How to install a solid state hard drive. Preparing your computer and media for installing Windows

When replacing an HDD with an SSD, you can either transfer the existing OS from the old drive by cloning it or install new copy OS. Disk cloning requires assigning a partition, according to at least, as large as the source, and SSD drives are usually smaller than hard disks, so you need to back up and delete unnecessary files from the source.

On your computer, connect the SSD to the SATA slot, leaving your HDD connected. Also, replace the HDD with an SSD, and then connect the HDD to your computer as an external drive. The USB drive converts the drive's SATA connector to USB format, so you can use it as removable media. Boot from external drive, select “Temporary Boot Options” or similar selection in the BIOS splash screen, and then select external hard USB disk in boot options.

Cloning the boot partition

Before cloning your hard drive, defragment it using a disk defragmentation and optimization tool. Select the partition, then click the “Analyze” and “Optimize” button and defragment the disk if necessary. Next you need to shrink the partition to fit the new drive using Disk utilities Management; Press the “Windows” key, type “diskmgmt.msc” (without quotes) and press the “Enter” key to open it. Click right click mouse on the partition, select “Shrink Volume” and then, in the “Enter the Amount of Space to Shrink in MB” field, enter the number of megabytes to remove everything unnecessary from this partition so that it is suitable for an SSD. Transfer files to the new SSD using a disk cloning program such as Clonezilla, EaseUS Todo Backup or Acronis. Each of these programs works differently, but they all include an option that directly allows you to transfer files from the old drive to the new one. Select this option from the main menu, and then select your source and destination drives when prompted.

OS installation and fine tuning

When you don't have many applications installed on your HDD, installing a fresh version of the OS is a little easier than cloning since it doesn't require any additional software. Installing an OS on an SSD is no different from installing it on a hard drive, but when using SSD drive as boot disk, some minor adjustments are required. Enable the Enhanced Host Controller Interface for the SSD by opening Regedit and selecting the following directory:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services

Click the “msahci” button, then click the “Start” button twice and make sure that the DWORD type parameter is set to 0. Confirm the same Start DWORD parameter in the pciide directory. Restart your computer and go into the BIOS, then select “Storage” or similar in the BIOS. In your SSD storage options, select “AHCI” so that Windows recognizes the drive as an SSD. Before exiting the BIOS, open the Boot Options menu and follow the on-screen instructions in Boot Order to install the SSD first.

Optimizing your system

After Windows boot on the SSD, open Defragment and optimize your disks, and then select Your SSD from the menu. The applet displays the SSD next to the drive letter because Windows recognizes it as an AHCI device. Windows doesn't know whether to defragment it or not, which shortens the life of the disk by making unnecessary writes and erasing bytes. Instead, Windows automatically turns on the Trim feature to optimize SSD performance. Trim is special teams, which the OS sends to your SSD to compensate for the difference in how the SSD and HDD process data. SSD data is processed instantly, except for a few seconds or minutes, the HDD needs time to move its mechanical head to search for blocks of data that become fragmented as the disk spins. Disadvantage of use as boot SSD is that after writing and deleting data, 10,000 to 100,000 times, flash memory degrades and no longer stores data. To extend the life of your SSD drive, store documents, media and other files on the HDD with large volume storage

Now many users are upgrading their personal computers and laptops by installing on them SSD drives– solid state drives. Compared to the already familiar HDDs, solid state drives really have a significant advantage in terms of speed of work in operating systems and work with data.

Many people have a completely logical question: is it necessary to make any additional adjustments to personal computers and laptops when installing a new SSD? In our article, we will try to consider in detail how to work with SSDs in the two most popular operating systems – Windows 7 and Windows 10 (the actions that we will perform in the “top ten” can also be used on Windows 8).

In the notes, we note some features of SSD manufacturers, as well as some nuances for working with SSDs in laptops. So how is it done? SSD setup for getting maximum return modern equipment purchased and installed by us?

Microsoft, when created operating system Windows 7 initially assumed compatibility of this system with SSD solid-state drives, and when such drives are detected, the system settings will occur automatically. However, it is best to manually check all your computer settings to get the most out of your SSD.

• AHCI mode

To perform its functions, the system needs to SATA controller worked in AHCI mode. To do this, you need to find the SATA configuration menu in the BIOS (Cohfigure SATA As). Typically these configurations are located in Main section, and convert them to AHCI mode. You can check the system in a simple way: “Start Menu” – “Control Panel” – “System” item. Select “Device Manager” and find the item IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers there. If this item is present, then expand it and find controllers with AHCI in the names in the lists. If we find AHCI names there, then our system operates in the mode we need. If there are no such names, then the system is not switched to work in AHCI mode. Naturally, it is necessary that the BIOS itself supports operation in this mode.

• TRIM command

After we have made sure that the system is switched to AHCI mode, we need to check whether the TRIM command is enabled. TRIM improves system performance on solid-state drives by telling operating systems which blocks of previously written data are no longer needed because the data in them has been deleted or formatted. Simply put, the TRIM command “removes garbage” and significantly speeds up the operation of an SSD drive, being a replacement for defragmentation on conventional HDDs.

Notes:

* For SSD operation in the Windows 7 operating system, it is best to combine computers SSD and HDD. This will allow us to combine improved speed performance with HDD reliability.

* It is, of course, preferable to install the operating system on an SSD, like all major programs

* It is advisable to leave about 20 percent of the total volume of the solid-state drive unallocated when installing the operating system. With natural wear and tear, the SSD will take clusters from there for its work.

Optimization in Windows 7 for working with SSD

• Disabling system protection

To limit unnecessary write operations and return available space to the SSD, disable the “System Protection” function as follows: right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties” from the drop-down menu. In the window that opens, find the “System Protection” tab and go to it. Click the “Configure” button and select “Disable system protection”.

Some experts warn that System Protection may degrade the performance of the SSD over time and negatively impact the TRIM function due to its data recording nature.

• Disable disk indexing

Due to the high performance of SSDs, the disk indexing function is not useful to us, because Disk indexing was designed specifically to speed up work on HDDs. To do this, on the “My Computer” icon, call up the drop-down menu with the right mouse button and select “Properties” again. In the “General” section, uncheck the box next to “Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties.”

• Disabling the page file

If you have a 64-bit operating system installed and the amount of RAM exceeds 8 Gigabytes, it would be advisable to disable the Paging File function. To do this, call up the drop-down menu again by right-clicking on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”. In the “Properties” window we find the tab “ Extra options", then the item "Performance", then the item "Options", select the item "Advanced" and find the section " Virtual memory" Check the “No paging file” option and click “Set”. When working with the page file, you need to remember that with some applications that use a large number of RAM resources when disabling the use of the paging file, difficulties may arise.

• Disabling hibernation

Hibernation was created so that the work you were doing on your computer could be resumed almost instantly. So, when you turn on the hibernation function, all the contents of RAM are reset to HDD, and then, upon awakening, it is immediately read. When working with an SSD, this function is not necessary, since the resumption of work is already quite fast. This way we save precious space on our SSD.

We disable the function like this: in the search bar in the “Start Menu” we type cmd command and call the command line utility. After which in command line type the command: powercfg –h off and press the “Enter” key.

It is worth noting that it is not always advisable to disable hibernation. For example, on laptops, disabling hibernation will result in the computer having to be restarted every time it is closed.

• Disabling Memory Management

When enabled, Superfetch caches the most frequently used data, while Prefetch is responsible for preload frequently used applications. In the case of working on an SSD drive, due to the high speed of data access, we will no longer need these functions and we will be able to free up memory and let our drive work only when needed. To disable we do the following actions: in the “Start Menu” in the search bar, type the command regedit, thereby opening the window for working with the registry. We consistently search for and select registry items: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters. Then, with the right mouse button, call up the submenu on the EnableSuperfetch and EnablePrefetcher items one by one. Select the “Change” item and change the values ​​to zero.

