How to properly configure my system and SSD?

[Average_Joe]

Hello

 

So guys, I've bought myself an ssd - the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB and I need some help setting everything up.

 

I'll be doing a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit on the SSD and I'll have my 500GB WD Blue for photos, videos, large games and so forth. What do I need to do?

 

From what I've gathered reading on the internet:

 

- I need to set my SATA controller to work in AHCI mode. ===== DONE

- Install Windows, check if I'm using TRIM with command prompt with "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" - if it returns a zero, then it's enabled.

Also AS SSD is a good software to check this kind of stuff, I've read, and you can also check if you are using Microsoft or Intel AHCI drivers.

 

And that's basically it. Now the questions:

 

1. Why do some people say that one should avoid SSDs with SandForce controllers?

2. Is the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB a good SSD?

3. Should I enable S.M.A.R.T.? I've never used it with my HDD...

4. I'm using the Microsoft AHCI driver. Is the Intel one better or they are basically the same?

 

Please give me some tips, in case I'm missing something. Thanks.

 

P.S. My motherboard is GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 with the latest F8D BIOS, I'm using the SATA0 connector for the SSD which is wired to the ICH9R southbridge.

[Zeke]

1) I guess here are some reasons

2) Yes.

3) If you'd like to, it never hurts to have some additional info about your drive.

4) Probably not, 90% of SSD magic comes from TRIM and a good controller.

[Socratic]

Snatched from another forum I use. Good guide

 

SSD

Stands for Solid State Disk, and is built from non-volatile memory chips. Individual memory cells are done in pages of 4KB which is the smallest size that can be written and read which is where performance problems for SSDs lie. Only whole blocks can be deleted (512kb). If you only want to overwrite a separate 4KB area, the controller has to read out 512 KB (1 Block) to change the data in the memory and then delete the block and re-write the shifted data. Therefore a 4KB writing action leads to a long chain of commands. An SSD can be thought of pretty much as an over sized USB memory stick

 

 

HDD

Stands for Hard Disk Drive, and is built from rapidly rotating discs (often referred to as platters), coated with magnetic material and with magnetic heads arranged to write data to the surfaces and read it from them. HDDs can only write data, there is no deletion available on them. When you delete a file it is not removed from the disk, it is just marked as empty space, therefore the operating systems pass no delete commands for data on to the drive. 

 

 

The MAIN differences between the both are the speeds at which data can be written to or read from.

 

The more you have used the SSD, the more write-access actions have to overwrite data, which is bad for SSDs. 

In order to avoid Data loss and SSD degradation, there are a couple of things to look out for. I'll be referring to windows 7 here. SSD's can be used on other Windows versions but Windows 7 natively supports TRIM. When buying I would personally advise making sure your SSD has TRIM capability. (most now do but not all)

 

 

Make sure TRIM support is enabled

 

When you delete files, they don’t get deleted immediately. The files stay where they are, but their index is changed so that the space they occupy is marked as free. When you write new files to the disk, the whole block of data gets scrubbed for the new files to be saved. This works well for HDDs. SSDs store and overwrite data in a different way. Therefore, it’s best for the SSD to use TRIM command and scrub deleted files rather than perform an entire block erase when new data is written to the disk. TRIM command allows your operating system to inform your SSD drive which blocks of data are not in use anymore and can be wiped. Basically, TRIM helps to avoid write performance degradation by the way it handles deletes and writes.

 

•  
  

• Click on Start and type cmd in the Search box 
  

• Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (This will launch the elevated Admin command prompt)
  

• If a 'User Account Control' dialog box appears, click 'OK'
  

• In the command prompt window, type:
  

 

 

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

 

 

 

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means that TRIM is enabled

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 means that TRIM is disabled

 

 

 

Disable scheduled disk defragmentation

 

NEVER Defrag an SSD. Defragmentation is only useful for spinning hard drives that have moving parts because it puts all file fragments together and lets the hard disk open files in one smooth move. SSDs don’t have any mechanical arms and they don’t care whether the file is contiguous or fragmented. It’s best to make sure defragmentation is disabled. To do that:

 

 

 

•  
  

• Click on Start and type dfrgui in the Search box
  

• Press Enter (This will launch the disk defragmenter box)
  

• Highlight your SSD and click on Configure Schedule
  

• Make sure Run on a schedule is unchecked. If it’s checked, uncheck it.
  

 

 

 

 

 

Disable, move or reduce the page file

 

Your system starts using the page file (virtual memory) when it runs out of memory while working with applications. When the system is using the page file, there are writes to your drive. Because it’s best to reduce writes to an SSD, as mentioned earlier it’s best to either reduce the size of the page file, move it to another drive or disable it altogether depending on personal preference and/or available amount of RAM.

 

By default the operating system will create a page file that is one and a half times the amount of RAM that is installed in the computer, provided there is sufficient free space on the system hard drive.

 

The page file can be modified in the following way, depending on personal preference and setup:

•  
  

• Delete : If you have a lot of RAM. (8Gig or higher is usually good. DDR3 1333Mhz or higher is best)
  

• Move  : If you have a high capacity, high speed HDD (500Gig or higher, and the likes of a WD Black would be best / SATA 6 Gb/s, 64mb cache 7200rpm)
  

• Reduce Size : If you have half decent size Ram 4Gig or higher and know it wont all be utilized all the time
  

 

 

 

•  
  

• Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Performance Monitor
  

• On the left, Click Performance Monitor.
  

• In the right pane, click + (the Add button).
  

• Use local computer in first drop down panel.
  

• In the Performance object list, double click Process.
  

• Click Page File Bytes Peak, click Add, and then click OK.
  

• Let the counter run during typical use of your computer for approx 30min
  

 

 

Note the Minimum Value is usually 16MB

Note the maximum value for the Page File Bytes Peak counter, and then multiply the value by .70. The sum of the equation is the size to set for your page file.

 

 

•  
  

• Click on Start, navigate to Computer
  

• Right-click on Computer and go to Properties
  

• Choose Advanced System Settings link on the left-hand side (This will launch the system properties box)
  

• Choose Advanced Tab
  

• Choose Settings under Performance (This will launch the performance options box)
  

• Choose Advanced tab
  

• Virtual memory and click Change
  

• Uncheck the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check-box
  

• Under Drive [Volume Label], click on the drive where you want to change the size of virtual memory. If your system uses a HDD in addition to an SSD, it’s best to move the page file there in accordance to preference and Ram size as stated above.
  

• Click Custom size and type the new size in MB in the Initial size (MB) and Maximum size (MB) boxes. Make sure it’s the same amount to prevent your CPU from constantly adjusting virtual memory.
  

• Click Set and then click OK
  

[Average_Joe]

Wow, thanks guys! I have one more question: Should I update the SSD's firmware?

[migel_prado]

The SAndforce issues have been sorted and most of what people talk/refer to are the issues that were associated with the 1 gen controllers. Now, almost all ssd's are the same and the only difference imo is with the price. And yes, you should update the firmware. newer firmware addresses bugs and fixes for the ssd 

[Average_Joe]

What I've done:

 

- Enabled AHCI mode in BIOS

- Enabled S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS

- Updated to the latest firmware (5.26)

- Installed Windows 7

- I'm using msahci driver

- I typed "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" and it returned a zero, so I'm using TRIM as well.

- My mind has been blown, I'll never use an HDD for my OS and programs ever again.

EDIT: - Turned off scheduled disk defragmentation for the SSD.

 

Thanks to everyone for helping me

[Socratic]

What I've done:

 

- Enabled AHCI mode in BIOS

- Enabled S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS

- Updated to the latest firmware (5.26)

- Installed Windows 7

- I'm using msahci driver

- I typed "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" and it returned a zero, so I'm using TRIM as well.

- My mind has been blown, I'll never use an HDD for my OS and programs ever again.

 

Thanks to everyone for helping me

Disable scheduled disk defragmentation

 

Quite an important one. You shouldn't defrag an SSD and windows can set an auto defrag and that's bad.

[Average_Joe]

Excellent point! I did that as well, I just forgot to type it. Thanks