The SSD setup/performance guide

[sachinbadiani]

Thank you for the guide David, I will be following it tonight.

 

[David-Stephens]

Hey all havent focused on SSDs with all the new GPU tech coming out right now, still following the intel SSD firmware bug, will update this guide in a rather large format soon

 

[ChileanLlama]

Nice guide, just some observations/comments for your consideration.

Windows 7 (applies to vista) - Performance tweaks

Virtual Memory -
Some swear by this method, others say avoid at all costs. In the case of 4gb on vista 64 bit I disabled my VM

Microsoft recommend leaving this on the SSD, the way Windows 7 reads/writes the pagefile is ideal for SSDs. I would if needed, put a static pagefile on the SSD, but I wouldn't turn it off as many programs will fall over if a pagefile is absent. Neither would I move it to another drive.

Defragment -
Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services
Locate Disk Defragmenter and stop this service.
Alternatively should you have HDD as well Computer > "Properties" of any drive > Tools > Defragment Now
This brings up the overview where you can set scheduling and when certain drives should be Defragmented. For the SSD go ahead and change it to never, go the the schedule and click off "Run on a schedule"

Windows 7 is pretty reliable at disabling this for SSDs, it is just not very visual at showing it! The way to tell is if under the schedule options the SSD can't be selected individually.

Superfetch
Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services
Properties > Disable

If you have a slow drive, not one of the current generation, then it may be best to leave Superfetch on.

Windows Search
Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services
Properties disable
You can still use task bar search ect with this disabled. We disable this to improve SSD performance

You won't notice any difference from this tweak. The access time of an SSD makes having search on redundant so it's safe to do, just users won't see any real benefit in terms of performance from this.

TRIM - is it even on?

If you run an administrative command prompt and type:
fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
if it returns 0 then it is on in Windows

TRIM will only work with drives that have firmware that supports it and will only work on RAID configurations where the controller supports it. Right now the latest drivers for your AHCI controller should be by intel (assuming intel mobo) and this will allow trim to work

Device manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
Find your AHCI controller > go to its properties and update the driver

No do not update your drivers, only the Microsoft drivers shipped with Windows 7 currently pass the TRIM command to the controller. Updating to the latest Intel drivers, or any Intel drivers not included within Windows 7 will not support TRIM. Hopefully this will change in the near future.

 

[miniyazz]

Microsoft recommend leaving this on the SSD, the way Windows 7 reads/writes the pagefile is ideal for SSDs. I would if needed, put a static pagefile on the SSD, but I wouldn't turn it off as many programs will fall over if a pagefile is absent. Neither would I move it to another drive.

Many? Some, but not more than a few, at most; I never came across such a program when I was running with no page file for a few months. Certainly the SSD is the best place for it

 

[ChileanLlama]

Pagefile's a whole other discussion, but it does depend on what programs you're running. I'd prefer to leave it as MS intended, they've done far more analysis than us but on a small drive it is an area to cut back on.

 

[miniyazz]

Indeed.

 

[superflyguy]

I've been running Vista64 since February with no pagefile.
Lean build of Win7 x64 with no pagefile since release.

Never had any program complain as yet, prolific TF2 player and various media players.

 

[Jabbs]

2. Disconnect all other sata storage devices
3. Boot up pc go to MOBO bios and set the storage to ACHI

So i follow that and put it on ACHI and unplug my 2 sata drives, install windows do i then leave ACHI enabled ? then plug my sata drives in and reboot.

 

[Qdos]

Thanks a lot for the guide, as a SSD newbie (64gb Crucial M225) it's a real help.

One question I have: I just installed Windows 7 as you would do normally (without enabling ACHI in BIOS, with a full format when installing). Have I missed out on anything by doing it that way? Boot up times are satisfyingly quick, I can't see it making much difference?

 

[Jabbs]

This is what i need to know got my intel drive coming tomorrow, do i or don't i and if so when its done do you change ACHI to disabled or will my other 2 sata 2 harddrives work with it on.

 

[CBJ]

Thanks for this. It has been useful.

Edit: Apologies for the blatant showing off, but I had to show someone this:

 

[Jabbs]

Got mine up and running despite some issues to start with i can't believe how fast games load on it, i installed Arma 2 and its so fast and i can honestly say the game runs much better than it did on my old harddrive.

Big performance boost its clear to see , only draw back is now i can't install all my games on it.