SSD volume for windows 7. System setup after installing the SSD. SSD Lifespan

An SSD is a device that has the same purpose as a hard drive, but in terms of its structure and operating principle it is very different from its counterpart. In particular, if the matter concerns the operation of Windows installed on an SSD, this device should be properly optimized in order to significantly extend its service life.

SSD optimization for Windows

Let's assume you have already installed the Windows operating system, starting with version seven, on a brand new SSD. If not yet, you can follow the link below to learn a short guide that will allow you to perform this procedure correctly.

The main feature of a solid state drive is that it has a limited number of rewrite cycles. This means that as little data as possible on the disk should be erased and rewritten. First of all, we will take this point into account when optimizing the SSD for the Windows operating system.

Step 1: Checking TRIM Activity

TRIM is a special feature introduced in Windows 7 that finds unused areas and allows you to clear them for later recording. If this function is undesirable for HDDs, then in the case of SSDs it will extend the service life of the drive.

Step 2: Disable automatic defragmentation

The next point that can seriously affect the service life of a solid-state drive is automatic defragmentation. The fact is that defragmentation is a useful tool for hard drives. It optimizes records on the disk, which allows you to speed up work with the HDD. In the case of SSDs, the less information is overwritten, the better.

As a rule, if an SSD is installed on your computer, Windows automatically disables this procedure, however, you should still check if this is the case.

To do this, press the keyboard shortcut Win+R to open the “Run” window and enter the following command in it, followed by pressing the Enter key:

The disk optimization menu will be displayed on the screen, in which, by highlighting the item "Solid State Drive", in the lower area of the window you should see the value "Off". If you see the item "On", click on the button to the right "Change settings".

Uncheck the “Run on a schedule (recommended)” option, and then save the settings.

Stage 3: Deactivate the page file

The paging file is a system file that allows you to make up for the lack of RAM when it is fully loaded.

The idea is that the page file takes over unused data from RAM to the hard drive (solid state drive). It becomes clear that when this file is active, information is regularly overwritten on the solid-state drive, which needs to be minimized.

Alternatively, you can completely deactivate the page file, which will reduce the number of rewrite cycles on the solid-state drive, however, if you run several resource-intensive games or programs on your computer, the RAM may completely run out, which means a message will appear on your screen the following plan:

Step 4: Disable Windows Hibernation

Hibernation is a popular mode for turning on a computer, in which, after finishing work, the computer turns off completely, but after turning on it continues from the same place where you left off. Thus, the user does not have to re-launch all programs, open files, etc.

To disable hibernation, run Command Prompt as an administrator (as described above), and then run the following command in it:

Powercfg -h off

From this moment on, hibernation will be disabled, and the file responsible for it will be deleted from the system.

Step 5: Disable File Indexing

The file indexing procedure allows you to quickly find files on your computer, but due to constant rewriting, it negatively affects the life of the SSD.

Step 6: Enable Record Caching

Activating the record caching function will benefit both the solid-state drive and the hard drive.

Step 7: Disabling Prefetch

Prefetch is a special technology for speeding up system loading, which is aimed at working with slow media. As you understand, this function is useless for SSDs.

Launch the Run window using the Win+R keys and enter the following command:

A registry window will appear on the screen, in which you will need to go to the following branch:

HKLM SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Session Manager Memory Management PrefetchParameters

Double click on the option "EnablePrefetcher" and set the value in it «0» . Save your changes.

These tips will help you reduce the number of SSD write cycles without affecting system performance. But even if you do not resort to the tips listed in the article, the solid-state drive will delight you with its excellent performance for a long time. If you know what other SSD optimization techniques exist, share them in the comments.

The popularity of solid-state drives is growing exponentially.

Once inaccessible to many due to their high cost, SSD drives are now confidently ousting HDD devices from the market.

And although prices between SSD and HDD analogues still vary greatly, in terms of price per 1 gigabyte of memory, this gap is constantly decreasing and this process cannot be stopped.

The main advantage of SSD drives over others is their quiet and reliable operation, and most importantly, high data processing speed.

It would seem that having become the owner of a modern, high-tech disk, you can calm down, satisfied with the excellent speed of its operation.

But that was not the case. Many users want to optimize SSDs for Windows 7/8/10, trying to achieve even better results from this device.

And here I would like to dwell in more detail. Is it possible to optimize the operation of an SSD under Windows 7/8/10, and if so, in what ways?

Indeed, there are such methods and there are several of them, but first let’s talk about something else that is no less important.

Required presets

Before you start optimizing your SSD for Windows, you first need to check some settings.

Is the TRIM function enabled in Windows 7 and does the SATA controller operate in AHCI mode (checked in the BIOS).

What is AHCI?

This is a specially designed mechanism that replaced the ATA controller, thanks to which it became possible to connect various storage media to the device, including SSD drives, using the .

This mechanism makes it possible:

1. Disconnect and connect SSD drives, and not only, while the computer is on. The so-called hot plug (HotPlug);
2. Use Staggered Spin-Up technology.

This technology ensures that several hard drives are connected sequentially with a delay, rather than simultaneously, when the system starts, if they are installed in the computer.

This is done so that the power supply does not burn out if it is weak.

3. Use Port Multiplier technology, which makes it possible to simultaneously connect several SSD drives or other devices to the computer through a port multiplier.

But you need to understand that the data flow will be divided evenly between all channels, and this reduces the speed of information transfer.

4. Native Command Queuing support.

Translated as a hardware installation of the command queue.

A short summary.

Not all motherboards support AHCI technology. But even if their chips (south bridge) have it, there are times when it is not visible in the BIOS.

Look at the documentation for the motherboard, and if this technology is supported, enable it in the BIOS, and if you don’t find AHCI there, you will have to update the BIOS to the latest version.

There are situations when, after turning on AHCI, with the system already installed, a blue screen immediately appeared.

This issue is resolved by installing and activating a separate AHCI driver for a specific operating system version.

The ideal option is when this mechanism is activated even before the system has been installed. During OS installation, the driver is registered automatically.

How to check the operation of controllers in AHCI mode.

Everything is very simple, go to the device manager in a convenient way for you (through the control panel or the “Computer” icon on the desktop).

Find the menu item “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” and expand it by clicking on the triangle on the left.

Operation in AHCI mode should be displayed like this.

Otherwise you will have to activate it.

Enable TRIM.

Many people don't know what it is. Let's find out.

TRIM, this is a command that clears space on the SSD disk in the background from those files that you have deleted. In another way, this command is also called “garbage cleaner”.

The fact is that when deleting data from regular HDDs, the areas where the deleted information was located are marked as no longer occupied.

New information is written on top of the deleted one. This ensures the stated operating speed of HDD drives.

In SSD drives, everything happens differently; new files are not written to deleted ones, but simply replace them.

It happens like this. You deleted some file from the SSD disk, it is marked as no longer needed, but is not actually deleted.

When new files are sent to the disk, and if there is no free space on it, new information replaces the old one and this greatly slows down the operation of the SDD drive.

To prevent this from happening, the TRIM command was introduced, which, through the bus controller, in the background, goes to the SDD disk and clears it of unnecessary files in advance.

All this happens unnoticed by the user, between other operations.

Now, when writing new files to an SDD disk, not only unnecessary time and resources are not wasted on deleting unnecessary files, everything happens much faster.

The TRIM command has been implemented in all operating systems since 2009. It is enabled by default. All modern SSD drives support it.

The TRIM command is not supported on Windows XP and Vista. To solve this problem, you can use third-party software from the flash drive manufacturer and other developers, for example, the hdparm program.

But over time, this problem becomes less and less relevant.

Do not forget that the TRIM command will only work if the SATA controller is operating in AHCI mode, which we wrote about above. IDA TRIM mode is not supported.

Proceed as shown below.

Basic commands you can copy and use:

Check – fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify;
Enabling the TRIM command – fsutil behavior query|set DisableDeleteNotify = 0.

Ways to optimize SSD

It is necessary to understand that optimization of SDD disks implies an increase in its volume and speed.

An attempt to optimize SDD devices may not always lead to an improvement in their operating speed; this must be understood.

After the changes are made, it is imperative to monitor and, if necessary, return everything to its original state.

Method 1 – disabling hibernation.

The essence of hibernation is that when it is activated, data from RAM is temporarily written to the disk in a specially reserved area, or rather to a file.

By starting hibernation at any stage of the computer’s operation, we thereby make a snapshot of the running system and programs, and when the computer is restarted, everything will return to its original state.

This is very convenient for laptops with an HDD drive, as it significantly saves time and battery power.

In desktop computers this is not so relevant, especially if an SDD drive is installed there. The system will start up quickly anyway.

Therefore, if desired, hibernation can be disabled. In this case, strong acceleration will not occur, but it will be possible to free up additional and literally precious space on the SDD disk.

It is not recommended to disable hibernation in laptops and other portable devices unless they are used as a stationary device.

There is only one way to disable it 100%, through the command line with administrator rights; see above for how to access it.

Commands used:

powercfg.exe -h off – disable hibernation;
powercfg.exe -h on – enable.

You can try to manually delete the file, or use the built-in power settings.

But, as a rule, this does not help, since the hiberfil.sys file appears again. Only through the command line will there be a guaranteed result.

Total: This method of optimizing an SSD drive is 50% justified, much depends on how you will use the laptop, as a stationary device or a portable one.

Method 2 – deactivate disk indexing.

This function is largely intended for HDD devices to provide accelerated access to requested files.

SDD drives work much faster and the file indexing function is less relevant here.

By disabling it, we reduce the number of unnecessary requests to the disk, thereby speeding up its operation.

To do this, just go to the logical drive manager.

Activate the SSD drive and after right clicking, go to the properties section as shown below.

In the “General” section, look at the very bottom line, where you can disable indexing.

Confirm your intentions by clicking “OK”.

Result: The method is 100% justified.

Method 3 – Deactivate the protection system.

First of all, let's find out what system protection is.

Many people have probably heard about restore points and system rollback.

So, a component that periodically creates restore points through which you can then roll back the system to its previous state is called system protection.

Such restore points are automatically created once a week and recorded on the system disk.

They occupy a certain disk space on which computer parameters and system files that are current and working at a certain point in time are recorded.

It also provides automatic creation of restore points before major changes to the system, such as installing drivers and programs or, conversely, removing them.

The size of the disk space where all recovery point files are written can be adjusted.

If you wish, you can completely disable this component for any of the drives, and if you decide to do this for your SSD device, this will give you the following advantages:

Increase disk space by 2 gigabytes or more;
Reduce the number of requests to the disk, as well as write operations to it.

What do you have to lose:

The ability to restore a working version of the system if it fails;
The ability to restore working versions of programs and drivers in the event of disruptions in their operation;
It is safe to conduct experiments when working with unfamiliar software.

That is, having slightly optimized the operation of the SSD drive, the slightest failure in the system, software, or drivers can cause big problems.

Whether it's worth doing is up to everyone to decide, but we don't recommend it.

But if you still decide to take this step, then to disable system protection, go to the computer properties and go to the appropriate section.

Here you can immediately restore the system if unwanted changes have been made, as well as configure protection settings.

You can disable them completely, or adjust the amount of disk space allocated for this function.

Method 4 – Deactivate the Windows Write Cache.

This function allows you to cache write commands coming to the disk so that they are subsequently executed as soon as it is physically possible.

Write commands are collected in high-speed RAM and sent to the disk based on the physical ability of the latter to accept them.

The presence of a Windows write cache for HDD devices is very justified, as it greatly speeds up their operation.

The same cannot be said about SDD drives, which work much faster.

But the problem is that SSD drives from different manufacturers behave differently when the Windows write cache is disabled.

How to do it.

Go to Device Manager through Computer Properties or Control Panel.

Find the "disk devices" section.

Right-click on the SSD disk icon and go to the “properties” section.

Here you can disable or enable the Windows write cache.

Method 5 – disable the page file.

The main role of this method is to increase disk space on an SSD drive, which is much more expensive than similar HDD devices.

This will not greatly affect the increase in the speed of the SSD device, and in some cases, when there is not enough RAM, it can even lead to a decrease in computer performance.

The paging file is a reserved space on the hard drive that begins to be used when the computer's physical RAM is rebooted.

Files loaded into RAM that are not yet in use are temporarily moved to the page file and, if necessary, retrieved from there.

If there is not enough physical RAM, or little space is allocated for the paging file, the computer begins to slow down significantly.

On SDD devices, the paging file is much more efficient than on HDD analogues, since the former work much faster, so think carefully about whether the game is worth the candle.

It is recommended to disable or manually reduce the page file only if the RAM is equal to or greater than 8 GB or you can use another approach.

For example, the computer has 4 GB of RAM. When running all the programs that the user usually uses, 2 GB of RAM is used (look in the task manager).

Not a photo, slightly different numbers, but that doesn't matter.

We take 50% of 2 GB, i.e. 1 GB, add them to the two already in use. The result is 3 GB, which is less than the 4 GB available. This means that the paging file can be reduced to a minimum or disabled completely.

As a rule, if the RAM is constantly loaded by more than 50%, it is not recommended to disable the page file (provided that if the RAM is up to 8 GB).

From 8 GB, 50% will be 4 GB. And in order to load all these 4 GB into RAM, you need to try very hard, so in this case the page file is often disabled.

And if you decide to do this, then go to the “Computer Properties” section and go to the “advanced system settings” section.

Select “Performance” – “Options”.

Here, click “Change” and make the necessary settings by unchecking the “Automatically remove ...” box.

The changes will take effect after you restart your computer.

If these changes are not justified, change everything back.

Method to optimize SSD disk 6 - disable Prefetch and Superfetch.

What's happened ? This is a technology thanks to which programs frequently used by a PC user are loaded into memory in advance, while disk resources are also affected, since a special Prefetch file is created on it.

Since SSD devices are quite fast, this feature can be disabled.

What is SuperFetch? This technology tries to predict which programs the user will run at a certain point in time and loads all the necessary files into the computer's memory in advance.

This is relevant for HDD drives, but not so much for SSD drives, so it can also be disabled.

The good news is that when you connect SDD devices to your computer, Windows OS starting with version 7 recognizes them and automatically disables these technologies.

But sometimes, for various reasons, this does not happen. In particular, when the computer has two hard drives, one HDD, the other SDD.

In this case, if you disable Prefetch and Superfetch manually, then all programs and system files should be kept only on the SDD device. Only then will all the actions described below be justified.

How to disable and manually.

Disable Prefetch. Proceed as shown below.

Required commands for copying: Windows + R, Regedit.

Don't close the window.

Disable SuperFetch. We find under the already known EnablePrefetcher line EnableSuperfetch.

We change the same thing from 3 to 0.

Restart your computer.

Also, you didn’t find it in the registry; you can disable this feature through services.

Commands used: Windows+R, services.msc.

The operating system services window will open. Find the line there, double-click on it and go to properties. First stop and then disable this feature.

Method 7 – Disable Windows Search.

A significant increase in the performance of SSD drives is achieved by disabling the Search function.

This is an accelerated search function, the fast operation of which is achieved through a preliminary index of documents and files on disk.

Index data is concentrated in a special Search file, which can take up quite a lot of disk space.

SDD devices have a much faster response speed than their HDD counterparts, so the Search function can be disabled on them.

But you need to disable it only if you do not use search and do not intend to do so. Because in fact, the function is very useful and makes life much easier for a PC user.

If you nevertheless decide to take this step, then the shutdown occurs in the “Services” section.

