Optimizing ssd operation under windows 7. Disabling the page file. Automatic optimization with SSD Mini Tweaker utility

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

Solid State Drive ( Solid State Drive) is a storage device based on flash memory and a control controller.

They are widely used in computer technology and have some advantages over HDD:

  • 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. Windows setup 7 on an SSD nullifies 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.

Ordinary HDD rarely can demonstrate 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 mode linear reading it uses all channels and reads data big 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 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 weak spots previous versions. You can download it from the official websites of the brand. The software package also usually includes 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 an outdated ATA controller. You can switch to AHCI either automatically or manually.

Automatic switching:


During the next Windows startup 7 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;
  • included SATA mode: AHCI.

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 do control points recovery and in case of failure resort to Windows recovery will be impossible. Therefore it is worth taking advantage software other developers to provide recovery functionality, e.g. Acronis True Image.

Disable disk indexing

Indexing is carried out only to speed up the search process. hard drive. Given the SSD's multi-threading and performance, 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 the cells.

You can do this:


Disabling paging

The paging file is necessary for running programs that require a large amount of memory. If random access memory is not enough, 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

Computer hibernation or deep sleep was invented by Microsoft so that the computer does not spend 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 SSD utility 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.

Eat free version With basic set functions:

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

IN paid version Other features available in Tweaker Pro:

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

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

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

Settings and Windows optimization 7 under SSD - the process is not fast, accompanied by several system reboots and visits to the BIOS. However, if you do not configure it, you cannot 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 SSD utilities Tweaker.

After purchasing a solid state drive (SSD), many people do not think about additional settings systems for optimal performance SSD needs to do 12 actions 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 Windows will support all SSD functions on the computer, especially 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, in every BIOS it may be in different places. 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, click right click mouse “Computer” - “Properties” and click the “System protection” button:


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 part of your SSD speed 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

SSD is solid state hard drive, with no moving mechanical parts, so there is no need for the disk to defragment 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

File Windows swap 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 paging file 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 perfect solution if you have two SSDs, run a swap file on the first one and use the other 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 button Extra options System" 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 in command line:

Powercfg -h off

8. Disable Prefetch and Superfetch

Windows places information in physical memory and virtual memory belonging to programs that you do not 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 turns on 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 process complete Windows operation, much faster. LargeSystemCache, on the other hand, exists primarily in versions Windows server, 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.

Exist various utilities, with which you can 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're talking about 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 sufficient big number 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. At very active use On average, a disk writes to about 10 TB of information 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 under But first you need to achieve correct settings SSD. Installing and configuring an SSD under Windows 7 will not take much time. But that is not all. In order to achieve best results, another process is running. This Windows setup 7 for optimal performance with the 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.

What is meant here is automatic creation 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 very useful feature, and whether to turn it off or not is up to you. 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 Windows default creates on the system disk special file- this is the swap 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 entries by 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, supplemented new feature. It was also developed for Windows Vista. In this mode, data from RAM is rewritten to system partition, and we can turn off the computer from the network. After switching on, all information is restored, automatically read from system media in RAM. So everything open source programs find themselves on the desktop again. 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, do you often use text editor Word. 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 Windows installation to an SSD drive.

How can you check if this option is enabled and how can you disable it? This is done using 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.

You can turn it off if you want Windows service Search. 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”, required SSD, "Properties", "General", "Edit 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 cache memory file system. 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 he who will allow us to use NCQ and TRIM technologies, which will increase speed random recording 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 controller PCIIDE", then nothing has changed. If you have AHCI in this place, then everything is fine, setting up the SSD under Windows 7 was successful. These steps can be carried out before making changes to the registry and BIOS. Perhaps AHCI mode you already have it turned on.

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.

Let's start right away with what to do complete optimization system for a solid-state drive and you don’t need to change many settings. According to technical support Microsoft - changing the settings will not only not bring any noticeable effect, but may even reduce operating speed SSD or even harm the drive.

Many optimization instructions for Windows 10 are the same general recommendations that were intended for more earlier OS versions. But in the Ten, these manipulations are most often not required.

Nevertheless, we will analyze all the settings in detail and consider what kind of performance increase this or that setting will give, and whether there will be any point in doing this at all.

Automatic optimization

As mentioned above, the tenth version of Windows is already configured by default to security maximum speed work with SSD, and usually nothing needs to be changed. There is no need to carry out any initialization; the operating system itself determines the type of disk and changes the necessary parameters accordingly.

Let's take a closer look at what exactly Windows 10 configures for solid-state drives:

  1. Automatically turns on functionTRIM.
  2. We change power supply diagram, optimizing for SSDs.
  3. Launches servicesSuperfetch and Prefetch. Their function has changed slightly, unlike previous versions, and there is no longer any need to disable them.
  4. Function ReadyBoot turns off.
  5. Well defragmentation, is also disabled for SSDs.

These are not all the features, there are a few more that cause some controversy, such as restore points and system protection, indexing, cache clearing, and caching. In more detail these possibilities and necessary settings for SSD we will discuss below.

Defragmentation and optimization

In the tenth Windows versions automatically turned on function SSD optimization. In older versions it is called defragmentation. Therefore, many users immediately disable this setting, as they are sure that defragmentation harms the drive. But not everything is so simple and bad.

Windows 10 does not defragment SSDs in the traditional sense. It is the optimization process that starts, which does not move information around the drive, but performs teamretreat, clearing blocks. This is not only not harmful, but even to some extent useful for such storage media.

Many works have been written discussing the need for such a procedure. We will not go into details, but will highlight a few points that will be useful for users to know:

  1. Optimization Procedure takes place once a month, only if enabled shadow copying, system protection, since media fragmentation greatly affects performance. It is believed that fragmentation is not a problem for SSDs, but this is fundamentally wrong. Severe fragmentation can cause errors when working with information and loss of productivity.
  2. The optimization process marks blocks that are not used and were not marked with commandTRIM. This is quite possible in moments peak load, when requests for TRIM do not get into the queue and blocks are simply skipped.
  3. When defragmenting solid-state drives, Windows uses different operating algorithms than HDDs, and can be not only useful, but also necessary.

What features should be disabled for stable SSD operation?

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, many tips for SSD setup Not relevant for Windows 10. They did bring performance gains and longer lifespans to earlier OSes.

As you know, the number of sector overwrite cycles on solid-state drives is limited, so following many recommendations will actually increase the life of the device, but at the same time significantly speed will drop. And in this case, the point of installing an SSD is lost.

It is worth noting that despite the limitation, device resource very big. If you install the system and use necessary programs and games, then the device should last for several years, at least until the time comes to upgrade the computer and replace the disk with a more modern one.

For example, the screenshot shows the volume of recording to disk when active use throughout the year. And the volume guaranteed by the manufacturer is 300 TB. It’s not difficult to calculate that even if you write it 2-3 times more information per year, then the drive will last for at least ten years!

Using the swap file

In the first case, disabling it may be useful if more than 8 GB of RAM is used. However, some programs may be unstable, if there is no page file included.

In the second case, one can expect a significant productivity loss, because the regular HDD(if you transfer the swap file to it) will provide enough slow speed work.

notice, that SSD manufacturers it is not recommended to turn it off virtual memory. Additionally, Microsoft reports that the average read/write ratio to virtual memory is 40:1, so don't expect that turning off this feature will extend the life of the device by several years.

Hibernate mode

In Windows 10, hibernation mode is used to quick launch. The hiberfil.sys file is stored on disk and information from RAM is written there when the computer is turned off. The size of the file is also comparable to the amount of RAM.

Disabling this mode on PC can really help reduce the amount of recording on SSD data, if possible quick start need not.

On laptops things are a little different. Disabling hibernation can cause a number of inconveniences, and also reduce battery life due to permanent inclusions and turning off the device.

This feature automatically creates restore points so that if you have problems with Windows, you can roll back to more early state. Some manufacturers recommend disabling protection system when using a solid state drive.

For example, Samsung in its official guide recommends disabling automatic creation of restore points. At the same time, developers from Microsoft it is not recommended to do this. Intel shares the same point of view.

Transferring user files and folders

Another recommendation is to transfer the user’s files and folders (these folders are stored in the user profile) to the HDD. In principle, this is true will reduce the number of entries, and if the user stores a lot of information on the desktop or in documents, it will also significantly increase the volume free space on the system partition.

In addition to the desktop and documents, the user profile stores a lot of information, cache and temporary files from running applications. For example, Chrome writes quite a lot of temporary files when actively used. In this case, it would actually be better to move the profile to another drive.

Other Windows 10 features

We will mention a few functionality OS on which opinions differ.

Microsoft writes that services Superfetch and Prefetch work differently in Windows 8 and 10, if available installed SSD. Therefore, disabling them is not recommended.

By caching procedure the information is quite contradictory. Generally it is recommended not to turn it off caching, but about clear cache there is no consensus. The same Samsung in its Magician utility recommends disabling the cache buffer, but at the same time on the official website they adhere to the opposite opinion - that the buffer should be enabled.

About indexing It's quite difficult to say anything definitely. In principle, speeding up searches in the system is a useful feature. But in practice, few people use this opportunity. However, disabling it will not provide any significant performance gains - most of it is read operations.

