New to SSDs? Read this first before asking questions! (UPDATED 07/17/2011)

[Zap]

Just got my first computer with an SSD in it and wondering if these are good or bad scores? Is it functioning properly you think?

http://i.imgur.com/8dXJs4R.png

Depends on the SSD. You don't mention what you have. The reads look great - pretty much maxing out SATA 6Gb/s. The writes look a bit weak, but is not uncommon.

Also, looks as if you are testing your C: drive. You will get highest benchmark scores if you hook it up to another computer and test it as a blank drive.

 

[boozie]

I have an Intel 320 and wanted to know what I can do to test it and what statistic I am looking for when concerned about load times (random read IOPS?)? I used steam mover to move a game from my HD to my SSD and the saved games still take the same 15 seconds to load.

 

[tincu]

Hi guys, I am considering into buying an SSD - Samsung 840 EVO Basic, 120GB and given the fact that I want to migrate from an HDD to SSD, I did some research on how extend it's life. I am using a laptop so, the SSD will replace the HDD.
What I want to know is if it's possible to continue with my usual stuff (dj software, photoshop, utorrent, browsing, watching movies, etc) or should I change some of it?
My biggest concern is torrenting.
I came to understanding that I should deactivate in Windows defragmentation, indexing, hibernation, sleep mode, superfetch, prefetch, the system restore, shrink the pagefile, activate triming, deactivate winsat from task scheduler and turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing. There is no problem with that, but is it enough in order to have this SSD working for at least 3 years?
I was thinking on using a 16gb SDHC card for downloading torrents, so I don't occupy space on the SSD and don't abuse on the writes/reads cycles.
In conclusion - am I good to go and start using an SSD on my daily routine
- is an SDHC memory card a good idea or isn't worth?

 

[SSBrain]

Hi guys, I am considering into buying an SSD - Samsung 840 EVO Basic, 120GB and given the fact that I want to migrate from an HDD to SSD, I did some research on how extend it's life. I am using a laptop so, the SSD will replace the HDD.
What I want to know is if it's possible to continue with my usual stuff (dj software, photoshop, utorrent, browsing, watching movies, etc) or should I change some of it?

I have a Samsung 840 250 GB (with TLC memory) and use my drive for everything, from torrents to virtual machines, to browsing and image editing. In about 9 months of use I've written about 6.5 terabytes worth of data and I'm still at about 3.5% wear, despite hammering it with writes often almost on purpose.

You don't need to follow any "optimization guide" in order to use your SSD. Most of them are based on misconceptions and irrational fears.

My biggest concern is torrenting.

Torrents are likely not going to be your primary source of drive writes unless you're downloading 24/7 at full DSL speed.

I came to understanding that I should deactivate in Windows defragmentation

Windows 7 and 8 will not defragment your SSD on a schedule.

indexing

Overall doesn't do a relevant amount of writes unless you index very frequently changing folders like for example your browser cache (which would be very stupid. Anyway, this won't happen by default).

hibernation

Depends on how often you do it, but you have to keep in mind that actual writes will be much less than you think. Windows only writes actively used data in RAM, and compresses it too. You really just need to disable only if you're low on space.

sleep mode

Won't affect drive writes.

superfetch, prefetch

No need to disable.

the system restore, shrink the pagefile

Only if you're short on space.

activate triming

This should already be enabled by default.

deactivate winsat from task scheduler

This is just pointless.

and turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing.

Not a smart idea for data integrity. Also it won't avoid writes. Data will have to be flushed anyway, sooner or later.

There is no problem with that, but is it enough in order to have this SSD working for at least 3 years?

You don't need to do anything at all to make the SSD work for at least 3 years. In fact it will likely last much more than that unless you're a power user writing several dozen gigabytes of data per day.

I was thinking on using a 16gb SDHC card for downloading torrents, so I don't occupy space on the SSD and don't abuse on the writes/reads cycles.

In conclusion - am I good to go and start using an SSD on my daily routine
- is an SDHC memory card a good idea or isn't worth?

