My 80GB Intel X25-M SSD Queries

NeoVo

NeoVo

NeoVo

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Hello ocuk :)

Received my SSD today, very impressed i must say. Few little things are bothering me though.

1. I installed it with my Configure SATA set to IDE, I read that AHCI is preffered as it allows you to use the TRIM function. I've installed the 'Intel SSD Toolbox' and by running the TRIM, it appears to be doing something but takes about 5 minutes, is that normal? or is that because im in IDE?

2. From a fresh install, all iv installed thats disk drive related is the Intel 1.50 firmware and the toolbox, do i need to install the intel matrix storage manager or is that of no use?

3. Iv disabled scheduled defrags, disabled superfetch, disabled drive indexing, disabled search index and disabled the pagefile, any other suggestions

4. Do these speeds look right?

capturetq.jpg
 
1. I installed it with my Configure SATA set to IDE, I read that AHCI is preffered as it allows you to use the TRIM function. I've installed the 'Intel SSD Toolbox' and by running the TRIM, it appears to be doing something but takes about 5 minutes, is that normal? or is that because im in IDE?
Click to expand...

sorry cant help with your question, i have just received my Intel 80 x25 m and about to install like you have.

I thought that if you are running windows 7 then it automatically enables trim?

did you install in IDE first and then switch to AHCI in bios, does it make a difference?
 
You don't need AHCI for TRIM, but it's worth enabling anyway because it allows the controller to reorder queue requests for maximum efficiency ... so it's faster whenever there's lots of activity.

Trim is enabled on win7 as long as you are using the default drivers, if you update your motherboard drivers (which improves performance) you will need to use the Intel SSD toolbox to Trim your drive, you can schedule this to run once a day.

You can switch to AHCI after installing in IDE mode easily in Vista or Win7. Theres a registry setting you need to change (google vista AHCI registry), and then reboot and set the BIOS to AHCI.
 
I've been umming and ahhing about enabling the pagefile on my SSD but I just can't decide whether it's a good thing or a bad thing to do. SSDs have limited writes so logic dictates that the page file would be best located on a second hard drive but Microsoft seem to say that its OK to have the page file on an SSD. It's confusing really as websites tend to recommend moving the pagefile onto a hard drive.

I currently have one 1.5 GB page file located on the fastest hard drive in my system, which is the Samsung Spinpoint F3, and the tests I've ran with the pagefile on the SSD and on the HDD don't seem to make any difference whatsoever to the performance of my machine. As such I've left the pagefile on the HDD.

As for TRIM... I'm confused. On my PC, Windows 7 reports that it is enabled (using the fsutil command) but I have the Intel chipset drivers installed for the SATA ports so TRIM wouldn't be working would it? I mean just because something is enabled doesn't make it is actually working or being used. To be honest, I've been wondering for a week or so now whether TRIM is actually working on my Crucial SSD even though it has the v1819 firmware. I'm guessing it wasn't because using the C_Wiper.exe tool seems to immediately improve read and write speeds again.

I'm running my HDDs in IDE mode so where *exactly* should I be looking in the Device Manager to check the drivers for them? Which ones should I be using? (A screenshot or two would be handy, ta!)
 
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I read on ocz tech site that the pagefile carries out a large number of read/write cycles that can wear out the drive quicker than normal so i decided to disable it, now disabled it.

Enabled AHCI, cant say iv noticed a hell of a lot of difference.

Only thing that irritates me so far is that i expected the windows 7 welcome screen (spinning blue loading circle) to be shortened, but then as soon as i get onto my desktop all my startup apps are loaded (except steam, which is on Samsung F1, hehe).

Anyone know if theres a way of shortening it?
 
Hi guys,:)
Just having a read through and i confess to knowing next to nothing about what you are discussing,
however i am very interested as i have 2 intel ssds in raid 0 and i too would like to know if my speeds look ok..

crystaldiskjan2010.png


Please could some one if possible explain how to find out so i can check on my system if this Trim thing is working and as for AHCI should i or shouldnt i
Im running win7 x64
Again go easy guys im still learning :D
Cheers..
 
For what its worth, instead of disabling swap, I disabled the swap on the SSD to save space, but enabled swap on my raid0 "standard" disks. As I have 6GB the swap is almost never used, and I noticed no degraded performance moving swap from the SSD to the magnetic disks. Much better than losing 10% of the SSD's capacity to swap :)
 
Zarf said:
You don't need AHCI for TRIM, but it's worth enabling anyway because it allows the controller to reorder queue requests for maximum efficiency ... so it's faster whenever there's lots of activity.
Click to expand...

Which isn't all that useful for a SSD considering they have close to zero access times.
 
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