Question on Windows7 setup with SSD

[TheGardener]

Almost 2 years since I upgraded my HD to an SSD on my laptop. A computer service did this for me. I am very happy about their service (and cost). But about six months later, I discovered that they hadn't turned off the OS defragger. So I did this.

Out of curiosity I was wondering what else perhaps should have been done. I found this on the web,.

The next step is to enable TRIM. Type the following command in a command prompt to enable TRIM:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
Next, turn off Defragmentation. These drives should not be defragged.
Next, turn off indexing. This causes unnecessary writes.
Next, Click on Start -Right-Click Computer – Manage – Services and Applications – Services -Right-Click Windows Search – Properties Find the Startup type – Select Disabled – Click OK.


I don't know if TRIM has been enabled. Also indexing is set to Automatic - Delayed Start. What else of value could have been done when upgrading to an SSD? Everything seems to be working fine, so if it ain't broke...?

Will I even notice any benefits to changing the settings of TRIM and Indexing? Laptop is pretty much used for web viewing, light spreadsheet and document usage, and occasionally watching DVDs.

 

[SimMike2]

I don't turn off indexing because the My Pictures folder will not sort and display things the way I want. Windows 7 should automatically set the TRIM correctly.

 

[Elixer]

You don't mention which SSD you have, but, realistically, for your use case, don't worry about those settings.
Most of them have good GC support these days as well.

 

[tidy]

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[blankslate]

One thing you didn't check was to make sure the BIOS setting for the SATA interface is set to AHCI (instead of EIDE or legacy). Most modern SSDs will perform better with AHCI.

If it is set to EIDE (which might mean that the OS was installed while the SATA setting wasn't AHCI) then changing the SATA interface setting to AHCI may cause the SSD not to perform as well as it possibly can, even if it's still noticeably faster than an HDD(if the OS was installed while the bios setting was EIDE instead of AHCI)...

Also you can check the setting in the device manager for the drive controller. The driver used for the controller will indicate if it is AHCI mode or not, iirc.

http://superuser.com/questions/757936/check-if-my-ssd-in-runing-on-ahci-mode-inside-windows-7

Windows uses AHCI by default, but it may not be enabled if your BIOS wasn't set properly during installation of the operating system.

Check if you're using AHCI mode by viewing the list of controller drivers.

In Windows 7, click the "Start" button > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager

Click the arrow next to "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" to display the list of controller drivers currently used by your system.

Check for an entry that contains the acronym "AHCI." If an entry exists, and there is no yellow exclamation mark or red "X" over it, then AHCI mode is properly enabled. If you don't see an "AHCI" entry, or the only entry contains a red or yellow mark, then there's a problem and AHCI mode is not properly enabled.

Also you can check what is a driver system using:

Right click on one of controllers > Properties > Details tap > Change property to Service

pciide.sys = microsoft IDE driver
msahci = Microsoft AHCI driver
iastor.sys = Intel AHCI/RAID driver

As mentioned before Windows 7 shouldn't try to defrag an SSD but I double check and set the schedule to Never for the built in defrag program.


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[TheGardener]

Thank you for the replies. It's been too long to remember why I set the defrag to disable. But I believe I saw evidence way back when, that defrag was scheduled.

I should have pointed out above, that I had checked the BIOS for being set to AHCI prior to posting. And AHCI is selected.

I believe I am all set now. I won't turn off indexing. I use the directory a lot, and I like sorting things now and then.

An inquiry of TRIM shows it is enabled.

FWIW at this point, my SSD is a Kingston HyperX 240GB SATA III (SH103S3240G), which is a discontinued product. But the warranty is good through the end of 2018.

 

[tidy]

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