In this article, we will look at the operating system settings for optimal SSD performance, the features of Windows services, as well as some "tricks" for more stable operation of the SSD drive and increase its service life.
Introduction: SSD and HDD Drives
Solid State Drive (SSD) vastly superior to a classic hard drive ( HDD) in the speed of reading and writing files.
This is achieved thanks to a completely new technology for storing information and methods for reading and writing it. At the same time, SSDs have limitations associated with their service life, and also have a number of features during operation that affect performance.
Why classic hard drives (HDDs) are slow and what affects their speed
On a hard disk, data is stored on rotating magnetic platters, and the speed of reading information on different parts of the platter is different. In addition, the different arrangement of files on the platters requires constant movement of the read head, which makes copying or writing a large number (especially small) files very slow.
Sometimes one file can be written in parts on different parts of the plate, which will also reduce the reading speed of such a file: the reading head must move to a new position and wait for the turn of the magnetic plate to start reading the next part of the file.
Why an SSD drive is several times faster and what determines the quality of its work
In SSD drives, data is stored on flash memory chips (usually NAND memory is used). The NAND controller is responsible for access to the cells, whose tasks include reading and writing cells, as well as distributing the load.
The speed of access to a separate memory cell in an SSD drive is much higher than that of an HDD drive. In addition, the SSD controller can perform a large number of operations with memory cells at the same time, which makes it possible to further increase the gap in speed performance from classic hard drives.
The disadvantage of this technology is that the memory cells have a limited rewrite cycle.
The guaranteed resource is approximately 300 thousand to 1 million times.
Thus the qualitySSD disk depends on the type of flash memory, as well as on the quality of the controller, which must balance the load in such a way that all cells are overwritten evenly, and also implement other important management points SSD disk.
What operating system settings and services affect the life of an SSD drive.
Hangs, freezes (freezes) and blue screens of death (BSOD) after installing a new SSD drive.
If you are experiencing freezes (second computer freezes) or frequent blue screens of death after you start using a new SSD drive, then most likely you need to:
- Install all the latest Windows operating system updates.
- Update SSD firmware.
- Update motherboard BIOS.
Why is it so important to leave 10 to 30% of the space on an SSD drive unallocated or unallocated.
It is advisable to always leave at least 20-30% free space on the SSD drive.
This is necessary so that the NAND controller, through which all the logic of working with the flash memory of the disk is implemented, has a large number of free blocks. These free blocks can be actively used in the process of garbage collection, wear leveling, and also to replace blocks of flash memory that have failed.
In fact, solid state drives have a special stock for such purposes.
It is called " reserve zone» SSD drive. This fallback zone is not accessible to the operating system, only the controller has access to it.
When most of the free disk space is over, the controller has to move information to temporary blocks of the spare area.
You may have noticed that the volumes of SSD drives have a strange format: for example, 240GB instead of 256GB. And if you look at the amount of available space, it will be even less, about 222GB. In fact, most likely your disk has a volume 256GB, and about 8-13% the disk's flash memory is used under the "spare zone".
A large amount of the reserve zone is needed for the uniform speed of the SSD drive (it is especially pronounced under heavy load), as well as its uniform wear, regardless of how much space you occupy on it - 25% or 95% .
But all manufacturers behave differently: some expensive discs from the company Intel may have up to 30% reserve zone(in excess of the volume available to the user), while other manufacturers, seeking to make the cost SSD drive as cheap as possible, cut this zone to 6-7%
, or even release firmware that allows users to change its size on their own. With the help of SSD performance testing utilities, you can independently compare the speed performance of the same disk with a lot of free space and a small amount when the disk is full. 95%
.
Only very high-quality disks with a sufficient reserve zone should not lose stability in speed.
Which Windows 7 services are good for SSDs and which ones should be disabled?
Defragmentation, temporary files, indexing - all this requires a lot of disk accesses, which are very undesirable for SSD due to the limited number of write cycles, which is definitely not in the HDD.