You don't really need to do anything to use your SSD. They are much more resilient than what popular belief suggests. Yes, even drives with TLC NAND memory like the 840/840 EVO.

 

[Cerb]

Hi guys, I am considering into buying an SSD - Samsung 840 EVO Basic, 120GB and given the fact that I want to migrate from an HDD to SSD, I did some research on how extend it's life. I am using a laptop so, the SSD will replace the HDD.
What I want to know is if it's possible to continue with my usual stuff (dj software, photoshop, utorrent, browsing, watching movies, etc) or should I change some of it?
My biggest concern is torrenting.
I came to understanding that I should deactivate in Windows...

Install the SSD, physically, with no other drives installed, except the OS installation media (looks like that's your only choice, here).

Install Windows 7 or newer, from scratch.

Update it, and reinstall your software.

All done.



There's plenty in Windows you can go and disable, but don't do it because you have an SSD. FI, disable hibernate to gain space, if you don't use hibernate. Disable indexing only if you never use search, else remove indexed locations, if you want to save a little time (it shouldn't index SSD locations, anyway, except for a few of them, like the start menu, so even that is more of an HDD-centric tweak). Disable Superfetch if it wastes IO time loading files you'd rather it didn't, rather than files you might use. Et cetera.

Windows 7 and newer have SSDs in mind, starting at the installer.

- is an SDHC memory card a good idea or isn't worth?

For devices that can only use SDHC, or for which other storage is inconvenient, of course it is. Otherwise, Hell no. You will quickly wear out that SD card, and if you get a slow SD card, it may be slower than your internet connection, and actually bottleneck your torrents (SDs not capable of even 10 IOPS are still being sold). You will not quickly wear out that SSD.

But, if you're likely to run out of space with 120GB, find a sale on a ~250GB SSD, instead of fussing about with silly software tweaks. It's worth it to go ahead and get the bigger drive, instead. If you're in the U.S., $150-160 is a typical ~250GB sale. I've seen the Toshiba THNSNH, Samsung 840 Evo, and Sandisk Ultra Plus 250GBs for one of those prices within the past 2 weeks, just counting Newegg promo emails.

 

[tincu]

Thanks you so much for your replies! You sure were fast.

 

[ejjpi]

finally ubuntu has announced that it will have TRIM enabled by default starting from its next release.

 

[joseph0042]

Helpful, Thanks!

 

[gsuburban]

For those who haven't heard...OCZ filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and Toshiba is purchasing all of OCZ's SSD technology including the hardware.

Apparently, the power supply and DRAM products are not part of this buyout.

 

[Dr-Kiev]

For those who haven't heard...OCZ filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and Toshiba is purchasing all of OCZ's SSD technology including the hardware.

Apparently, the power supply and DRAM products are not part of this buyout.

First SSD gigant-developer failed on market. They sold much more drives than the rest vendors. Nothing good for this SSD technology in future.
SSD die more often than anyone expected ;(

 

[acriticalcookie]

Wait, question.
So if I want to save my Windows 7 data onto a mech drive, I just put it into another folder?
What do you mean? wouldn't the hard drive just keep the data from before? Wouldn't you need to reformat?
I don't understand.

 

[taltamir]

First SSD gigant-developer failed on market. They sold much more drives than the rest vendors. Nothing good for this SSD technology in future.
SSD die more often than anyone expected ;(

actually a whole lot of people expected it.
The small companies are dying because they can't compete with the chip producers.
OCZ was a little bigger then the other small companies and actually bought out a controller, but they had a history of unreliable products and poor customer service. And unreliable is a really really bad thing when it comes to storage.

 

[Turab]

Good job Zap.

This is really an huge source of information about SSDs.

 

[r0n]

Anyone who has been doubting TLC memory [ that includes me ] should feel very confident about the data integrity and longevity of the drive as now three-bit-NAND-based SSD for servers and data centers is being sold by samsung.

See more at: http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=36226#sthash.6qr4S1Cx.dpuf

 

[Cerb]

Fort read-most workloads, that makes a lot of sense regardless of relative longevity, kind of like Micron's M500DC. Neither will take over, but both are likely to, "get the foot in the door," for cheaper flash.

 

[Tr4nd]

Great information on SSDs on the first page, thinking of rebuilding my 6 year old PC, SSDs seems to really awesome for everything except the price...

 

[Charlie98]

Great information on SSDs on the first page, thinking of rebuilding my 6 year old PC, SSDs seems to really awesome for everything except the price...

They are <.50/GB now... That's awesomeness by itself. I remember paying $100 for a 60GB SSD not too long ago.

 

[taq8ojh]

The incredible speed increase over normal disks is worth any price increase you might think of.
I would never go back to using a conventional disk for OS, I'd rather not use the PC at all.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'm really bummed out that my PC is never going to feel any faster now that I just upgraded:

http://imgur.com/UdZ5zL3

 

[jackd1839]

Hey niceone. Thanks for updating my knowledge

 

[Steve Rimar]

My plan is to have the SSD as my boot drive and a HD as my storage and work drive. I attached the Intel 330 180gb SSD to my pc. All other drives were removed. I started Windows 7 Home Premium 64 to do a clean install. Windows goes through all the steps and tries to restart on the very last step but nothing happens. I end up with a blank screen. My Windows copy is on a CD that I purchased several years ago. I changed the controllers to AHCI from IDE before running Windows CD.
System specs are below. Any help appreciated.

My system Specs Are below. I took the specs after loading windows from my original HD.

Computer Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Computer Model P55-USB3 Operating System (O/S) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit Operating System Build (O/S) 7601 Operating System (version) 6.1.7601 O/S Language 0409 System RAM 8.2 GB .NET Framework Version 3.5.30729.5420 CD or DVD Device ASUS DRW-24B1ST ATA Device System Hard Drive Overview System Total Storage Size: 1.1 TB Local Disk C: 931.4 GB Used space: 621.7 GB Free Space: 309.7 GB Local Disk G: 167.7 GB Used space: 20.9 GB Free Space: 146.7 GB Memory Detail Total Physical Memory 8.2 GB Available Physical Memory 5.6 GB Total Virtual Memory 2.0 GB Physical Drive 0 Maker Model WDC WD1001FALS-00E8B0 Bus Type ATA Physical Drive 1 Maker Model INTEL SSDSC2CT180A3 Bus Type ATA Internet Browser [101] Internet Explorer Internet Browser Version [101] 11.0.9600.17501

 

[darkfalz]

At install time you can use OOBE scripts to move your Users and ProgramData folders to the data drive - this is how I do it in dual disk builds, including SSD+HDD builds. Better than manually moving various libraries to D instead. Since getting an SSD I do a three disk build, SSD for OS, HDD for data and second HDD for Games (keeping new/favourites on SSD of course)

 

[jime1]

Thinking about getting a V300 120GB, please notify if any1 experienced something funny with this drive. tia

 

[Cerb]

Thinking about getting a V300 120GB, please notify if any1 experienced something funny with this drive. tia

The funny thing is that if you don't look carefully, you'd expect it to be fast.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Kingston-SSDNow-V300-120GB/Rating/1892
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1360-kingston-v300-asynchronous-vs-synchronous-benchmark/Page-2
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...itching-cheaper-components-after-good-reviews
http://techreport.com/review/26664/alleged-bait-and-switch-tactics-spur-kingston-pny-ssd-boycott
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2372270

 

[jime1]

The funny thing is that if you don't look carefully, you'd expect it to be fast.
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Kingston-SSDNow-V300-120GB/Rating/1892
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1360-kingston-v300-asynchronous-vs-synchronous-benchmark/Page-2
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...itching-cheaper-components-after-good-reviews
http://techreport.com/review/26664/alleged-bait-and-switch-tactics-spur-kingston-pny-ssd-boycott
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2372270

I'm on tight budget, so I'll just have to believe that its fast
and be happy, tysm bro. That means I'm good to go.