Windows 7 and SSD Tweaks

July 5th, 2010 734 Views Leave a comment Go to comments

This page is for my personal purpose use only. Using a Solid State Drive (SSD) and Windows 7 has some advantage in performance and its tasks. This guide will optimize your Windows 7 and SSD with the best outcome.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for any kind of damage that may occur to your computer or its hardware, please do at your own risk. Thanks.

Let’s get started now. Click on any images to enlarge them. Good luck…

1. Disable System Restore
Note: This is the most important piece of information in this Guide. Recent testing has discovered that System Restore allocates restore points within the SSD that do not work well with the SSD or TRIM. Typically, System Restore will degrade ssd performance significantly within a few weeks and makes it very difficult for TRIM to function. Disabling System Restore is not only recommended throughout the web, but also, Intel has lately also included this advise with respect to its ssds. Disabling System Restore will also return to you a fair amount of ssd storage space.

  1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties.
  2. Click on System Protection tab
  3. Choose Local Disk (C:) (System)
  4. Select Configure button.
  5. Now, select Turn Off System Restore

End of Tip #1

2. Disable Drive Indexing
Note: The purpose of drive indexing on a hard drive was to allow quicker access to a file. As access times on a ssd are almost instantaneous (.1ms), there is a common belief that indexing does nothing more than increase the total number of writes to the SSD which results in a lesser life cycle. Having stated this, there is no confirmed performance increase by disabling indexing and the chances of wearing out ones SSD is somewhere in the area of impossible to one in a million.

  1. Go to My Computer and choose your SSD.
  2. Right-click your SSD and select Properties (usually C: drive)
  3. Select General tab.
  4. Un-check the box: Allow files to have contents indexed in addition to file properties.
  5. Wait for a bit and let it finish, make sure select “Ignore All” in further errors.

End of Tip #2

3. Disable Disk Defragment Schedule
Note: Windows 7 should, by default, disable Windows Defrag automatically but this does not always occur for some reason. Disk Defragmentation is not required in a SSD as the mechanics are completely different. There are no moving parts so file fragmentation doesn’t occur as frequently as it does with a hard drive which fragments files as they are retrieved and stored on the disk while it spins at very high speeds. Leaving Windows 7 with an enabled defragmentation schedule will drastically increase your SSD total writes and decrease its lifespan.

  1. Go to My Computer and choose your SSD.
  2. Right-click your SSD and select Properties (usually C: drive)
  3. Select Tools tab.
  4. Click Defragment now … button
  5. Select the box Defragment Schedule
  6. Un-check the box: Run on a Schedule Box

End of Tip #3

4. Turn Off Windows Write-Cache Buffer Flushing
Note: Turning Off Write-Cache Buffer Flushing may increase or decrease the performance of your drive and it is suggested that you perform benchmark tests with it checked and unchecked. It is reported to improve performance on OCZ drives, however, decreases the performance of Intel drives.

  1. Right-click Computer and select Properties.
  2. Select Device Manager.
  3. Double-click on Disk Drives to expand.
  4. Choose your SSD, right-click on it and select Properties.
  5. Select Policies tab.
  6. Check the box: Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device

End of Tip #4

5. Turn Off Page File
Note: This is an extremely controversial optimization and does not improve performance whatsoever. It does, however, return to the user 3.5-4Gb of valuable ssd storage space. It is NOT recommended for typical users with less than 4Gb RAM that are not aware of their system and its RAM use. It is also not recommended without first watching RAM use closely for some time prior to this being done.

  1. Right-click Computer and select Properties.
  2. Select Advanced System Settings.
  3. In Performance setting box, click Settings… button.
  4. Now, choose Advanced tab on top.
  5. There is Virtual memory setting box, click on Change… button.
  6. Un-check the box: Automatically mange paging file size for all drives.
  7. Choose your SSD, and tick the box: No Paging file.
  8. Click the Set button.
  9. Finally, select Yes and Restart your computer.

End of Tip #5

6. Turn Off Multi-Boot Selection
Note: This should not be done if the drive is being used to boot multiple operating systems off the same OS drive.

  1. Right-click Computer and select Properties.
  2. Select Advanced System Settings.
  3. In Startup and Recovery setting box, click Settings… button.
  4. Un-check the box: Time to display list of operating systems:.

End of Tip #6

7. Turn Off Hibernation
Note: Hibernation was a very useful program for hard drives as it enabled one to resume their work in a very quick time. It is less useful with SSDs as they can load completely in as quick as 10-20 seconds which, in some cases, equals Hibernation. Disabling Hibernation will return 2.5Gb of valuable SSD storage space to the user.

  1. In Start button, there is a Search box.
  2. Type in: cmd
  3. In the command line, type: powercfg -h off
  4. Wait for it to finish once the command prompt reappears.

End of Tip #7

8. Advanced Power Settings
Note: This is needed for TRIM to activate at the log-in screen.

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Select System and Security.
  3. Click on Power Options.
  4. Click on a little drop down arrow with Show additional plans.
  5. Select High Performance bubble to apply.
  6. Click Change plan settings.
  7. Again, click Change advanced power settings.
  8. Click the Hard disk drop down menu.
  9. Change Turn off hard disk after to 0 Minutes.
  10. Select OK and Save Settings.

End of Tip #8

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