Windows 7 cannot fine-tune services and services in accordance with the peculiarities of the operation of SSD drives. But you can independently disable some services that definitely do not help the SSD drive (and sometimes even harmful, such as disk defragmentation).
You can also decide to disable some services that are not relevant for you. Further in the article you will find a description of such services in Windows 7 and an algorithm for disabling them.
Disable SSD Disk Defragmentation in Windows 7
An absolutely unnecessary (moreover, wearing out SSD) process, relevant only for a simple hard disk drive (HDD), transfer fragments files scattered across the drive in different areas, to speed up reading from the disk.
Fragmentation is the natural splitting of files into parts for a hard disk, which are subsequently recorded in areas that are physically distant from each other on a magnetic storage of information.
An SSD disk independently distributes data into blocks using a controller and does not need to be defragmented.
Consider how to disable the defragmentation service in Windows 7:
Step 1.
Open the menu " Start
» → enter in the search bar: « defragmentation
» → select the item « Defragmenting a Hard Drive »
. 
Figure 1. Finding and launching the "Hard Disk Defragmenter" application.
Step 2
In the window that appears, click on the button " Set up a schedule»
→ uncheck the " Run on schedule"
→ « OK
»
→ close the dialog box. 
Figure 2. Window for setting the disk defragmentation schedule.
Ready.
Attention! This action disables defragmentation for all drives in the system, incl. and HDD. If necessary, start the process manually.
Disabling the Prefetch Service in Windows 7.
This service has a pretty good effect on the hard drive, increasing the speed of loading the OS and user software.
The service collects data about what files and programs are opened when the OS boots and the first seconds of its operation in order to optimize methods for accessing such files. But the SSD already works extremely fast and does not need such optimization.
So " Prefetch ” can be safely disabled, freeing the drive from unnecessary (albeit small) wear. To do this, use the registry editor (regedit):
- « Start " → enter in the search: " regedit » → click right click(hereinafter RMB) on the line with the found program → run on behalf of the administrator. Next, we look through the hierarchy (on the left in the window) for the following key: « HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters».
- Now in the right part of the window we find the item enable Prefetcher , right click on it → « Change… ».
- Change the value 3 (or 1) to 0, save, close the registry editor, restart the PC.
Figure 3. Changing the registry key to disable the Prefetch service.Made!
Note.
Services Superfetch and Readyboot it is not necessary to turn it off, because they have almost no effect on the SSD, sometimes they only write log files of only a few megabytes in size, which help the system to work and boot a little better. Now let's move on to controversial features, disabling which can slightly reduce PC performance, but significantly extend the life of the SSD.
Optimizing useful windows 7 services
Transferring temporary files to HDD
Pretty controversial decision.. The following steps will allow you to transfer:- browser cache.
- temporary software files.
- installation and support files.
Here you choose only.
If you decide to transfer the temporary file to the HDD, then below is the instruction using windows 7 as an example:
Step 1.
Button " Start
» → search: « Environment Variables
» → select « Changing environment variables for the current user"
.
Figure 4. Window for changing environment variables in windows 7.
Step 2
Now we change the values in the variable column one by one by clicking the “ Change…
". Specify the full desired path for storing files, starting with the letter HDD (for example, " D
:\...\
Temp
”), first in the case TEMP, and then similarly TMP.
Save the values, close the window by pressing " OK
».
A warning.
It is better to leave temporary files in their places, because the SSD is bought specifically to increase comfort during work, and not to constantly blow off dust particles from it, protecting it "like the apple of an eye."
Of course, programs will open quickly, but, for example, loading pages in a browser will take much longer.
Disable indexing in windows 7
Indexing speeds up the process of finding the desired file on the disk.
On an SSD, it’s completely disabled, even if you often look for something by typing requests into the explorer. It will take a little longer to find files, but the disk will no longer be written to logs, which create additional write operations even when the system is idle on the desktop.
