Settings for SSD performance and longetivity

[Vanaraud]

About SSD-s or Solid State Drives first. SSD-s are basicly based on same flash memory as RAMs. They are quickly accessible and don´t have huge differences in accesing times throughout the disk as opposed to the HDD-s which have plates spinning and heads reading from the plates. In the other hand SSD-s lifetime is limited and writing\reading pointlessly from them just makes them last less. Also they are more expensive at moment and some of us use limited space on them. So some adjustments in system are wise to perform to make more space available and don´t waste write\read operations on SSDs. Those settings were good at HHD but not anymore on SSD-s:

 

Paging file to other HDD

Temp folder over

Mozilla\IE temp files

SSD: defragmentation, prefetch and superfetch

extra: Microsoft visual redistributabale uninstall

 

Paging file to other HDD

 

First I discovered half of year after installing win7 on SSD that you can “get back†about 10giga of space on SSD while allocating paging files to extra HDD(which is useful in PC with with SSD for backups for movies\music etc and to run programs that don´t need speed and take lot of space. I have most played game on 60giga SSD and ET etc on other HDDs). So paging file is basicly space on HD: SSD or HDD which OS uses as RAM (extension). You can specify in which disk OS stores this extra RAM going to Control Panel-> System and Security-> System and on left choose Advanced system settings. Now it should pop a window “System Properties†and choose advanced tab, click on “settings†under Performance section. Another window “Performance options†pops, choose again Advanced. Remember this path as its necessary in part below.(*) On section Virtual memory click on change and click on different disks choosing “No paging file†and hit Set for SSD and choose HDD and tick a box “system managed size†and set for HDD. You can customise the size manually if need. Didn´t notice any speed loss moving it to HDD on loading up windows nor in gaming. So now you can see when “Hide protected operating system files†ticked off -this setting opens going in Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization-> Folder options and click on “show hidden folders†(2)- pagefile.sys file on HDD. And gain extra room on SSD.

 

Temp folder over

 

This is risky part and I even didn´t try it. But back up all your data as it could mess up system as I read from forums.

For starters you should make on other HDD new folder named something like D:\tempfiles.

Repeat again till(*) from above. Now choose “Environment Variables†and Edit for “Temp†and “tmp†variables the locations to the directory you made on HDD. It should now write about 1giga of temp files on your HDD saving space and write\read operations on SSD and expand your SSD lifetime. Read about it on answers.microsoft but didn´t try it out so TEST ON YOUR OWN RISK.

And thanks to the MS guy who wrote original tutorial I retold it as I understood it.

 

Mozilla\IE temp files

 

Noticed that on C:\Users\â€profilenameâ€\AppData\Local - which is hidden folder again and to show it follow steps above and tick on “Show hidden folders†(2)- folder "Mozilla" takes about 300 MB of room. When using Internet Eplorer there should be some folder for it(I don´t use IE). To reduce the size allocated by Mozilla start Firefox. Click on Firefox and Options, then choose “optionsâ€. Then choose “Advanced†tab and “Networkâ€, under Cached Web Content tick on “Override automatic cache management†and set to your desired size of value . Something similar for IE also. Now it should save some space on SSD which aren´t very big yet.

 

SSD: defragmentation, superfetch and prefetch

 

SSDs doesn´t work as HDDs as they don´t have spinning disks and difference in seeking times throught different sectors and tracks so defragmenting and prefetching them is redundant and turning them off prolongs the life of SSD.

To take defragmetantion off go on Computer, RMB click on C: disk, or whichever letter is assigned to your SSD. Choose “propertiesâ€, open “tools†window and click on “defragment nowâ€. Don´t worry it doesn´t defragment anything at moment. You can just see if defragmentation is scheduled for your SSD in disks lists. It should be turned off by Win7 and newer but if not you can turn it off choosing the disk letter assigned to your SSD and click on “turn on schedule†and untick shceduling. Now it should show in disks lists than theres no defragmenting scheduled for your SSD and don´t run it by yourself.

 

Superfetch to my understanding is RAM related and could be untouched. Its in following link and suggested to turn off but after some digging I figured its not necessary to turn off. Some wise guy put it simply on here .

 

What becomes to prefetching then it requires messing around in registry if its not already turned off for SSD by Win7. As I relied on google search for it I better post a link here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2727880

 

You can open “registry editor†by pushing “Start†button, then on seach type “regeditâ€, choose the program with RMB and “Run it as administratorâ€. Now you have to locate the value: “EnablePrefetcher†. You can either locate it manually by going through subcategories as the link tells or just choose from regedit menu\tab “Edit†and “Findâ€, tick all values and search for “EnablePrefetcherâ€. Be sure it shows below on window bar for location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters. If the value is located in right place you can double-click on “EnablePrefetcher†on the pane on the right side and modify the value to 0. If not repeat the search with ctrl+F and “find next†till it falls under right category.

 

The main reason I started to write this little topic about tips was because there wasn´t any tips on SSD per my searching on forums\tutorials section on FA, I figured out the “Paging file to other HDD†trick accidentally and I noticed some gain in performance for games and little increase on FPS by

 

Uninstalling Microsoft Visual Redistributable versions:

 

Open up Control Panel from Start button(if it still exists:P) choose under Programs category “Uninstall a program†and delete Microsoft Visual C++ “year†Redistributable version(s). I noticed in a Crysis3 huge lag and it helped, even could help every time after installing a new game a little bit.

You can figure out which version it requires for this particular game by installing new game or by going on gameinstall or installed game directory. For steam its something like: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\gamename\redist. Choose vcredist_x86.exe and run it till it shows which version it is but then cancel. Now delete from same year Microsoft Visual C++ “year†Redistributable versions the one you don´t need and hopefully it helps a bit, or delete both and install the necessary one from game installer.

On your OWN RISK you can delete all versions but I guess OS\system uses some of them so its fishy move.

 

Why leaving only 1 game and one Microsoft Visual C++ “year†Redistributable? Because todays SSDs don´t leave much room for more games anyways: 30GB for OS + 20GB for game and 60GB is filled up;) And leaving a game with one set of Microsoft Visual C++ “year†Redistributable and even can try out the same with DirectX leaves not much room for conflicts, thus lag.

 

Noticed also theres some TRIM options but as I was setting up my system I didn´t find necessary anymore to mess with this command as todays SSD controllers are well built. But feel free to correct me if I´m wrong.

 

Sources used:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/change-location-of-temp-files-folder-to-another/19f13330-dde1-404c-aa27-a76c0b450818?page=1

http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/30017-prefetch-ssds.html

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2727880

Edited March 30, 2018 by Fearless Staff

[rolf]

Since I've some knowlegde about SSD's, some comments:

 

SSD's are not basically based on the same flash memory as RAMs I think you refer to. SSD's are based on the same principle as SD-cards, the main difference is that the memory is non-volatile, i.e. power loss doesn't mean no data (with weird data corruption in some cases, but let's ignore that.

 

Moving the paging file to the other HDD. DO NOT DO THIS. The paging file is the buffer overflow from what doesn't fit in your memory. In theory you should never have to use it, but if the system needs it, your memory performance drops from about 10ns to 10ms. That's about 1,000,000 times slower (exaggerated, but >>1000 times). Rather limit the size of your page file than moving it. Note that limiting may rise to applications that won't run anymore; if there is no memory while an application requested it, it should stop doing stuff. For some applications this assumption is not really well programmed.

 

Temp folder. Personally I'd keep it on the SSD. Those are the files you 'touch' most often, those are the files in which you'd notice a performance difference first.

 

Browser temp files. Same as temp folder.

 

Defragmentation: Must be off, but on Windows 7 and 8 if you have an SSD (at least on AHCI) Windows has it default disabled.

 

MSVC++ Redistributables: I'd keep it on the SSD, although if I recall correctly those are read to memory once for the application once you load it. Also; the OS doesn't use it.

 

TRIM: Put the SSD on AHCI mode and it is default enabled by OS if the SSD supports it if I'm not mistaken. And with TRIM is really faster. Short idea: If a block has data, e.g. 11011101, then to write it to 10111011 it first needs to be 'reset' to 11111111 and then the 1's pulled down to 10111011. TRIM resets to 11111111 if the SSD is idle and the block is empty.

 

 

The lifetime of an SSD is not an issue. Every 'block' of an SSD can be written only a few number of times (Samsung states 1000). That may intuitively means that if you edit a file 1000 times, the cell is corrupt. But when you say to disable defragmentation, you don't mention why. Short summary: If a block is written quite often, the SSD has an internal algorithm (independent of OS) to observe that and decide to rather move a block of data rarely written to that block, the latter can safely be stored at a 'almost corrupt' block. Defragmentation aligns the blocks and screws up the algorithm.

 

However, if you test the "lets write all the blocks", does it crash? http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/4178/10/hardwareinfo-tests-lifespan-of-samsung-ssd-840-250gb-tlc-ssd-updated-with-final-conclusion-final-update-20-6-2013 Maybe, but they truly state that the lifetime is not an issue for the current SSDs.

[daredevil]

What about windows 2008 R2? Does it also disable defragmentation by default on SSD? 

 

Isn't it good idea to move page file to SSD drive when you have 2 HD's one regular and one SSD? 

[Ann!b@l]

What about windows 2008 R2? Does it also disable defragmentation by default on SSD? 

 

Isn't it good idea to move page file to SSD drive when you have 2 HD's one regular and one SSD? 

I'm not sure about the defrag on win2008 but I would suggest to disable it if it's not already the case and to use Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro for that.. It's a great tool who will detect what kind and appropriated defrag to use.. It's a complete tool that I recommand..

 

About page file, I for my part moved the write to HDD to keep my SSD the most time possible efficient and to save some space with too much write on it.. It works well like that for me..

Edited August 7, 2013 by Ann!b@l

[rolf]

I wouldn't use any defragmentation on an SSD. I'm not sure whether Win2008R2 automatically disables defragmentation, however since 2008R2 supports TRIM I expect that it notices that it is an SSD (trivial ) and that it automatically disables defragmentation by that.

 

The page file must, imo, be on the SSD. But it is default on C:, which is usually also where Windows is installed which usually is on the SSD

[Vanaraud]

The page file must, imo, be on the SSD. But it is default on C:, which is usually also where Windows is installed which usually is on the SSD

With gaming even 8GB of operating memory is more than enough, barely use 4 of it, so I doubt I never run out of DDR RAM to expand it on HD. I was also wondering if its better idea to limit page file on SSD to 2GB and move other 8-10 to HDD.

 

And yes with reinstalling Microsoft Visual Redistributable I mean´t just reinstalling 1 version of it, nothing to do with HDD or SSD, just press next, next, next and install it on default location. If OS is on SSD then in default it goes to SSD. The main point was it could help for gaming if only one version of it is installed, not 2-3 or more.

 

With referring to flash RAM I just pointed out that its not like HHD with moving parts etc... But everyone whos interested in SSD can seek it out in wikipedia

[daredevil]

I am planning to upgrade our another Euro server... choice is SSD in RAID in 1 or 6Gb/s 2 TB Hard drive. With SSD only of 240GB I will get short on space pretty soon ....

[rolf]

^^ On game servers most data is loaded into memory once (starting) and once for each map and so on. So for game servers HDD's should suffice.

 

 

I'm not really sure what and if stats are running, but those are generally stored into some database. If the size of those databases exceed the available memory (minus OS, games, etc), an SSD would be awesome. Furthermore, for logs SSD's are really better, although those grow fast which is indeed the problem of space you'll be getting.

 

 

 

With gaming even 8GB of operating memory is more than enough, barely use 4 of it, so I doubt I never run out of DDR RAM to expand it on HD. I was also wondering if its better idea to limit page file on SSD to 2GB and move other 8-10 to HDD.

 

And yes with reinstalling Microsoft Visual Redistributable I mean´t just reinstalling 1 version of it, nothing to do with HDD or SSD, just press next, next, next and install it on default location. If OS is on SSD then in default it goes to SSD. The main point was it could help for gaming if only one version of it is installed, not 2-3 or more.

 

With referring to flash RAM I just pointed out that its not like HHD with moving parts etc... But everyone whos interested in SSD can seek it out in wikipedia

 

The most ideal case is indeed that you don't need the page file. But if you need it, an SSD is really the way to go. Personally I have 3GB swap on SSD, but that'll be close to never used since I have 24GB memory in my laptop.

 

I have the feeling that the idea of the tutorial is to minimize the use of the SSD, while using it more is better for the (general) performance. It's not a complaint in any way, it's just that (if I read correctly) with a 60GB SSD space is indeed an issue.

 

 

The comparison to RAM, you're absolutely right that it is the easiest way to go, and you explain the general idea, but I think that in tutorials either refer to wiki or let it be (able to) read without references yet (a tiny little bit more ) correct. Although an SSD is indeed RAM, so it is correct anyway, but may be confusing to the part I pointed out.

[Jopa]

Hello everyone

 

 

SSDs tend to be very fast for random reads. Most SSDs thoroughly trounce traditionally HDDs because the mechanical work required to position a rotating disk head isn’t required. As a result, the better SSDs can perform 4 KB random reads almost 100 times faster than the typical HDD (about 1/10^th of a millisecond per read vs. roughly 10 milliseconds). then

[JoeDirt]

Hello everyone

 

 

SSDs tend to be very fast for random reads. Most SSDs thoroughly trounce traditionally HDDs because the mechanical work required to position a rotating disk head isn’t required. As a result, the better SSDs can perform 4 KB random reads almost 100 times faster than the typical HDD (about 1/10^th of a millisecond per read vs. roughly 10 milliseconds). then

[Jopa]

I apologize that I have not mentioned the source texts, I am not in that field experts is I just wanted to help. Thank you for your understanding.

[RedBaird]

I apologize that I have not mentioned the source texts, I am not in that field experts is I just wanted to help. Thank you for your understanding.

There are at least two reasons for posting a link to the source page: 

 

1) People will know that you are not claiming the words as your own, and

2) Readers might like to read the whole source article.

 

.... blog dedicated to the engineering of Microsoft Windows 7

Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives    (5 May 2009)

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx

[Vanaraud]

Well the SSD technology is grown a lot these days but maybe some are just discovering and getting first SSD-s with restricted space, then some of the points in tutorial are still useful(like how to free some space up).

 

Though there are couple of new developments: SSD-s have broken many speed records even in mainstream. With SSD-s connecting through Ultra PCI-e 3.0x4 connectors 2GB\s read\write isn´t big deal anymore. For example Samsung 950 PRO with nvme support and V-NAND cell technology. NVME is new architecture to drive "hard drives" focusing more on parrallel computing opposed to old spinning HDD AHCI support. So NVME supported SSD-s should make PC-s to respond even more "snappier", though SSD in itself vs HDD is speeding things up a lot. For NVME SSD-s to boot up as OS  partitions the motherboards BIOS, SSD itself and OS have to work along. Latest parts fit together already, like before mentioned Samsung PRO 950(951 and older OEM parts would not work as OS "hard drives"), Win10 should have support and motherboards with z97 chipsets with BIOS updates don´t have major problems anymore.

 

On the other side of spectrum there are cheap SSD-s. And the whole reason to writing this update thingy was that in europe(in my country at least) the TRION 100 960GB(1TB) TLC based SSD has hit as low as 230€. Being sold for over 350€ couple of month ago, this is huge drop in prices. USA equivalent would be MLC based Mushkin Reactor for around 250$, which is better deal. As MLC chips are faster and longer lasting than Triple-Level-Cell SSD chips then Reactor is more reliable choice. Latest TLC based SSD-s are cached algorithms to fake SLC performance and compared with cheaper controllers and not well optimized firmware they perform even WORSE than OLD SPINNING HDD-s after the SLC-cache is run out. So for example when copying huge files(50-100GB) the ~15GB cache runs out and the speeds drop to single TLC chip level- which are cheaper to produce but also have the lowest speeds per chip.

Also the random access speeds are not that good neither. Only good side of the 1TB cheaper SDD-s is they are much quieter than old dying data disk HDD-s,

that´s why I ordered one if anybody is interested how TRION 100 performs before considering buying one then I should get it delivered withing 2 weeks.

 

Also one update would be to check reviews for SSD battery consumption, because some SSD-s can and will consume more power than old good spinning laptop grade HDDs.