Commands already known to us are used:

Windows+R;
services.msc.

Find the Windows Search line and double-click to go to settings.

Click stop. We wait a few seconds and change the startup type to “disabled”. Click “OK” and reboot the system.

Method 8 – Disable ClearPageFileAtShutdown.

This function should be turned off if the paging file has been disabled (see method 5).

Removes all data from the paging file when the computer shuts down. Unnecessary requests to the disk occur, slowing down its operation.

To disable we use the commands already known to us: Windows + R, Regedit.

Go to the registry section as shown in the picture.

And find the line there.

As shown in the screenshot below, double click on settings and change the value of 1 to 0.

You can also change the parameter here, the line is below.

Change 1 to 0.

Reduces the size of RAM and periodically sends cached documents to the main disk.

When working with HDD devices, this is a useful function; with SDD drives, you can dispense with it.

Method 9 – ensure that TRIM (“garbage collector”) is always running.

This is done through the power settings.

The idea is that when certain power supply settings are set, the hard drive will turn off after a certain time, thereby stopping the operation of the TRIM command. For example, if the computer goes into sleep mode.

In order for SSD drives to work continuously, you need to make the necessary changes in the settings.

Through the control panel, go to the “Power Options” section.

Switch to High Performance mode and the screen may become dim.

Go to the Power Plan Settings section. And then “Change advanced power settings.”

Find the line “Hard disk” and set “Online” to 0.

Make the “On Battery” settings at your discretion, but keep in mind that the latter will discharge faster. Click OK.

Method 10 – disable scheduled defragmentation.

This is a controversial point, since Windows 7, for example, does not provide defragmentation of SSD drives at all. It just doesn't make sense.

Again, for HDD drives, automatic defragmentation is quite justified.

Therefore, if you have two disks installed on your computer, then you should not disable this function. If there is one disk, and it is SDD, then defragmentation in Windows 7 will not be carried out by default.

But if you still decide on this little adventure, then to disable scheduled defragmentation, click the start button and enter the word “Defragmentation” in the bottom search bar.

The following lines will appear.

Click the top one.

The message “Scheduled settings are being used by another program” may appear.

This can happen because third-party software is running on the computer, for example, TuneUp Utilities or O&O Defrag.

Click “Set up schedule” as shown above.

Deactivate the “Run on a schedule” setting.

In Windows 8, instead of defragmentation, a disk optimizer was introduced.

Many PC users make a big mistake by disabling this function for SSD devices, thinking that this will optimize their performance.

In fact, they disable both defragmentation and additional TRIM commands that are sent on a schedule (not to be confused with those commands that run in the background).

We already know what disabling TRIM leads to on SDD devices; they begin to work much slower.

Therefore, it is better not to disable the disk optimizer in Windows 8. Or look for a solution on the Internet, in which only defragmentation will be disabled, and the TRIM command will be executed.

Main mistakes in optimizing SSD drives

As a rule, SSD drive optimization errors occur when there is a second HDD device.

There is an opinion that if you move the browser cache, temporary files, ProgramData and AppData folders, user folders from the system SSD disk to the secondary HDD, this will speed up the work of the first one. And there seems to be more space.

Yes, indeed, there will be more space. But in fact, you need to start from the position of which disk works faster. Obviously SDD.

So why should we move files from it to a slower HDD, because the response time on the second one is much longer than on the first one. Or not?

Using the SSD Fresh program under Windows 7

The program somewhat simplifies the optimization of SSD drives for Windows 7.

The program is free and easy to find on the Internet.

The program is easy to install. After launching it, select the desired drive and click optimization.

Earlier versions of the program may ask for an activation key, which can be obtained for free on the program website. This was not noticed in the 2015 version.

The program itself will suggest to you what needs to be optimized and what not.

Let's sum it up

From all of the above, we can conclude that optimizing SSD drives for Windows 7 or another OS has two sides to the coin.

On the one hand, we gain in space, but may lose in speed; on the other hand, we gain in speed, but lose a number of useful functions.

