images and media files
• your actions, including disk navigation and copying/moving files

How myths are born

I'm pretty sure your SSD tuning measures negatively impacted at least one of these components. Later you will find out why this happened, but first about the reasons for such optimization.

If you read the inscription “buffalo” on the elephant’s cage...

There are plenty of guides and even tweakers online for optimizing SSDs. In fact, the same information is used everywhere, and:

• outdated, since it is aimed at saving disk space and reducing the number of rewrite cycles, which is irrelevant for modern SSDs in home PCs
• useless, because Windows itself takes care of what it offers to configure
• harmful, because it leads to a decrease in the speed of work - yours, programs and system

Look critical on your guide or tweaker and think about which items fit into one of these categories!

There is another problem - unsuccessful presentation of information, including incorrectly placed accents.

If you have a HDD along with an SSD, measure the speeds of both drives and keep the picture in mind. I will return to her, and more than once!

Special Notes for Dissenters

After publishing the material, I decided to specifically clarify several points so as not to repeat them regularly in the comments when responding to opponents.

In this article:

1. All myths are considered solely from the point of view of speeding up the system, programs and user. If a measure is declared useless or harmful, this means that it does not contribute in any way to speeding up work.
2. Reducing the volume of disk writes is not considered as an optimization measure due to the irrelevance of this approach. If this is your goal, myths 3 - 11 are for you, as is storing an SSD in a sideboard.
3. Using a RAM disk is not considered as it is not directly related to SSD optimization. If you have excess RAM, you can use a RAM disk regardless of the type of drive installed in your PC.
4. All recommendations are given with a wide audience in mind, i.e. to the majority users. When analyzing advice, keep in mind that they may not correspond to your tasks, work skills and ideas about the optimal and competent use of the operating system.

Now - let's go! :)

Myths

1. Disable SuperFetch, ReadyBoot and Prefetch

This advice: controversial, can reduce the speed of program launch, and also in Windows 10 - increase the volume of disk writes and reduce the overall performance of the OS if there is insufficient RAM

Speed ​​of launching programs from the hard drive

When each program is launched, the prefetcher checks for the presence of a trace (.pf file). If one is found, the prefetcher uses links to the MFT file system metadata to open all the necessary files. It then calls a special memory manager function to asynchronously read from the trace data and code that is not currently in memory. When a program is launched for the first time or the startup script has changed, the prefetcher writes a new trace file (highlighted in the figure).

It is unlikely that SuperFetch is capable of speeding up the launch of programs from an SSD, but Microsoft does not disable the function, given the presence of hard drives in the system. If the SSD manufacturer's proprietary utility (such as Intel SSD Toolbox) recommends disabling SuperFetch, follow its advice. However, in this case, it is more than logical to keep all programs on the SSD, which will be discussed below.

Memory compression in Windows 10

In Windows 10, the name of the Superfetch service displayed in the GUI has changed to SysMain, which matches the actual name of the service. Apparently, this is how Microsoft indicated a shift in the main purpose of the service from prefetching to a new function - memory compression. The company has published a detailed story about the technology in the Feedback Center application (PDF copy). Below is my brief explanation and additional information.

When the memory manager feels low on memory, it does not flush unused memory pages to disk, but rather compresses them. The paging file is written to only when the memory manager algorithms determine that compression does not compensate for the lack of memory.

Thus, by compressing memory, the number of I/O operations is reduced and, accordingly, the amount of writing to disk is reduced. As a consequence, if compressed memory is disabled, the combination of low memory and significant disk load will reduce overall OS performance.

The concept is called compression store. This is a collection of compressed pages stored in memory. A single storage is used for all applications (Win32 and UWP), as well as individual storages for all Windows Runtime applications, providing trimming and swap. Instead of writing pages to the page file, the memory manager compresses them and places them in the appropriate storage.

The Microsoft article does not mention the service SysMain. In addition, since the publication of the material, the visual presentation of information about compressed memory in the task manager has changed. Next, I will show you how to check that this particular service is assigned the memory compression function.

When the SysMain service is enabled, you can open the Task Manager tab Performance and in the section Memory verify the use of compressed memory, and also see additional information by hovering over the area Memory structure.

Windows 7 will disable defragmentation for SSD drives. Since SSDs perform superior at random reads, defragmentation will not provide the same benefits that it does on a regular drive.

If you don't trust the developers, take a look at the event log. You won't find any entries there about defragmenting the SSD volume.

So, when the SSD is the only drive, the scheduled job simply doesn't run. And when the PC also has a HDD, disabling a task or scheduler deprives the hard drive of worthy optimization by a standard defragmenter.

Windows 8 and later

In Windows 8, the defragmenter has been replaced by the disk optimizer!

Optimizing hard drives, as before, comes down to defragmentation. Windows no longer ignores solid-state drives, but helps them by sending additional a set of TRIM commands for the entire volume at once. This happens according to a schedule as part of automatic maintenance, i.e. when you are not working on your PC.

Depending on the SSD controller, garbage collection may occur immediately upon receipt of the TRIM command, or it may be delayed until a period of inactivity. By disabling the disk optimizer or task scheduler, you reduce drive performance.

3. Disable or move the swap file

This tip: useless or harmful, reduces system speed when there is insufficient memory

The hardware configuration must be balanced. If you don't have much memory installed, you should add more, since an SSD only partially compensates for the lack of RAM, making swap times faster than a hard drive.

When you have enough memory, the page file is hardly used, i.e. This will not affect the life of the disk in any way. But many people still turn off paging - they say, let the system keep everything in memory, I said! As a result, the Windows Memory Manager does not work in the most optimal mode (see #4).

As a last resort, the swap file is transferred to the hard drive. But if suddenly the memory is not enough, You will only benefit in performance by having pagefile.sys on the SSD!

IN: Do I need to place the page file on the SSD?

ABOUT: Yes. The main operations with the paging file are random writing of small volumes or sequential writing of large amounts of data. Both types of operations work fine on an SSD.

By analyzing telemetry focused on estimating writes and reads for the pagefile, we found that:

• reading from Pagefile.sys takes precedence over writing to pagefile.sys in a 40:1 ratio,
• read blocks for Pagefile.sys are usually quite small, 67% of them are less than or equal to 4 KB, and 88% are less than 16 KB,
• The write blocks in Pagefile.sys are quite large, 62% of them are greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% are almost exactly 1 MB

Generally speaking, the typical page file usage patterns and SSD performance characteristics fit together very well, and it is the file that is highly recommended to be placed on the SSD.

But in practice, the desire to extend the life of an SSD at any cost is ineradicable. Here is a blog reader fretting over his SSD, transferring pagefile.sys to the hard drive, although he himself can even see with the naked eye that this reduces performance. By the way, my netbook cannot install more than 2 GB of memory, and with a solid-state drive it became much more comfortable than with a standard 5400 rpm HDD.

Finally, don't forget that completely disabling the pagefile will prevent you from diagnosing critical errors. The paging file size can be flexibly adjusted, so you always have a choice between disk space and performance.

Tricky question: What was my page file size when I took the task manager screenshot?

Special Note

On the Internet (including in the comments to this post) you can often come across the statement: “A swap file is not needed if you have installed N GB RAM". Depending on your imagination, N takes the value 8, 16 or 32. This statement does not make sense, since it does not take into account the tasks that are solved on a PC with a given amount of memory.

If you installed 32GB for yourself, and 4-8GB are used, then yes, you don’t need FP (but then it’s not clear why you bought 32GB RAM :). If you have purchased such an amount of memory in order to use it as much as possible in your tasks, then the FP will be useful to you.

4. Disable hibernation

This advice: vague and harmful for mobile PCs, may reduce battery life and speed of your work

I would formulate the advice like this:

• stationary PCs - shutdown is normal, because you might as well use sleep
• mobile PCs - turning off is not always advisable, especially when battery consumption is high during sleep

However, people have, are, and will continue to disable system protection regardless of the type of disk, it’s already in the blood! And no, I don't want to discuss this topic in the comments for the hundredth time :)

6. Disable Windows Search and/or Disk Indexing

This tip: useless, slows down your work speed

Sometimes this is argued by the fact that SSDs are so fast that the index will not significantly speed up the search. These people simply never really used real Windows search!

I believe that it makes no sense to deprive yourself of a useful tool that speeds up everyday tasks.

If you have fallen victim to any of these myths, tell me in the comments if I managed to convince you of their uselessness or harm and in what cases. If you disagree with my assessment of "optimization", explain what the benefits of these actions are.