Indexing is disabled in " properties » disk. Let's take a closer look:
- We open " My computer" , we find our SSD (focusing, for example, on the amount of memory) → press the right mouse button → select the last item “ Properties ».
Figure 5. Local disk properties window.- Uncheck the " Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties »
- Close the window by clicking " OK ».
Now let's give an example of optimization methods that are found in many sources, but I strongly do not recommend listening to them for the benefit of keeping system files valuable in the event of a virus infection or hardware failure.
Do not disable the paging file completely - move it to a smaller HDD.
It is strongly not recommended to disable this file even if there is enough RAM, because mini-dumps of system errors are written to it in case of BSOD (blue screen of death) and other software and hardware issues.
And it is precisely without a swap file that you will not be able to know exactly the full essence of the problem that has arisen if the OS does not boot for any reason.
Also, data from programs or services can be written to it when installing windows updates or when installing software that will be requested after the computer is restarted.
However, there is a way out– leave a small volume of the paging file on the HDD (by default, it is written to the SSD, like to any other system disk).
Step by step instructions on how to move the paging file to another drive in windows 7.
- On the menu " Start » click right mouse button (PKM) under the item " A computer » → more " Properties » .
- In the window that appears, find " Additional system settings ” (usually left in the middle) and select with the left mouse button.
- Under " Performance » click on the button « Options… »
Figure 6. Advanced tab for changing virtual memory settings in windows 7.- Next, in the window that appears Performance options "Choose the tab" Additionally » and click on « Change » under « Virtual Memory ”, the paging file window will open.
Figure 7. Virtual memory settings window in windows 7.- Uncheck the " Automatically choose swap file size ».
- Set up by removing the swap file from the SSD, then install the recommended " by system choice » on the HDD. Save changes, reboot.
Now the dumps will be written without hindrance, and the solid state drive is freed from the extra load of this file.
Do I need to turn off hibernation and sleep modes? Advantages and disadvantages.
Disabling hibernation and sleep mode may be relevant in the following situations:
- You do not use these Windows 7 features, but always use the " shutdown».
- When using an SSD, you experience freezes (computer or laptop cannot wake up from sleep or hibernation), BSOD’s (blue screens of death) when using these modes.
Installing an SSD speeds up the startup and shutdown of the OS several times.
So the familiar and useful for many "Hibernation" becomes not as relevant as on a slow HDD. Moreover, when Windows is not completely shut down, it writes files from temporary memory (RAM) to the system disk, and when it is turned on, it unloads it back.
Therefore, each time you use the mode, the SSD is forced to write to itself a file that reaches approximately 70% of the amount of RAM. And to save even without that limited SSD write cycles, you can completely (reversibly) disable hibernation (as well as "Sleep Mode") using the standard "Shutdown".
Thus, we will get some advantages:
Disadvantages disable hibernation and sleep mode.
disadvantage is a small loss of time while waiting for a full load of the OS and programs that may be needed in a second, which happens, you see, quite rarely.
So, in most cases, "Shutdown" will be the most successful solution when turning off the PC, and you can do without "Hibernation" when using a high-speed SSD.
"Sleep Mode" no way does not write files to RAM, but only reduces PC consumption by reducing the power supply of many of its hardware parts (all data that was in temporary memory remains there).
So you need to disable it only in case of BSOD and other system errors.
Prohibit turning off disks in terms of power supply.
Hang-ups in sleep mode.Sometimes, according to the settings of the power board, a computer or laptop turns off hard drives to save resources. This can happen at the same time as the sleep mode is turned on, or after the sleep mode has already started.
The computer screen will go blank and then, immediately or over time, windows will turn off the hard drives. Old drivers or SSD firmware may behave incorrectly in such a situation, and the computer freezes. the hard disk does not initialize after power off.
This problem can be mistaken for a computer with an SSD drive freezing in sleep mode.
To do this, go to the menu " Start
» → enter in the search bar: « power supply
Figure 8. Going to the power settings.