Particularly controversial issues arise with disabling the paging file, transferring user files to a second, slower HDD drive, disabling indexing of files and folders, as well as hibernation, and deactivating disk optimization in Windows 8.

Therefore, optimization of SSD drives requires a competent and harmonious approach.

Each owner of this drive must decide for himself whether it is worth squeezing 100% or even greater performance from this device, or whether he will be satisfied with its already fast operation.

And we hope that the methods described above for optimizing SSD drives will only help you figure this out.

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For a long time, the main component that slowed down the performance of even the most sophisticated home computer were hard drives. The fact is that spindle HDDs at some point reached the limit of development in terms of speed. This was due to physical laws that did not allow the disk spindle to spin above a certain speed, which affected the data access time, as well as the writing and reading speed. The volume continued to grow, but the performance did not. The next generation of hard drives was SSD drives.

An SSD drive is a computer non-mechanical storage device based on memory chips. Simply put, now the hard drive is a large and very fast flash drive on which the operating system and user files are located.

Why is it needed? SSD optimization Windows 7?

Undoubtedly, the main advantage of an SSD drive is its writing and reading speed, but it also has disadvantages, such as a limited number of write cycles. This drawback is especially relevant for outdated versions of operating systems, which can “kill” the drive ahead of schedule, without taking into account the specifics of working with it.
That is why it can be a significant moment optimizing Windows for SSD. This article is intended to help “extend the life” of your SSD drive by correctly configuring your computer’s operating system.

Setting up an SSD drive

The Windows 7 operating system is initially optimized for working with solid-state drives, but to increase reliability you should adhere to the following rules:

1. Use a solid-state SSD disk (for the operating system and programs) together with a classic HDD on a spindle. In this option you combine speed and reliability.

2. Before you start using the solid-state drive, be sure to go into the BIOS and set the ACHI mode.

3. From any other computer, go to the website of the SSD drive manufacturer and check for more recent device firmware. If possible, update the firmware.

4. When partitioning the disk during Windows installation, leave about 20% of the total disk space unallocated. As the SSD wears out, it will take clusters from this area.

Optimizing Windows 7 for SSD

1. Disable the system cache Prefetch and Superfetch. They will be of no use when using a solid-state HDD. Most likely, Windows 7 will disable Prefetch on its own, but we will definitely check this. How:

Open the registry editor (Start - enter “regedit” in the search bar)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters
Install - EnablePrefetcher = dword:00000000

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management -> PrefetchParameters
Install - EnableSuperfetch = dword:0000000

2. You must disable automatic file defragmentation. It also makes no sense now. It will only needlessly reduce the resource of the SSD drive.

Start - in the search bar enter - Defragmentation. Click on the “Set up schedule” button. Uncheck the “Run as scheduled” checkbox.

3. If you have a 64-bit operating system and a memory capacity of 8GB or more, then it makes sense to disable the page file.
Computer -> Properties -> Advanced system settings -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual memory -> Change. Install - Without swap file

4. Change the Memory Management parameter:
Open the registry editor Start-Run->regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager -> Memory Management
Set - DisablePagingExecutive = dword:00000001

5. SSD optimization may also include disabling NTFS file system journaling:
Start – enter –cmd in the search bar – click on the program icon with the RIGHT mouse button – Run as administrator.
In the command line window, enter: fsutil usn deletejournal /D C: - example for drive C:

6. Disable sleep mode. The system will already boot very quickly and there will be no need for sleep mode.
In the already open command line window, enter - powercfg –h off and press ENTER.

7. Disable indexing for the SSD disk:
Start-Computer-right-click on the system drive and select properties - uncheck the option “Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties”

8. Transfer temporary TEMP folders from SSD to HDD.
Open Computer – (right mouse button) Properties - Advanced system settings - Advanced - Environment variables.
We enter a new address for the TEMP and TMP environment variables, placing them on the second hard drive.

