Samsung Magician - OS Optimization question

jrichrds

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,537
3
81
Under Advanced tab of OS Optimization...
Prefetch/Superfetch - Deactivates features that SSDs do not use.

The button next to it is currently is on "Activate." Does this mean Prefetch/Superfetch is currently deactivated? Or does it mean I have to click on the button to 'activate' the optimization feature of deactivating Prefetch/Superfetch?
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
62
91
No, it means it's currently deactivated... click the button to 'activate' PF/SF.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,048
1,679
126
I finally ran magician and did the suggested settings. I couldn't see a difference.. :)

I was faced with the same ambiguities, and I wanted to assure that "RAPID" would be successfully implemented. I think there were three Magician profiles to choose from. I finally chose "reliability."

I watch my event logs. I had tweaked "Prefetch" and "ReadyBoot" to get rid of an error -- recording Error: 0x . . . . 088. The error came back during the installation as a result of my choices in Magician, but after the reboots necessary for RAPID, it went away.

They could do better with those selection windows and make it clearer whether you need to press the button, or not.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,048
1,679
126
I always choose the MaXimum Performance option

I set mine to the "Reliability" option.

Then I reactivated PreFetch and (I think -- ) ReadyBoot. I think I tripled the limit on the ReadyBoot cache, which had been 128MB.

Seq-Read and Seq Write actually improved a little from the initial RAPID setting, but there was a tiny and relatively insignificant hit to the IOPS statistics.

I re-activated these items -- one button in Magician -- because I'm troubleshooting a problem with backup to WHS-2011, which seems to derive from VSS/shadow-copy limitations. I'm trying alternative backup methods while I sort this out. This is my own machine, and I'm more concerned about getting useable backups for restoring three other household machines -- for which the WHS feature is working perfectly.
 

dg3274

Junior Member
Jul 16, 2005
2
0
0
Does anyone know what the Magician software actually does to disable Prefetch? From reading around the net it looks like you have to change the EnablePrefetcher reg key at HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters from 3 to 0. But after telling the Magician software to deactivate SuperFetch/Prefetch it does not change this key and the value stays at the default of 3. Is it disabling it in another way?
 

G73S

Senior member
Mar 14, 2012
635
0
0
Does anyone know what the Magician software actually does to disable Prefetch? From reading around the net it looks like you have to change the EnablePrefetcher reg key at HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters from 3 to 0. But after telling the Magician software to deactivate SuperFetch/Prefetch it does not change this key and the value stays at the default of 3. Is it disabling it in another way?
it just disables the service
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
Does anyone know what the Magician software actually does to disable Prefetch? From reading around the net it looks like you have to change the EnablePrefetcher reg key at HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters from 3 to 0. But after telling the Magician software to deactivate SuperFetch/Prefetch it does not change this key and the value stays at the default of 3. Is it disabling it in another way?

Out of curiosity, I booted my laptop - it has Sammy SSD. After booting, Magician pops up a YES/NO box, and I select YES. I then went to RegEdit and looked at HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ Prefetch. It showed the parameter as 0. My Magician setting is for Max Performance.
 

G73S

Senior member
Mar 14, 2012
635
0
0
Out of curiosity, I booted my laptop - it has Sammy SSD. After booting, Magician pops up a YES/NO box, and I select YES. I then went to RegEdit and looked at HKLM \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ Prefetch. It showed the parameter as 0. My Magician setting is for Max Performance.
IMO, you should not use the Max Performance in OS Optimization but should stick to Max Reliability.

Why? Speed wise, there is no difference,

the difference is, Max Performance enables Hibernation, enables Indexing, and uses the OS Page File settings, which are all bad for your SSD

Hibernation, who needs that?! SSDs would boot faster without a hiberfile than they would trying to retrieve what's in the hibernation file and load it back into memory. + the extra writes to your SSD which you don't want

Indexing, it well known that SSDs do not need indexing, they are so fast that indexing is useless to pull up search results and only adds more random writes to your SSD

Page file, the max reliability locks your page file at 200 MB min / 1024 MB Max which is perfect for an SSD rather than keep it as the OS default settings which on Windows 7 are equal to your RAM size and on Windows 8 are about 5-7 GB, useless if you have more than 8 GB RAM
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
Yep! I agree. Max reliability suits me better anyway. BTW - if you use the Advanced Settings tab, you can manually tailor things. BTW, I disabled Hibernation using Command Prompt, elevated Mode. I never use hibernation or sleep.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,048
1,679
126
Yep! I agree. Max reliability suits me better anyway. BTW - if you use the Advanced Settings tab, you can manually tailor things. BTW, I disabled Hibernation using Command Prompt, elevated Mode. I never use hibernation or sleep.

The only thing I wish for as pertains to Samsung and RAPID : a larger cache size. Someone here -- in this or another thread -- posted a link to an outfit called "Romex Software" and their "PrimoCache" product. It is unclear to me whether this offers an alternative to ISRT-caching or Marvell's "HyperDuo," or if it includes options beyond SSD/HDD caching to include RAM caching of SSDs. Just scanning their promotional info and diagrams, it seems to suggest this latter possibility.

BUT! There's always a better assurance things will work flawlessly when the drivers and solutions are provided by the HW manufacturer, rather than another party.

I think I may be right about the Romex option, though. And I think I read where it saves the RAM caching contents to SSD or HDD, so that the solution works more like ISRT. With RAPID, you create a new cache at every boot-up.

ON HIBERNATION AND SLEEP-STATES: I may be coming back to the crossroads on this system (in my sig). I don't want it to sleep most of the time, because I use it for HTPC duty. That application has so little impact on CPU usage -- the only requirement is total stability. But because I have the option of switching over to cable-box HD on the same HDTV for the same channels including premiums, I might want to sleep the computer here and there.

In this case, the OC settings may defeat that possibility, or -- if I've been able to sleep the system and wake it up soon thereafter -- it hasn't been sufficiently tested. There had been a problem with sleep-states and OC-settings that included "PLL-overvoltage enabled." But mine is disabled.
 
Last edited:

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
Just a thought. In Win7, after boot, there is a popup that has a YES or NO response to letting Magician make changes. A "Yes" then allows it to execute those services. A "No" does not let them happen. At least that is how it works in my Thinkpad.
 

G73S

Senior member
Mar 14, 2012
635
0
0
Just a thought. In Win7, after boot, there is a popup that has a YES or NO response to letting Magician make changes. A "Yes" then allows it to execute those services. A "No" does not let them happen. At least that is how it works in my Thinkpad.
never ever seen that. strange

only in Win 8 the UAC popup shows but that's it

I have no idea why you're getting that

when you do, pls take a screenshot and post it

additionally, pls confirm that you are running the latest version of Magician 4.3
 

Z15CAM

Platinum Member
Nov 20, 2010
2,184
64
91
www.flickr.com
In my opinion Samsung Magician is a piece of CRAP!

Samsung can not even write software that will handle Intel Sata Raid - Not saying their SSD's will not TRIM in Raid but because SATA RAID, with or without the IRST Dvr, is not recognized by the Samsung Magician Software.

Wake up Samsung and write descent Software.

I apologize for my Blurp but man Samsung WAKE UP - We're don't have to be IDE or AHCI confined.

PS: There are other Simple Progies out there that work with the Samsung SSD's (240 Pro or 830's) seated, not part of an array, on an Intel Raid Sata Port are written by Russians and I hope ASUS AI Suite (Another piece of CRAP) programmers a listen up - Perhaps it's against their money grabbing Co's policies.
 
Last edited:

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
never ever seen that. strange only in Win 8 the UAC popup shows but that's it I have no idea why you're getting that when you do, pls take a screenshot and post it additionally, pls confirm that you are running the latest version of Magician 4.3

It is in Win 7, and it IS the UAC popup.

UAC.jpg


Yes, v. 4.3. It is just UAC, but it controls whether or not Magician is allowed to make changes, i.e., be active. On my system, this is part of the load cycle following boot.

Z15CAM's opinion is noted. Does not apply to me - I don;t RAID.
 

G73S

Senior member
Mar 14, 2012
635
0
0
It is in Win 7, and it IS the UAC popup.

UAC.jpg


Yes, v. 4.3. It is just UAC, but it controls whether or not Magician is allowed to make changes, i.e., be active. On my system, this is part of the load cycle following boot.

Z15CAM's opinion is noted. Does not apply to me - I don;t RAID.

1) Same behavior if I am on Windows 8.1 since disabling the UAC breaks the OS, so I leave UAC on.

I am on Windows 7, and the first thing I do is disable UAC so thats why I don't see any retarded popups, which 99% of the time people click yes anyway. You are an advanced PC user and IMHO, you do not need UAC. It's not like you are going to run a virus or bogus app and allow it admin access. just my 2 cents.

2) Samsung Magician DOES NOT need to be running on startup. Once the OS optimizations have been applied, in fact, you never need to run it again unless you want to benchmark or do the performance optimization.

3) If you had enabled RAPID like me, still, Magician is not needed on startup since RAPID creates its own startup entries to work.

so go ahead and remove magician from startup, once the OS optimizations are done, they are permanent settings bro

If you still want it to run on startup and not see the UAC prompt, then try this:

Create elevated Shortcut to run Program bypassing UAC Prompt in Windows 8 | 7

Proof:

http://forums.tweakarena.com/showthread.php?p=1054

http://www.eightforums.com/software-apps/44291-does-samsung-magician-always-need-running.html

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1040009183

http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/160620-UAC-For-Startup-Program-Samsung-Magician
 
Last edited:

jrichrds

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,537
3
81
2) Samsung Magician DOES NOT need to be running on startup. Once the OS optimizations have been applied, in fact, you never need to run it again unless you want to benchmark or do the performance optimization.

3) If you had enabled RAPID like me, still, Magician is not needed on startup since RAPID creates its own startup entries to work.

so go ahead and remove magician from startup, once the OS optimizations are done, they are permanent settings bro
I recall on my previous system I was able to remove Magician from startup with RAPID still running.

On a new system, I installed Magician 4.4, enabled RAPID, and removed Magician from Startup folder. Yet, Magician still runs on Startup. The only Samsung entry I see in the registry for startup is the SamsungRapidApp.exe. Any ideas?

The reason I removed Magician from Startup on my previous system is that it would not allow S3 sleep...my system would wake up a minute or so after I put it to sleep.
 

jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
2,768
29
91
I have not been able to stop Magician from auto-starting, but do not want to remove the Rapid mode from the Startup list. So, I just manually close it from the notification tray, but there really ought to be an option to keep it from autostarting.
 

jrichrds

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,537
3
81
At least having Magician running in the background doesn't seem to kick my system out of S3 sleep anymore.
 

jrichrds

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,537
3
81
RAPID runs as a service. I am pretty sure that the "SamsungRapidApp.exe" deos not need to run.
Removing it from startup does not suppress Samsung Magician from starting up though, so I'm not sure what SamsungRapidApp.exe actually does.
 

Daxwax

Member
Oct 7, 2011
35
0
0
Upgraded Samsung Magician to the newest version, and couldn't keep it from starting on boot.
Appearently it is now added as a scheduled task that is executed on start as opposed to registering as a regular startup service/program.

It can be found by running Taskschd.msc and it should be in the main task folder. I simply disabled it, and it seems to work.
 
Last edited: