Windows 8.1 - !!WARNING!! - Defrags SSD drives by default

Arthur Hucksake · 31 Oct 2013 at 05:54

After getting strange error messages relating to the System Reserved partition in Win 8.1 , I did a little digging.

It appears that by removing WEI , Win 8.1 is not correctly configuring the OS environment for SSDs.

http://www.tweakhound.com/2012/11/14/windows-8-ssd-settings-etc/

Prefetch

As I had found earlier (Windows 8.1 RTM And SSDs) Windows 8.1 IS NOT optimizing itself for SSDs. This is a direct result of pulling WEI / Winsat assessment.
- All 4 machines SSDs were correctly identified as such (check defrag).
- All prefetch settings were:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
“EnableSuperfetch”=dword:00000003
“EnablePrefetcher”=dword:00000003
- ran winsat formal, rebooted. Prefetch settings changed to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
“EnablePrefetcher”=dword:00000003

The EnableSuperfetch value was removed.

- – - – - – - – - -

ReadyBoot

ReadyBoot is also disabled by running winsat formal. Key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\ReadyBoot]
“Start”=dword:00000000

Start value changed from 1 to 0

- – - – - – - – - -

I recommend you run winsat formal.
Press the Windows + R keys and type winsat formal .
Now check the folder C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore for the scores.

Go to the above key ( press the Windows + R keys type regedit) and remove the EnableSuperfetch value and change ReadyBoot value.

Download registry file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/16v89rwm3o45mec/OptimizeWindows81SSD_v1.reg

Poor show Microsoft.

I looked a bit further and noticed that Windows have been defragging my SSD ....AND... Trimming it.

Event viewer "The storage optimiser successfully completed defragmentation on (C)"

Look under Application > Event ID 258 and check out the results. Windows 8.1 defrags your SSDs out of the box!!! :mad:

I found the following article on this topic.

http://www.outsidethebox.ms/why-windows-8-defragments-your-ssd-and-how-you-can-avoid-this/

I wonder how many SSD drives this is going to kill, this isn't exactly common knowledge to most. Pretty disappointing.

An extra note is that it will not allow me to optimise \ trim the system reserved partition whatsoever.

paradigm · 31 Oct 2013 at 10:44

They haven't pulled WinSAT though, just WEI.

You can still run a WinSAT assessment from CLI. Does doing so resolve the misconfiguration issue of the OS?

Gav_881 · 31 Oct 2013 at 11:22

Just another reason to not buy Win 8, whilst there are workarounds this is the sort of thing they should be required to patch imho

KIA · 31 Oct 2013 at 11:49

Yikes. Thanks for the heads-up.

ukpete · 31 Oct 2013 at 11:54

What does this mean, I use a ssd and win8? i'm also thick

Arthur Hucksake · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:03

paradigm said:
They haven't pulled WinSAT though, just WEI.

You can still run a WinSAT assessment from CLI. Does doing so resolve the misconfiguration issue of the OS?

It does, it does change the superfetch options and such.

It is a nasty bug, because it does show "Optimise" correctly when you do a manual TRIM so you are none the wiser.

It was only when getting errors within event viewer I bothered to look.

The biggest issue is that auto scheduled optimise, also defrags your SSD.

Not cool Microsoft, not cool.

Arthur Hucksake · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:07

ukpete said:
What does this mean, I use a ssd and win8? i'm also thick

It means Windows 8.1 by default will thrash your SSD with a defrag without you even knowing.

Disable the schedule for optimise on your SSD and do it manually.

spoffle · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:12

So if I deselect my C drive (SSDs) from within the Defrag & Optimise drives options, that should be enough for Windows not to thrash my SSDs?

I've just done that now, and it say that my disk has never been defragged, I've had Windows 8.1 on the PC with an SSD for less than a week, and it's set to defrag weekly, so that makes enough sense as none of my other non SSD disk drives have been defragged either.

How do I go about running TRIM?

Django x2 · 31 Oct 2013 at 12:18

I'm calling this a non issue. After all, I just checked my Win 8.1 regedit on two PCs both with different SSDs and I didn't have the EnableSuperFetch value in either of them and the ReadyBoot key was already set to 0

linktoinsanity · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:34

I've checked my laptop's logs and the TRIM status and get the 0 reply. Does this only affect new installs or does it affect Win8 upgrades as well?

The Deuce · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:40

just checked mine and it had defragged my ssd 6 days ago, thanks for this, quickly turned off

Trifid · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:46

Also had a defrag from last week. Cheers for the heads up.

linktoinsanity · 31 Oct 2013 at 16:57

I've done more digging and this "appears" to be an issue with Windows 8 as well as 8.1.

Though is it not just wording? And it actually optimizes the SSD rather than defragments it like it seems to say?

Emlyn_Dewar · 31 Oct 2013 at 17:25

WTF!? How can they have stuffed this up?

Disk defragment has been running on my SSD... FFS. Idiots.

stevejigga · 31 Oct 2013 at 17:32

just turned mine off said mine was last done today.

Arthur Hucksake · 31 Oct 2013 at 17:45

linktoinsanity said:
I've done more digging and this "appears" to be an issue with Windows 8 as well as 8.1.

Though is it not just wording? And it actually optimizes the SSD rather than defragments it like it seems to say?

Afraid not.

When it optimises, here is the description.

The storage optimiser successfully completed re-trim on (C : )

And the evil ones are...

The storage optimiser successfully completed defragmentation on (C : )

You can check in event viewer. Go to Windows > Application and look for Event ID 258.

Arthur Hucksake · 31 Oct 2013 at 17:47

linktoinsanity said:
I've checked my laptop's logs and the TRIM status and get the 0 reply. Does this only affect new installs or does it affect Win8 upgrades as well?

Yup. I updated from 8 to 8.1 , I was probably getting fragged for months on Win 8 and never knew.

SSD killer galore.

gareth170 · 31 Oct 2013 at 17:52

deleted

KIA · 31 Oct 2013 at 18:16

Code:

The storage optimiser successfully completed defragmentation on (C:)

EDIT: This might be a case of misleading messages in the event log. http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...57-4aa4-9cf5-437d5e212c9c&hl=en&gl=uk&strip=1

shankly1985 · 31 Oct 2013 at 18:17

Edit seems I do have logs of this Defragging my SSD
The storage optimiser successfully completed defragmentation on (C: