Guide to SSD Installation and Optimization

[hazard_one]

I recently installed my X25-M 80GB G2 with Windows 7 Ultimate x64

I've been searching around for a complete guide to installing and optimizing SSD's with zero bugs but all I found were tidbits of information.

If anyone knows of one please link it OR we can just start one here.

Basically I installed my SSD along with 2 1TB Samsung F3's; One of which I will be using to install the larger programs and games.

I have yet to update the firmware on my SSD which I probably should've done before installing Windows. I was also told it is beneficial to turn off disk defragging and install Intel SSD Toolbox (Please confirm so I can add to the list)

Steps:

1. Enabled AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) in the BIOS under SATA Controller Settings. I know some people claim there is little to no difference in performance but from what I've seen and read, most people enable this feature.

2. Installed Windows 7 obviously.

3. Updated Controller Drivers via http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx or whatever your controller is.

4. Moved My Documents, My Music, My Videos, etc. by following this guide:

http://www.w7forums.com/change-location-my-documents-folder-t338.html

I understand there are ways of moving the whole user folder but I have yet to find a way with ZERO bugs. Plus My Documents, etc. are probably the heaviest folders.

Here's a list of things I'd like to do but haven't found a simple bug-free way of doing it (Maybe you guys can help me out):

- Paging file??
- Moving Temp Folder to another drive
- Change default installation for Program Files to another drive (for x64)

Also if there's anything I'm leaving out that would pertain to this topic please let me know!

 

[drescherjm]

- Paging file??

Leave that on the SSD. Make it smaller if you please.

Moved My Documents, My Music, My Videos, etc. by following this guide

You probably should have kept My Documents on the SSD. The other two you should not have on the SSD.

Moving Temp Folder to another drive

That is fine / recommended. Just change the environment variables for the system and your user to whatever you want for TEMP and TMP.

Change default installation for Program Files to another drive (for x64)

I would not do that unless you are very tight on space. If you want to move specific program files to other drives create a junction point for the program you want to move.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

 

[Neb]

IMO the guide to usage of any Intel SSD drive:

1) Install drive
2) Make sure AHCI is enabled
3) Install Windows 7
4) Install Intel SSD toolbox (optional, imo)
5) Make sure defrag is disabled
6) Enjoy.

 

[drescherjm]

I think the level of optimization depends highly on how space limited you are with the SSD.

 

[hazard_one]

I would not do that unless you are very tight on space. If you want to move specific program files to other drives create a junction point for the program you want to move.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

Is there a guide to do this? Or would it just be easier for me to specify where I want to install it at the time of installation?

And what about firmware for the G2? Easy to update? and is it even worth it?

 

[Kulith]

Dont forget to disable superfetch and disable drive indexing too.

On the OCZ forums, they also insist on disabling sleep mode for your computer.

 

[SicKlown42012]

Dont forget to disable superfetch and disable drive indexing too.

On the OCZ forums, they also insist on disabling sleep mode for your computer.

Bad advice, especially if you have a HDD in the system also. Even if you don't, turning those options off do not help in any way.

 

[drescherjm]

Is there a guide to do this? Or would it just be easier for me to specify where I want to install it at the time of installation?

Yes it will probably be better to install in the alternate location first. However if you do not do that for some application then at a later date decide you need space with junctions you can move folders after installation to anywhere you want on any local ntfs filesystem and as far as the application is concerned it is the same path.

Here are some tools:
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

The procedure to move a folder is to cut the folder move it then create a juction to map the original location to the new.

 

[Brahmzy]

There's a lot of FAIL in this thread.

 

[drescherjm]

There is NO FAIL in this thread.

 

[drescherjm]

Dont forget to disable superfetch and disable drive indexing too.

On the OCZ forums, they also insist on disabling sleep mode for your computer.

I don't know. Both superfetch and indexing seem to do more harm to performance than they help. And I am even talking about hard drives.

 

[Kulith]

Bad advice, especially if you have a HDD in the system also. Even if you don't, turning those options off do not help in any way.

what?? Of course they help. If you don't have a hdd then there is no need to run superfetch. It won't "improve performance" but it does disable an unnecessary service that doesn't need to be running.

As for drive indexing, the seek times on the ssd are fast enough to make the difference negligible.... and eliminating all those unnecessary reads and writes increases the life of the ssd.

 

[SicKlown42012]

what?? Of course they help. If you don't have a hdd then there is no need to run superfetch. It won't "improve performance" but it does disable an unnecessary service that doesn't need to be running.

As for drive indexing, the seek times on the ssd are fast enough to make the difference negligible.... and eliminating all those unnecessary reads and writes increases the life of the ssd.

So your whole argument is on how Superfetch will kill your drive faster? Have you taken the time to see exactly how much they write to the system(reads don't hurt the drive at all)? A few kilobytes a day. Not nearly enough to adversely effect the drive's lifespan.

Turning Superfetch off, even with a SSD, does make some of your program load slower, sometimes noticeably. A SSD can't touch the performance of RAM, which is what Superfetch is using. Unfortunately, I wasted quite a bit of time trying to "optimize" my drive with all this nonsense, and it comes back that it was better to just let Window's do it's thing.

Even on a SSD, using Indexing is faster than searching the entire SSD for a file. While a SSD works much better than a HDD, it's still not enough especially if you have a ton of files. Again, I wasted a shit-load of time to find all this out.

These tweaks only made sense when everyone was using a first gen SSD with the shitty JMicron controllers. They didn't have enough cache to hand multiple writes. Any modern SSD does not have this limitation.

 

[Kulith]

So your whole argument is on how Superfetch will kill your drive faster? Have you taken the time to see exactly how much they write to the system(reads don't hurt the drive at all)? A few kilobytes a day. Not nearly enough to adversely effect the drive's lifespan.

Turning Superfetch off, even with a SSD, does make some of your program load slower, sometimes noticeably. A SSD can't touch the performance of RAM, which is what Superfetch is using. Unfortunately, I wasted quite a bit of time trying to "optimize" my drive with all this nonsense, and it comes back that it was better to just let Window's do it's thing.

Thats not what I said at all.... I said disabling superfetch disables an unnecessary service that doesn't need to be running, hence wasting cpu cycles. Read much? I'm quite aware that superfetch doesn't write to the drive.

Even on a SSD, using Indexing is faster than searching the entire SSD for a file. While a SSD works much better than a HDD, it's still not enough especially if you have a ton of files. Again, I wasted a shit-load of time to find all this out.

These tweaks only made sense when everyone was using a first gen SSD with the shitty JMicron controllers. They didn't have enough cache to hand multiple writes. Any modern SSD does not have this limitation.

I disagree. But I suppose it would depend on how often you search. I only search for something about once a day, and it finds it instantly, even if the result is deep in hundreds of source code files...

For most people though, the marginal (if any) search improvements from indexing is no where near worth the sacrifice of constantly read/writing unnecessarily on the ssd.

 

[Corban227]

here yo uare. just found what i used. i didnt do everything though
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...te-Tweaks-amp-Utilities-*&p=442158#post442158

also i think this thread will be useful for many
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1469338