Next, click "
» → go to « Change advanced power settings
» (Figure 9).
Disable sleep and/or hibernation.
4.5.1 Let's start with sleep mode.
As we said above, for this you need to go to the menu " Start » → enter in the search bar: « power supply » → select the appropriate item (Figure 8).Next, click " Sleep setting ” (located approximately to the left in the middle of the window that appears), and then select the value “ Never » in the parameter « Put your computer to sleep » (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Disabling putting the computer into sleep mode.
Ready! Sleep mode is disabled.
4.5.2 Let's move on to disabling hibernation.
Hibernation is a shutdown mode in which all processes from RAM copied on theSSD, forming a file hiberfil.sys, which wastes resources (rewrite cycles, in this case) of the SSD. Disabling hibernation is done by entering a specific command in the command line console ( cmd.exe). First you need to call the command line by entering in the search menu bar " Start " request: " cmd and run it on behalf of the administrator(by pressing RMB and selecting " Run as administrator »)Now copy (or type manually) the following into the line:
powercfg.exe -h off
Attention!
Combination ctrl+v does not work in cmd.exe. Use the mouse to paste the command ( RMB → Paste).
Figure 12. Entering data in the command line to disable hibernation.Press Enter, wait a couple of seconds, close the command line.
After rebooting the PC, the hibernation file will be erased from our SSD, and re-writing to the disk will not happen again until you turn the feature back on (in the same command, change "off" to "on"). Done. Hibernation will no longer annoy your SSD drive.
Why You Can't Disable Windows Restore Checkpoint
It will do impossible the simplest fix for system files in case of incorrect installation or removal of software, drivers, etc. The checkpoint sometimes helps a lot, so disabling it is impractical and even harmful.
Automatic SSD Tweaking with Free SSD Mini Tweaker
A program that will help to quickly automate some of the actions given here − SSD Mini Tweaker. This software is portable, i.e. does not require installation, and free.
The window of this optimizer (V 2.7) with the recommended (universal) settings will look like this: 
Figure 13. SSD Mini Tweaker program window for optimizing an SSD drive.
Conclusion
Now, having become acquainted with ways to optimize windows 7 for fast and durable operation of an SSD drive, you can make a choice in the direction of performance and service life of an SSD, or you can make the most correct balance, in your opinion.
Greetings! In recent days, a lot has been said about defragmenting hard drives and about how. Today we will touch on the topic of defragmenting SSD drives. Let's start.
If you have read our previous articles, you already know, and. This knowledge will be useful to you to understand today's topic.
Do I need to defragment an SSD drive?
The answer is that SSD defragmentation is NOT NEEDED!
Why? Look, in HDD disks, information is read mechanically. That is, the read head of the hard drive moves along the entire diameter of the disk in order to find the desired file. In this case, of course, it is necessary to lighten the work of the hard drive and group the defragmented files in a readable order. Files that the system needs more often are located closer to the center of the disk. And vice versa - rarely used files are moved away from the center so as not to interfere with work with more important files.
As for SSD drives, they do not have any mechanical parts and you do not need to search for a file for a long time to read, because reading from anywhereSSD drive happens in milliseconds. That is why the need to defragment an SSD drive disappears by itself. Besides, it is also harmful to him.
Why is defragmentation bad for an SSD drive?
As you already know, an important distinguishing feature of an SSD drive from an ordinary hard drive is the limited write cycles. That is, they cannot be overwritten forever. Although nothing lasts forever, and besides, the stock of these “limited write cycles” of the SSD is very large. However, during defragmentation, there is a lot of overwriting and moving of files and file fragments. And this, as you understand, significantly reduces the life of an SSD drive.
How to disable automatic defragmentation of an SSD drive?
From everything you learned today, you may have a question " Do I have automatic defragmentation of the SSD enabled? And how to turn it off?". I hasten to reassure you. If you are using Windows 7 or higher, then the system itself disables automatic defragmentation as soon as it sees an SSD drive on board. Therefore, there is nothing to worry about.