General principles of SSD configuration


There are several ways to install an SSD in a laptop, depending on the purpose of using solid-state storage. The device can be used as a main and extra space for storing information. Many users use a solid-state storage device as a system drive, which can significantly speed up Windows.

Installing an SSD in a laptop

New models of solid state storage devices have larger storage capacities multimedia files and resource-intensive programs.

Choosing an SSD drive for a laptop

The standard solid-state drive has a 2.5″ form factor, which is compatible with the dimensions of a laptop HDD. When choosing a model, you should pay attention to this criterion. The drive must be connected to the SATA interface. Modern technologies provide the ability to use several file storages in a laptop, which expands your choice.

To install the operating system, purchase models with a memory capacity of up to 120 GB. This solution has affordable price and speeds up system loading and work-related operations by 5-6 times system files. Larger solid-state storage capacity is designed to store multimedia files high quality and working with resource-intensive programs.

Replacing HDD with SSD

For replacement hard drive For a modern analogue, it is necessary to disassemble the laptop. To do this you will need a Phillips screwdriver. In most laptop models, the HDD is located immediately under the back cover - unscrew the mounting bolts and carefully remove the cover.

Smoothly remove the HDD by pulling it in the desired direction marked with the guide arrow. An SSD, like a standard HDD, is connected to SATA interface. Install the drive into the 2.5″ hard drive slot and secure the laptop cover with bolts.

This solution allows you to install a modern storage device as your main file storage. Install the operating system on the new device, and further configuration of the storage device will be described below.

Installing an SSD instead of a disk drive

Modern technologies and the presence of the necessary adapters allow you to install an SSD in the connector for optical drive. This solution allows you to expand space on your laptop and save data from the old HDD drive. You can use several file storages at the same time.

For installation solid state drive Instead of a disk drive, you will need to purchase an additional adapter - SATA 2nd HDD Caddy for Laptop. When ordering an adapter, check compatibility with your laptop model. To install the adapter, it is necessary to remove back cover laptop.

Some models limit access to the drive, which forces you to deeply disassemble the laptop. Follow the instructions to maintain the integrity of the case and ensure successful disassembly.

Remove the drive and connect the adapter. The adapter supports 2.5″ drives.

Reassemble the laptop case.

Setting up an SSD drive

After HDD replacement on SSD or installation additional storage it is necessary to make subsequent settings in the operating system. If the solid-state drive is used as a disk for the operating system, you need to configure disk loading.

Enter the BIOS to the BOOT section and move the required disk to the first position. The operating system will automatically boot Windows from the required drive.

Configuring and disabling services in Windows

Operating room family Windows systems aimed at working primarily with HDD drives, which have some differences in the operating principle of SSDs. To improve the functioning and lifespan of the device, you need to make a number of changes in the Windows settings.

Disabling hard drive defragmentation

Defragmenting your hard drive speeds up HDD operation, optimizing it logical structure For quick reading data. For an SSD, this function is not needed; on the contrary, it can harm the solid-state drive. You can disable defragmentation by executing the command in the “Start menu - run - dfrgui «

IN earlier versions Windows 10 and subsequent updates, this section was called “Disk Optimization”, where defragmentation was redesigned to modern systems. There is no need to disable this process in Windows 10.

Disabling the page file

If you have enough RAM, it is recommended to disable the page file, which has a positive effect on speed work hard disk.

To perform this operation, you need to open the performance options. Select "No paging file".

Enabling the TRIM function

Starting from version 7, the Windows family began to actively support work with solid-state drives. The developers have added a TRIM function that interacts with SSD disk. The system sends information about unused blocks to be deleted. This speeds up system performance and increases the service life of the device.

You can check the activity of the service in the following way:

  1. Open a command prompt
  2. Copy the command fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
  3. The received response must contain the value DisableDeleteNotify = 0 or DisableDeleteNotify = 1. If the received value is 0, the TRIM function is active, if the value is 1, TRIM is not functioning.

This feature is enabled by default in Windows 7 and newer versions.

Disabling hibernation - sleep mode

System startup speed at SSD drive 5-6 times faster than HDD. The sleep mode function loses its relevance when using a solid state drive. Hibernate mode creates a system writable file. Disabling this feature simplifies system operation and optimizes device performance.

Disabling file indexing

File indexing occurs continuously and creates a writable file, which could theoretically reduce the time SSD services disk.

Disabling indexing will not affect the speed of file search, since the SSD has high speed working with files. You can disable indexing as follows:

  • Open the “My Computer” shortcut;
  • Open the properties of the required disk;
  • Uncheck the “Allow file contents to be indexed...” tab.

Installing a modern storage device not only speeds up the system, but also requires maintenance and detailed configuration.