Correctly optimizing an SSD?

[Deleted member 342678]

Hi i got a new Samsung SSD 840 Evo which I'm about to install windoes 7 on. What would be some correct ways to optimize the lifetime and preformance of such a SSD drive?

I think i might avoid installing steam (for pc games) on my ssd as i could imagine dowinloading and deleting games would cause tear on my ssd

From another post (4 years old) i got the following information regarding optimizing an SSD (from Golgatha) http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2072259


1) Enable AHCI in BIOS.

2) Install Windows 7 and disable activate once connected to the Internet before installing. I disable auto-activation because a lot of my hardware and peripherals have to be installed following the main OS install. Also, I install Daemon tools to get a virtual drive. I've had both of these types of things trigger a reactivation in Windows, so I wait until all system drivers are installed and virtual drives are up and running before activating now.

3) If you have an Intel Chipset, install the latest chipset drivers as they do pass trim commands to the SSD. If you have a non-Intel chipset, leave it alone I suppose.

4) Use diskpart to make sure the SSD is aligned correctly (if you do a fresh Win7 or Vista install, it should be fine, but it takes 2 seconds to check so why not do it) following a successful install.

5) Disable system restore (you would do this even if you weren't using a SSD, as I agree, it is completely useless and furthermore is a resource hog).

6) Set your pagefile to be static (i.e. min and max size are the same) so Windows doesn't have to enlarge and reduce the size of it (this causes unnecessary wear and tear on the SSD too) when you're running a program which actually uses it. Pagefile should be 1-2x the amount of RAM present in the system. I have 12GB of RAM and have a static 12GB pagefile on my system FWIW.

7) Install all the other system device drivers, verify everything is working correctly, and then activate your copy of Windows.

8) Make an image of your system using Windows Backup, Acronis (I suppose you'll have to install 3rd party backup software before step 8 in my guide, so we'll call this step 7.1) , etc once Windows has been successfully activated.


Does this information agree with todays SSD technology? Are there more steps to consider when trying to optimize an SSD?

 

[code65536]

There's nothing special you need to do on W7 or newer for a SSD.

Step #3 is superfluous, BTW. Intel's chipset "driver" package, if you pay close attention to the name, is just a collection of INF files. They're not drivers. All they is prettify the names with "Intel (R)" in the device manager. The actual drivers are iastor and MEI, which are distributed as separate, standalone packages; the (useless) chipset INF package does have files for both the storage chipset and the MEI, but in the former, you'll still be using msahci (which, BTW, already supports TRIM) instead of iastor, and in the latter case, it just tells the device manager to shut up about the MEI without actually installing a MEI driver (and leaving the MEI deactivated, which can cause problems for things that need the MEI, like Blu-Ray DRM).

 

[rumpleforeskin]

1) Enable AHCI in BIOS.

You can enable this but the advantages are not as pronounced as with a mechanical drive (NCQ)

2) Install Windows 7 and disable activate once connected to the Internet before installing. I disable auto-activation because a lot of my hardware and peripherals have to be installed following the main OS install. Also, I install Daemon tools to get a virtual drive. I've had both of these types of things trigger a reactivation in Windows, so I wait until all system drivers are installed and virtual drives are up and running before activating now.

I also use daemon tools as a virtual drive but have not encountered any activation problems, no matter the order you do this it will not have any effect of the optimization of your SSD

3) If you have an Intel Chipset, install the latest chipset drivers as they do pass trim commands to the SSD. If you have a non-Intel chipset, leave it alone I suppose.

You should install the latest chipset drivers from the manufacturer when setting up the machine. Windows should detect that you have a SSD installed and enable trim and disable auto defrag. The intel chipset driver is not really a driver.

4) Use diskpart to make sure the SSD is aligned correctly (if you do a fresh Win7 or Vista install, it should be fine, but it takes 2 seconds to check so why not do it) following a successful install.

there are a few tools which will check SSD alignment and it is worth doing, I had a win7 install that was misaligned and it nearly halved the write performance. Paragon Alignment tool was used to realign.

5) Disable system restore (you would do this even if you weren't using a SSD, as I agree, it is completely useless and furthermore is a resource hog).

Not really relevant to SSD optimization but there are certainly better backup solutions available

6) Set your pagefile to be static (i.e. min and max size are the same) so Windows doesn't have to enlarge and reduce the size of it (this causes unnecessary wear and tear on the SSD too) when you're running a program which actually uses it. Pagefile should be 1-2x the amount of RAM present in the system. I have 12GB of RAM and have a static 12GB pagefile on my system FWIW.

This is not worth doing, unless you use an application that writes to the disk constantly 24/7/365 you would almost certainly be upgrading the drive before you wear it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory#Memory_wear
you can see a live stress test of the drive you are interested in here
http://ssdendurancetest.com/ssd-endurance-test-report/Samsung-840-EVO-120
as

7) Install all the other system device drivers, verify everything is working correctly, and then activate your copy of Windows.

The order you activate windows will make no difference to your SSD

8) Make an image of your system using Windows Backup, Acronis (I suppose you'll have to install 3rd party backup software before step 8 in my guide, so we'll call this step 7.1) , etc once Windows has been successfully activated.

Always backup to a separate and preferably "offsite" location, making a backup of a clean install is a good idea.

 

[Doppel]

I'm very new to SSD but my strong suspicion is that if I tell you not to worry about excessively reading/writing to it the experts will agree. By the time a modern SSD has worn out from excessive use it will have become obsolete anyway.

 

[Cerb]

You can enable this but the advantages are not as pronounced as with a mechanical drive (NCQ)

Lots of new drives perform worse than old drives for random reading at QD=1, and all of them perform better than older ones at QD>1. The advantages are enough that you should feel it being sluggish if you turn it off.

Steps to maximize performance and ease of use:
1. Make sure AHCI is on (it probably is).
2. Install the OS.
3. Run WinSAT.
4. Check the defragger, and make sure the SSD isn't scheduled, just in case.

All done.

Steps to maximize performance:
1. Install RST (for Iastor)

As to #2, order doesn't matter for non-MS software. Some MS software requires passing a genuine check, so needs activation first, but it otherwise won't matter.
As to #3, Windows' included drivers pass TRIM.
As to #4, Windows 7+'s installers align to 1MB at a minimum, so no worries.
As to #5, it's unrelated to SSDs. If you never get hosed by malware, fine. Do not so this for others, though, as System Restore is a quite useful feature, these days.
As to #6, this is a space-saving measure, not an SSD wear issue. Faster PF access is part of what's good about having an SSD in the first place.
As to #7, see $2.
As to #8, not at all SSD related. I've been doing it for years with HDDs, to save time and effort if all goes south. Of course, by preparing for it, it's never actually happened .

 

[mfenn]

There's nothing special you need to do on W7 or newer for a SSD.

Step #3 is superfluous, BTW. Intel's chipset "driver" package, if you pay close attention to the name, is just a collection of INF files. They're not drivers. All they is prettify the names with "Intel (R)" in the device manager. The actual drivers are iastor and MEI, which are distributed as separate, standalone packages; the (useless) chipset INF package does have files for both the storage chipset and the MEI, but in the former, you'll still be using msahci (which, BTW, already supports TRIM) instead of iastor, and in the latter case, it just tells the device manager to shut up about the MEI without actually installing a MEI driver (and leaving the MEI deactivated, which can cause problems for things that need the MEI, like Blu-Ray DRM).

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thank you, I am glad that there is at least one other person in the world who understands what the INF update utility is (or in this case, isn't).