As for Windows XP or Vista, the use of SSD drives with these versions of operating systems is strongly discouraged. They are completely incompatible. This leads to very rapid wear of SSD drives.
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) grows exponentially. Classic magnetic HDDs are rapidly becoming a thing of the past or more often play the role of large-scale storage for files, and modern operating systems are recommended to install a screw on the SSD.
Modern operating systems are recommended to be installed on the SSD screw
Compared with traditional HDD, SSD hard drive has several advantages:
But along with this, a lot of questions arose regarding the use of solid-state drives. The most common:
- Is it possible and necessary to defragment an SSD drive?
- Is frequent overwriting harmful?
- Can you format an SSD drive?
- Is it possible to fill an SSD with files to capacity?
- How to extend the life of an SSD drive in Windows 7?
Can you defrag an SSD?
Defragmentation to optimize space. You don't need to defragment the SSD. Such a procedure will not affect the speed of the storage medium in any way and may even harm. Disk defragmentation is the constant overwriting of files, and a solid-state external hard drive has a finite number of write cycles.
Defragmentation is needed only for HDDs, because each file on them lies in separate parts on different sectors and when accessing them, the hard drive slows down. Defragmentation organizes the sectors of the hard drive and less mechanical movement occurs inside the device. In solid-state drives, such actions are not performed and files from individual sectors are read equally quickly. Thus, we disable automatic defragmentation, if such a function is available in your operating system.
Defragmentation is required only for HDD drivesDisk defragmentation is not needed for SSD drives
What operating systems are best to use for an SSD drive?
The TRIM command is a way to notify Solid State Drive that blocks of data that are no longer in the file system can be physically removed. It is recommended that you select an OS that supports this command for installation on the SSD. That is, the operating system for SSD must be modern. Ideal for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10.
The TRIM command itself appeared with the spread so that new storage technologies could compete with HDDs. Accordingly, operating systems, XP and earlier are not suitable for
installations on SSD. You can use them, but they will be slow.
What happens if there is not enough space left on the disk?
It is not recommended to fill the SSD to 100%. Otherwise, you will notice how much the SSD slows down when executing the most simple programs. Optimal disk filling is 75%. At the same time, the harmony between performance and capacity of the drive will be preserved.
Connoisseurs of modern computer technology are advised to leave some free space on the SSD, and even unallocated space is better. True, we should not forget about the presence of a reserve area, which begins to be used when the SSD is critically filled.
Can you store large files on an SSD?
In most cases, users use an SSD for the operating system and applications.
A program running from a solid state drive will run faster than from an HDD, and the OS will boot faster.
To store user files, it is better to use a regular HDD that works in parallel. Why?
Firstly, because the capacity of a solid state drive is often small, and secondly, the cost of an SSD drive is equal to the price of a much larger HDD. The first speeds up the loading and operation of the operating system and all programs, and in terms of volume it is suitable only for them. But it is not always possible to install an HDD (in ultrabooks).
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In this case, it is recommended to purchase an external hdd. It is better suited for storing movies, music and other large files. In fact, nothing bad will happen to it if you store large files on it, but as long as the volumes of such disks are small and the cost is high, it is better to use them where they show a confident performance increase.
What else can't be done?
A lot of advice to conserve SSD resources is a myth. Often users voice the idea that the fewer data rewriting cycles experienced by a solid state drive, the better. Yes, this is true, but to kill an SSD by overwriting, you have to sweat. Even if you completely overwrite it 10 times a day, it is unlikely that in a year or two something will happen to a quality drive and you will need to repair SSD drives.
But what you definitely shouldn’t do is do-it-yourself SSD repair. An exception to the rule is if you are a specialist of the corresponding profile. The maximum that you can do without experience and skills is SSD firmware (replacing the factory software with a new version). Very often, the “crooked” firmware from the factory causes the SSD to work too slowly and refuse to read and write files at the declared speed.