9. Finally, all that remains is to transfer the user’s folders (Documents, Videos, Downloads, etc.) from the SSD to the HDD.
We create a user folder on the HDD in advance, in which user libraries will now be stored.
We right-click on each folder whose location we want to change. On the Location tab, click the “Move” button. Move it to the HDD into the newly created folder.

SSD optimization for Windows

Step 1: Checking TRIM Activity

Step 2: Disable automatic defragmentation

As a rule, if an SSD is installed on your computer, Windows automatically disables this procedure, however, you should still check if this is the case.

To do this, press the keyboard shortcut Win+R to open the “Run” window and enter the following command in it, followed by pressing the Enter key:

Uncheck the “Run on a schedule (recommended)” option, and then save the settings.

Stage 3: Deactivate the page file

The paging file is a system file that allows you to make up for the lack of RAM when it is fully loaded.

Step 4: Disable Windows Hibernation

To disable hibernation, run Command Prompt as an administrator (as described above), and then run the following command in it:

Powercfg -h off

From this moment on, hibernation will be disabled, and the file responsible for it will be deleted from the system.

Step 5: Disable File Indexing

The file indexing procedure allows you to quickly find files on your computer, but due to constant rewriting, it negatively affects the life of the SSD.

Step 6: Enable Record Caching

Activating the record caching function will benefit both the solid-state drive and the hard drive.

Step 7: Disabling Prefetch

Prefetch is a special technology for speeding up system loading, which is aimed at working with slow media. As you understand, this function is useless for SSDs.

Launch the Run window using the Win+R keys and enter the following command:

A registry window will appear on the screen, in which you will need to go to the following branch:

HKLM SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control Session Manager Memory Management PrefetchParameters

Double click on the option "EnablePrefetcher" and set the value in it «0» . Save your changes.

Hello!

After installing an SSD drive and transferring a copy of Windows from your old hard drive to it, the OS must be configured (optimized) accordingly. By the way, if you installed Windows “from scratch” on an SSD disk, then many services and parameters will be configured automatically during installation (it is for this reason that many recommend installing “clean” Windows when installing an SSD).

Optimizing Windows for SSD will not only increase the service life of the disk itself, but also slightly increase the speed of Windows. By the way, regarding optimization, the tips and recommendations from this article are relevant for Windows: 7, 8 and 10. And so, perhaps, let’s begin...

1) Is ACHI SATA mode enabled?

how to enter BIOS -

You can check in which mode the controller operates quite simply - look at the BIOS settings. If the disk operates in ATA, then you need to switch its operating mode to ACHI. There are really two nuances:

The first is that Windows OS will refuse to boot, because... it does not have the necessary drivers for this. You need to either install these drivers first, or simply reinstall Windows (which is preferable and easier in my opinion);

The second caveat is that your BIOS may simply not have the ACHI mode (although, of course, these are already somewhat outdated PCs). In this case, most likely, you will have to update the BIOS (at least check the official website of the developers to see if the new BIOS has such an option).

Rice. 1. AHCI operating mode (DELL laptop BIOS)

By the way, it would also be a good idea to go to device Manager(can be found in the Windows Control Panel) and expand the tab with IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. If there is a controller with “SATA ACHI” in its name, then everything is in order.

AHCI mode of operation is required to support normal operation TRIM SSD disk.

REFERENCE

TRIM is an ATA interface command required so that Windows can send data to the drive about which blocks are no longer needed and can be overwritten. The fact is that the principle of deleting files and formatting in HDD and SSD drives is different. When using TRIM, the speed of the SSD drive increases and uniform wear of the drive's memory cells is ensured. Windows 7, 8, 10 OS support TRIM (if you use Windows XP, I recommend updating the OS, or buying a disk with hardware TRIM).

2) Is TRIM support enabled in Windows?

To check whether TRIM support is enabled in Windows, just run the command line as an administrator. Next, enter the command and press Enter (see Fig. 3) .

If DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (as in Fig. 3), then TRIM is enabled and nothing else needs to be entered.

If DisableDeleteNotify = 1, then TRIM is disabled and you need to enable it with the command: fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0. And then check again with the command: fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify.

Optimizing Windows (relevant for 7, 8, 10) for SSD drive

1) Disable file indexing

Moreover, when this function is disabled, the number of writes to the disk decreases, which means its lifespan increases. To disable indexing, go to the properties of the SSD disk (you can open Explorer and go to the “This PC” tab) and uncheck the box next to “Allow indexing of files on this disk...” (see Fig. 4).

2) Disabling the search service

This service creates a separate index of files, which speeds up the search for certain folders and files. An SSD drive is fast enough, and besides, many users practically do not use this feature - which means it is better to turn it off.

First open the following address: Control Panel/System and Security/Administration/Computer Management

3) Disable hibernation

When using an SSD drive, this function somewhat loses its meaning. Firstly, the Windows system already starts quite quickly with an SSD, which means there is no point in saving its state. Secondly, unnecessary write-rewrite cycles on an SSD disk can affect its service life.

Disabling hibernation is quite simple - you need to launch the command prompt as an administrator and enter the command powercfg -h off.

4) Disable auto-disk defragmentation

Defragmentation is a useful operation for HDD drives, helping to slightly increase operating speed. But this operation does not have any benefit for SSD drives, since they are designed somewhat differently. The access speed to all cells in which information is stored on the SSD disk is the same! This means that no matter where the “pieces” of files lie, there will be no difference in access speed!

In addition, moving “pieces” of a file from one place to another increases the number of write/rewrite cycles, which shortens the life of the SSD drive.

If you have Windows 8, 10*- then you don’t need to disable defragmentation. The built-in Storage Optimizer will automatically determine

If you have Windows 7, you need to go to the disk defragmentation utility and disable its autorun.

5) Disable Prefetch and SuperFetch

Prefetch is a technology thanks to which the PC speeds up the launch of frequently used programs. It does this by loading them into memory in advance. By the way, a special file with the same name is created on the disk.

Since SSD drives are quite fast, it is advisable to disable this function; it will not give any increase in speed.

SuperFetch is a similar feature, the only difference being that the PC predicts which programs you are likely to run by loading them into memory in advance (it is also recommended to disable it).

When you open the registry editor, go to the following branch:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

Next, you need to find two parameters in this registry subkey: EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch (see Fig. 8). The value of these parameters must be set to 0(as in Fig. 8). By default, the values of these parameters are 3.

Rice. 8. Registry Editor

By the way, if you install a Windows disk on an SSD from scratch, then these parameters will be configured automatically. True, this does not always happen: for example, failures may occur if you have 2 types of disks in your system: SSD and HDD.

Utility for automatically optimizing Windows for SSD drive

You can, of course, manually configure all of the above in the article, or you can use special utilities for fine-tuning Windows (such utilities are called tweakers, or Tweaker). One of these utilities, in my opinion, will be very useful for owners of an SSD drive - SSD Mini Tweaker.

SSD Mini Tweaker

An excellent utility for automatically configuring Windows to run on an SSD drive. The settings that this program changes allow you to increase the operating time of the SSD by an order of magnitude! In addition, some parameters will slightly increase the speed of Windows.

Advantages of SSD Mini Tweaker:

completely in Russian (including tips for each item);
works in all popular OS Windows 7, 8, 10 (32, 64 bits);
no installation required;
completely free.

Many also recommend transferring browser caches, paging files, temporary Windows folders, system backups (and so on) from an SSD drive to a HDD (or disabling these features altogether). One small question: “why do you need an SSD then?” So that the system just starts in 10 seconds? In my understanding, an SSD drive is needed to speed up the operation of the system as a whole (the main goal), reduce noise and rattles, increase the battery life of the laptop, etc. And by making these settings, we can thereby negate all the advantages of an SSD drive...

That’s why, by optimization and disabling unnecessary functions, I only mean something that really won’t speed up the system in any way, but can affect the “lifetime” of the SSD drive. That's all, good luck everyone.