Intel 535 Slow write speeds

[gipper53]

Hi All,

I recently did a drive clone of my C: drive using a Startech duplicator, cloning my previous Intel 335 240 GB drive. After cloning, I used EaseUS to merge the unallocated space on the drive. Everything went well, but I'm getting pretty low write speeds according to AS SSD. I'm getting just over 180 MB/s on Seq. Now, my previous 335 was not a speed demon, but it was getting around 240 MB/s writes in Seq. Now for writes I'm getting:

Seq. 180-185 MB/s
4K: 18 MB/s
4K-64Thrd: 95 MB/S
Acc. Time: 0.256 ms

Any ideas on how to speed this up? The new drive actually boots quicker and launches programs faster, so the real world performance is actually better than before. I have no complaints on the snappiness of the machine. But looking at the numbers, something just doesn't seem right.

I have AHCI enabled and have Intel's SSD toolbox installed, with everything checking out fine. My specs:

3770 in a Gigabyte Z77X-DH3
32 GB G.Skill 1600
Intel 535 480 GB for C:
Intel 335 240 GB (data drive)
3TB Toshiba spinner (data drive)
GTX 960 4GB

I found this link, which suggests wiping the drive clean with Intel secure erase fixed a 335 with similar issues. Hoping I don't have to do that, as I don't know to do this and keep the PC operating (if I pull my C: drive to wipe it clean, what do I boot from to re-image it?) I don't have spare drives, and not interested in messing with the ones I have data on to use as a temporary.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?285630-Slow-intel-335-ssd-on-Z77

Any help that does not involve wiping the drive clean would be much appreciated. If that's the only option, I'll deal with it when it's time for a fresh install of Windows. After 3+ years, I may be due.

Thanks,

 

[coercitiv]

Is disk caching enabled?

 

[gipper53]

Thanks for the reply. Yes it is.

 

[coercitiv]

Yes it is.

Was reading from tablet hence kept it short.

The numbers do seem off, writing speed should be better than that, both random and sequential. The link you posted above suggests a clean install due to incorrect partition alignment, you can check if your partitions are correctly aligned from your current install and confirm/discard this possibility.

 

[Elixer]

Does AS SSD show you are still aligned?
That could be the cause of the slowness.

 

[gipper53]

Thanks guys. I downloaded Minitool Partition Wizard, and it says the drive is aligned properly. AS SSD shows 103424 K.

 

[hojnikb]

sandforce based drives have tendency to lose write speeds over time (especially with incompressible data). Although it shouldn't be that sever.

A quick secure erase will fix that right up.

 

[gipper53]

Just following up - the drive has shown some improvement. I turned off the weekly scheduled "Optimizer" feature in the Intel SSD toolbox, which was set to run on Monday nights. Since doing so, it's been over a week the drive is now getting the following speeds:

Seq. 265-270 MB/s
4K: 19 MB/s
4K-64Thrd: 93 MB/S
Acc. Time: 0.246 ms

I'll keep the optimizer turned off and see if it improves any further, and report back either way. I can't explain it, but...