Fixing this by flashing is easy, because many manufacturers offer special applications. Such a program for SSD returns to it the necessary performance on the principle of "further - further - further - complete".
You can perform such operations without fear for the disk itself. The main thing is to be sure of the correct choice of the official firmware for your drive. Recovery of an OCZ SSD after a serious crash is best left to professionals.
Results
In order not to worry about the health of the solid state drive, use a variety of monitoring utilities. Numerous programs for working with SSD drives are easy to find both on the Internet and on the official websites of SSD manufacturers.
SSD Tweaker lets you monitor your disk's health HD Tune lets you monitor your disk's health SSD Life lets you monitor your diskRemember that modern solid state drives have a long life and worrying about a couple of extra write cycles is stupid. You can format it, but it's stupid to abuse it. Now you know about defragmenting ssd.
Disk defragmentation is a procedure for combining fragmented files, which is mainly used to optimize Windows. In almost any article on speeding up your computer, you can find advice on defragmenting.
But far from all users understand what defragmentation is, and do not know in which cases it should be done and in which not; what software should be used for this - is the built-in utility enough, or is it better to install a third-party program.
When doing disk defragmentation, many users do not even think or try to find out what it is all about. The answer can be found in the name itself: “defragmentation” is a process that combines files that, when written to a hard disk, were divided into fragments. The image below clearly shows that on the left, fragments of one file are recorded in a continuous stream, without empty spaces and divisions, and on the right, the same file is scattered across the hard disk in the form of pieces.
Naturally, it is much more convenient and faster for a disk to read a continuous file than one separated by white space and other files.
Why HDD Fragmentation Happens
Hard drives are made up of sectors, each of which can store a certain amount of information. If a large file that cannot fit into one sector is stored on the hard drive, it is split and saved into several sectors.
By default, the system always tries to write file fragments as close as possible to each other - in neighboring sectors. However, due to the deletion / saving of other files, resizing of already saved files and other processes, there are not always enough free sectors located next to each other. Therefore, Windows moves the writing of the file to other parts of the HDD.
How Fragmentation Affects Drive Speed
When you need to open a recorded fragmented file, the hard drive head will sequentially move to the sectors where it was saved. Thus, the more times it has to move around the hard drive in an attempt to find all the pieces of the file, the slower the reading will be.
The image on the left shows how many movements the hard drive head needs to make in order to read files that are divided into parts. On the right, both files, indicated in blue and yellow, are recorded continuously, which significantly reduces the number of movements on the disk surface.
Defragmentation is the process of rearranging pieces of one file so that the overall percentage of fragmentation decreases, and all files (if possible) are located on adjacent sectors. Due to this, reading will occur continuously, which will positively affect the speed of the HDD. This is especially noticeable when reading large files.
Does it make sense to use third-party defragmentation programs?
Developers have created a large number of programs that deal with defragmentation. You can find both small defragmenter programs and meet them as part of complex system optimizers. There are free and paid options. But are they needed?
A certain effectiveness of third-party utilities is undoubtedly present. Programs from different developers may offer:
- Own auto-defragmentation settings. The user can more flexibly manage the schedule of the procedure;
- Other algorithms for the process. Third-party software has its own features that are more beneficial in the long run. For example, they require less than a percentage of free space on the HDD to run the defragmenter. At the same time, files are optimized to increase their download speed. The free space of the volume is also merged so that the level of fragmentation increases more slowly in the future;
- Additional features, for example, registry defragmentation.
Of course, the functions of the programs vary depending on the developer, so the user needs to select the utility based on their needs and PC capabilities.
Is it necessary to permanently defragment the disk?
All modern versions of Windows offer automatic scheduling of this process once a week. All in all, it's more useless than necessary. The fact is that fragmentation itself is an old procedure, and in the past it really was constantly needed. In the past, even slight fragmentation has already had a negative impact on system performance.
Modern HDDs have a higher speed, and new versions of operating systems have become much “smarter”, so even with a certain fragmentation process, the user may not notice a decrease in speed. And if a hard drive with a large volume (1 TB or more) is used, then the system can distribute heavy files in an optimal way for it so that this does not affect performance.
In addition, the constant launch of the defragmenter reduces the life of the disk - this is an important minus that should be taken into account.
Since defragmentation is enabled by default in Windows, it must be disabled manually:
Is it necessary to defragment an SSD drive?
A very common mistake for users using SSDs is to use any defragmenter.
Remember, if you have an SSD drive installed on a computer or laptop, in no case do not defragment it - this greatly speeds up the wear of the drive. In addition, this procedure will not increase the speed of the SSD.
If you have not disabled defragmentation in Windows before, then be sure to do this either for all drives or just for SSDs.
In third-party utilities, this feature is also present, but the configuration method will be different.
Features of defragmentation
There are several nuances for the quality of this procedure:
- Despite the fact that defragmenters can work in the background, to achieve the best result, it is best to run them when there is no user activity, or with a minimum amount of it (for example, during a break or while listening to music);
- When conducting periodic defragmentation, it is more correct to use fast methods that speed up access to the main files and documents, however, a certain part of the files will not be processed. The full procedure in this case can be done less frequently;
- Before a full defragmentation, it is recommended to remove junk files, and, if possible, exclude files from processing. pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys. These two files are used as temporary files and are recreated with each system startup;
- If the program has the ability to defragment the file table (MFT) and system files, then you should not neglect it. As a rule, such a function is not available when the operating system is running, and can be performed after a reboot before starting Windows.
How to defragment
There are two main ways to defragment: installing a utility from another developer or using a program built into the operating system. In this case, you can optimize not only built-in drives, but also external drives connected via USB.
Our website already has instructions for defragmenting using Windows 7 as an example. In it you will find a guide for working with popular programs and a standard Windows utility.
- Do not defragment a solid state drive (SSD).
- Disable scheduled defragmentation in Windows.
- Do not abuse this process.
- First, do an analysis and find out if there is a need to perform defragmentation.
- If possible, use high-quality programs whose efficiency is higher than the built-in Windows utility.
Since the advent of solid state drives (Solid State Drive - SSD) on the market, quite a long time has passed. Prices for this product are gradually decreasing, making it more affordable, and now a 120 GB drive will cost about 4 thousand rubles. In fact, if you're looking to upgrade your PC now, then buying an SSD is one of the most cost effective options out there. You won't have to throw away your existing hard drive (it will only partially change its function, becoming a storage for media and other heavy files), and your computer's performance in almost all operating modes will noticeably increase.
Users who are not particularly interested in the world of hardware may not clearly understand the fundamental difference between an SSD and a familiar HDD magnetic hard drive, and they often see the novelty as the same HDD, only faster, smaller, lighter and more expensive. It is a misunderstanding of the fundamental differences in the operation of HDD and SSD that can lead to incorrect use of SSD, which in especially difficult cases will reduce all its advantages to zero. Yes, a solid state drive needs to be used correctly, but do not be afraid - the user does not need any painstaking daily deep technical actions. Rather, it is required of it to just not do a few simple things, and today we present a list of "not" for anyone who decides to screw their workhorse with a nimble SSD.
To the techies who see the captaincy here, we ask you to take into account the fact that if you are the one who knows all this, then you probably know the fact that there are other people who may not know all this. Replace the usual "thank you cap" with your additional advice, together we will make the Internet more useful.
Don't defrag
No need to defragment the SSD. If in the old Windows with FAT32 you carried out defragmentation by inertia (although the same NTFS feels great without it), then with the purchase of an SSD, you can and should forget about defragmentation (the SSD itself) altogether.
SSDs have a limited number of write cycles (as a rule, the cheaper the disk, the less resource it has), and such shoveling of its contents will definitely not benefit the lifespan. Yes, recent SSD models have a very large reserve of write cycles, and you are unlikely to reach the limit when the disk stops working correctly, even with frequent writes, but the point here is rather that defragmentation itself is meaningless for SSD.
The HDD uses mechanical parts. The head that reads data wanders back and forth on the surface of the magnetic disk. Accordingly, the more specific data is scattered on the disk, the more movements and time it needs to fully read this data. Nothing moves in an SSD, and access to any memory cell is equally fast and does not depend on the relative position of this data.
Don't Format
We are used to the fact that in order to completely and permanently delete data from the HDD, it is necessary to use additional tools: formatting, special utilities like DBAN or the Wiper tool, which is part of CCleaner. This is done so that a cunning attacker cannot recover the data you deleted from the disk using a utility like Recuva.
In the case of an SSD, things are different. The point here is not even in the drive itself, but in the operating system. If you are using a more or less up-to-date OS (Windows 7+, Mac OS X 10.6.8+, Linux with Linux kernel 2.6.28+), then the system takes over the final deletion of data from the disk, and does it automatically using the TRIM function.
TRIM implements the ability for the OS to "inform" the SSD that the file is completely deleted and that the sectors occupied by it need to be cleared. Some of the early SSD models didn't support TRIM, but that was so long ago (and those SSDs were so expensive) that the chances of hitting that drive model are close to zero.
Do not use Windows XP and Windows Vista
A new toy - a new AXIS! And this is not at all new. It's just that XP and Vista don't support TRIM. In the previous paragraph, we gave the concept of TRIM, and now we need to explain how the absence of this feature affects the SSD. If there is no TRIM, then after deleting the file, the data will still remain on the disk. As a result, when information is written to the same sectors again, they will first have to be cleared, and only then data will be written to them. Unnecessary untimely operations -> speed reduction.
On modern operating systems, TRIM is enabled by default. The user doesn't have to do anything. Just leave everything as it is and enjoy the speeds of the SSD.
Don't beat yourself up
In order for an SSD to operate at full speed, it needs to maintain an amount of free space on it of approximately 25%. It sounds a little dishonest: you buy an expensive SSD, there is already so little space in it, the system sees less space in it than it is written on the box, and then they also ask you to leave a quarter of the volume in reserve? Unfortunately yes. This is a feature of the SSD, and so far we do not have the best widely available technologies. You have to accept the rules for the sake of the best speed.
From the point of view of internal processes, the performance drop with a small amount of free space is explained as follows: a lot of free space - a lot of free blocks. When a file is written, data is written to free blocks. Little free space - many partially filled blocks and few completely free blocks. When writing a file, the system will first have to read the partially filled block into the cache, add new data to it, and then write the already modified block back to disk. And so for each block.
The limit of 25% is not taken from the ceiling. This indicator was reached by the guys from AnandTech, who conducted research on the dependence of SSD performance on its occupancy.
In fact, if you use the SSD exactly where it is strongest, then the need to leave a quarter of the space free will not bother you. Now we will just talk about the role in which the SSD is most effective.
Do not use as storage
Buying an SSD to store your music and movie library on is a bad idea. HDD speeds are quite enough to comfortably record and watch a FullHD movie from them, and listen to Losless music. An SSD is needed where access and write speed is most important.
The SSD must be used as the system drive. It should have an operating system, applications and, if absolutely necessary, modern games. Nothing else.
With the understanding that the SSD ideally serves as a catalyst for the most demanding processes for the fast operation of a computer (OS operation is the basis of everything and everything, the fast operation of important applications, the quick reading of data from the “body” of the game), there is no need to hammer it to failure at all. An SSD is a dedicated fast lane for only the most important.
If you still want to use a fast SSD as storage, then just calculate the cost of rubles per gigabyte of memory for it and for the HDD.
What if you bought a fancy new ultrabook that only has an SSD, but you want to record movies? Buy an external hard drive with a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt interface (provided that this standard is supported by the beech itself).
We hope that this information will help you start using the SSD for its intended purpose and as efficiently as possible.