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about the author

Vadim, in recent days I have bought myself 4 SSDs to install on all my computers. Let's just say... life has changed :-)

I also thought for a long time whether to buy a laptop with an SSD or a hybrid drive, the second one won, I chose 340GB + 24 SSD. What was surprising was that the standard installation of Windows 8 was on a 5400 drive, but not an SSD. After suffering for a long time, I moved Windows 8 to an SSD and was a little freaked out, because... There is about 3GB left on the SSD. Knowing that over time the W8 would swell and it would be necessary to fight for space, I returned everything back, transferred the TEMP and Page file to the SSD, plus installed frequently launched programs.

Still, you just had to buy a laptop with an SSD and not worry about it. They gave me an SSD for NG and now I’ll stuff it into an old netbook, install W8 and be happy.

Thank you for the articles about SSDs, our entire department reads them.

Alexei

You, Vadim, have done a great job of going through SSD myths; we can hope that there will be fewer fans of SSD perversions now. I have Win8 on an SSD, it works just the way I installed it, I’m happy and I don’t bother myself with all sorts of optimizations whose output is questionable.

PS: Answer to the question: 1Gb.

• Alexey, thank you for your response. You can’t put your head down on everyone, but I’m not trying to :)

  The answer to the question is incorrect. How did you come to him?

madgrok

Before buying an SSD, I read a mountain of forums, benchmarks, etc. And I came to the conclusion that all the tweaks are in the firebox.
Why do people buy SSDs for themselves? Of course it would be faster! :) And most optimization tweaks basically negate all the performance gains, which is what Vadim wrote about.
I use my Vertex 4 256 GB as a regular disk for the system. I bought it sometime in the fall. Excellent flight, 100% health
Excellent article, I will recommend it to all my acquaintances and friends to read so that they don’t suffer. :)
And in general, thanks to the author for an excellent blog. I really like the fact that he tries to “disassemble the topic to its bones.”

Andrey

Vadim, at the end of the article there is a survey about the presence of SSDs on our computers, I think that this topic is still relevant - there are those who do not intend, at least in the near future, to acquire a solid-state drive for a number of reasons - someone does not see the point of installing it on an old one computer - saving for a new one, or as in the survey point - satisfied with the HDD, or like Pavel Nagaev - he thinks for a long time which to prefer...
What would you advise? Is it worth moving the OS to an SSD to “increase system performance,” so to speak?

Andre

Hello Vadim, I think a lot of people are now looking at buying an SSD, and it would be very cool if you wrote an article on choosing an SSD!

Alexey Matashkin

Vadim, thanks for the article.
In my practice, I have never encountered these myths, I only heard some advice separately, so I read it with pleasure.

I don’t quite fit into the survey :) The main PC is not a home PC, and it has an SSD. But at home, the usual is enough for now.

There is nothing to add regarding questions, because I don’t use tweaks, all installed SSDs work normally with the system.
Although, an important detail is updating the firmware on the disk. In my practice, there are 3 cases of serious failures that were resolved with firmware version updates.

Valentine

Pavel Nagaev,

Your 24 SSD was most likely designed for caching, which is why it is so small, maybe you needed to use it as a cache, in which case you will get the benefits of both media - capacity and speed. Vadim, do you have an article regarding hybrid hard drives or combining HDD and SSD operation? I think many readers might be interested in such an article. I think the topic about 12 myths is very useful, as I have many friends who consider themselves experts, but make such mistakes and impose these mistakes on ordinary users, thanks to a link to this article it will be possible to convince them to make such mistakes

Vadims Podāns

Good and useful article.

Sergey

Yes, it’s really surprising people who buy SSDs to speed up work, but then transfer everything and turn it off and again lose performance.

MythBusters are in action! We had a great run through all these myths.

Alexey G

At first I fell for disabling hibernation, but then I realized that it was inconvenient.
I remove the 8.3 marks. Because I use new versions of the program, and I don’t need it)

From life: when I assemble a PC with an SSD, I transfer user files to the HDD. If the PC for unknown reasons (playful hands, viruses) starts to not boot, then if I am nearby, I will restore the configured image of the installed system (thanks to the blog), but if a person called another “master”, then the first thing he will do is format the disk:(More Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a smart method in my city, so this is a necessary need to preserve the user’s files.

Answer to the question: 2834MB?

Dima

Thanks Vadim.
As always, intelligibly and with a light sense of humor.
As I promised, I part with myths easily and see you off on your last journey. I'll turn everything back on.
Best regards, Dima.

PGKrok

I agree on all points, but I myself had to transfer the index files, some programs and personal photos and videos to the HDD, because... SSD - only 60 GB (I've already mastered it :))
For comparison (to the question of “keeping a picture in mind”)
Result CrystalDiskMarc (HDD)
http://pixs.ru/showimage/HDD1301020_6347406_6812031.png
Result of CrystalDiskMarc (SSD)
http://pixs.ru/showimage/OSZ3010201_4238885_6812055.png

SATA-3 SSD controller - SATA-6

Dawn

I bought a 60gb ssd and left only Windows 8, program files, appdata, program data on it. The rest is on hdd.
Reason: the system partition is growing too quickly, and just like that, the space will go to zero.
When purchasing, there was one goal: to speed up the cold boot of the system. That's what I achieved - 8 seconds.
Vadim, the article is excellent, thank you!

Ruby

About transferring TEMP and cache - I stupidly moved them to a gigabyte ramdisk - this is a real speed increase, incomparable with an SSD.

Denis Borisych

I’ve been working in IT for a long time and I still never cease to be amazed at woe to optimizers.

I've had an ssd in my home computer for about a year now and it's still going strong. 7 starts in 10 seconds, programs load quickly and easily without any optimizations. Well, except that the folder of necessary and important documents is not on the ssd (its size is 500 GB). And in the “My Documents” folder there is usually a list of documents.

As a person very close to IT, sometimes I am not enthusiastic about MS innovations (the inability to use Explorer without a mouse alone is worth it). But I must objectively admit that in terms of optimizing the operation of the OS on an ssd and stability of operation, they are undoubtedly great.

Ruby

I would also transfer the search index, but on the Windows blog they write that it is still kept in memory, so there is no point.

SuperFetch is needed in any case; it preloads files into RAM in advance, increasing speed and reducing the number of accesses to the drive.

Valery

Vadim, I read your articles quite regularly and often put the advice from them into practice.
Having bought an SSD (Intel 520 120GB), I also first read about all sorts of optimizations and even applied some, but now I left only the indexing transferred to the HDD and Intel’s recommendations for its drives, and this is where some of your advice and Intel’s recommendations diverge:
http://123foto.ru/pics/01-2013/42746566_1358157387.jpg
Who should I listen to?))

Alexei

Vadim Sterkin,

Came at random :-)
My paging file takes up 1 Gb per 16Gb of RAM (size selected by the system). Moreover, the system monitor shows almost zero % load. I decided that 8Gb should have at least 1Gb.

Oleg

Hello Vadim. I always look forward to new articles from you, this article was VERY useful for me and for my friends. To my regret, my arguments and advice do not reach some friends, for some reason they trust more forums where they do not always write useful information.
I hope this article will convince you.

I'll be waiting for an article about choosing an SSD.
Thank you.

Georgiy

Thank you for the article.
To be honest, I didn’t quite understand about Superfetch - what is the increase in performance on an SSD?

As for the size of the paging file, the answer seems to be this: the line allocated says 10.7 GB. The amount of RAM must be subtracted from this figure.

Alexander

I recently bought a Kingston Hiper X 3K 120GB SSD. I installed Seven sp1. I did not see any increase in download speed or program performance.
Previous configuration: Asus P5Q, 2 WD 500Gb Raid 0, DDR2 2 1GB each.
My conclusion: when connecting an SSD to a “slow” Sata 3Gb/s port, the increase in system performance compared to that installed on stripping is insignificant. You will have to upgrade to a motherboard with Sata 6Gb/s and at least 8GB DDR3 memory.

GlooBus

Pavel Nagaev,

SSD drives of 16-32 GB soldered onto laptop motherboards are of no use. The best thing in this case would be to take a laptop in a simple configuration with an HDD and do the upgrade yourself. I did just that, took an ASUS X301A with 2 GB of memory, 320 GB HDD and upgraded to 8 GB of memory and 128 GB SSD. The laptop worked completely differently! Loading the computer from pressing the button until the password entry window appears 6-7 seconds. I didn’t make any tweaks, except that I turned off indexing, because... I don't use search.

Alik

The other day I installed VERTEX 4 128Gb on it with Win 8, applied optimizers and after a week I realized that it was in vain, incl. you'll have to reinstall. And here is also a sensible article.