In the same way, we change the values ​​to zero in the ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache parameters. The LargeSystemCache setting specifies the size and frequency of flushing the cached page to disk, and the ClearPageFileAtShutdown setting clears the page file when the PC is shut down, which results in additional writes that we no longer need. Path to parameters: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management. Select the ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache items, go to their menu with the right mouse button and, selecting “Change” in each item, set the parameter to zero.

After this, reboot the computer.

• Disable Windows write caching

Since SSDs are much faster than traditional HDDs, the enabled write caching function does not give us any special speed advantages, so you can deactivate it. But, in turn, the manufacturer Intel SSD warns that the refusal of this function will negatively affect the performance of the solid-state drives they produce. Disable caching feature Windows entries We can do this as follows: in the root folder of Explorer “My Computer”, right-click and select “Device Manager” through the “Properties” item. Select the item “ Disk devices"and right-click on our SSD, thereby calling up a submenu. In the submenu, select the “Properties” section and in the properties window on the “Policies” tab, uncheck the “Allow caching of records for this device” checkbox. Then press the OK button.

• Disable Windows Search

Windows Search creates indexes separate files, documents and folders on your hard drive. The index is stored in a separate Search folder on drive C and takes up to 10% of the volume of indexed documents, so that when searching, part of the index is loaded into memory and significantly speeds it up. In the case of an SSD, again, this function will not give us a noticeable increase in speed. But indexes take up space on the solid-state drive, and the enabled this function can really negatively affect the performance of the SSD. Therefore, we disable the Search function Windows next way: in the search bar in the “Start Menu”, type the command services.msc and press “Enter” to bring up a menu with a list of local services. Find Superfetch in the list and right-click on it to bring up the service menu. In the Startup Type drop-down menu, select Disabled and click OK. Then find the service Windows Search and right-click on it again, select “Properties” and click on the “Stop” button, and then in the “Startup Type” menu, also select the “Disabled” option and click OK.

• Transferring TEMP folders

For release extra space on SSD and unnecessary overwriting, we transfer folders with temporary files to another drive. To do this, go to the “Control Panel”, select the “My Computer” icon, then the “Advanced system settings” section and in the “Advanced” tab go to the “menu” Environment Variables", where we click the change button, and change the final addresses of the folders with temporary data storage to new ones.

• Transferring user folders

To perform the same task as in the previous paragraph, we transfer everything custom folders to another drive (including the “Video”, “Audio”, “Downloads”, “Favorites” and others folders). We create separate folder user on another drive and in “Folder Options”, which we call by right-clicking on the selected folder, on the “Location” tab, click the move button and set a new location for the folders to be moved.

• Disable NTFS journaling

You can also disable NTFS system journaling. To do this, in the Start menu, in the search bar, type cmd and open the command line. In the command line, type the command: fsutil usn deletejournal /D C: and press “Enter”.

• Disable regular defragmentation

As mentioned above, the defragmentation function is intended to work with HDDs and we do not need it when working with SSDs. Therefore, we disable it as follows: in the “Start” menu in search bar Type the word “defragmentation”, select the found disk defragmentation program, find the “Schedule” tab and uncheck the “Run on a schedule” checkbox.

• Setting Energy Consumption

For best performance your SSD needs to manually configure its power supply. To do this, call the “Control Panel”, find “Power Options” there and set following parameters: In “Set up power plan” in the parameters, select “High performance” and click “Apply”. Go to “Setting the power plan” and in the “Change additional power settings” item, select the “Hard disk” item, the “Turn off the hard drive after” sub-item and set the “Never” option, that is, “00 minutes”.

Optimization in Windows 10 (8) for working with SSD

When working with the Windows 10 (8) operating system, it is best to complete all the points related to Windows 7. The fact is that “Ten” independently makes some changes when it detects a solid-state drive. Here is a list of standard automatic system optimizations:

• Disable defragmentation;
• Connecting the TRIM function;
• Disable ReadyBoost feature;
• SSD power optimization;
• Enable the Superfetch option.

All other optimization items will have to be performed manually. You can proceed according to the scheme with the Windows 7 operating system that we proposed above.

There is another option. You can download a free one SSD utility Mini Tweaker, launch it, check the boxes required to complete it and apply the changes. It is recommended to check all the optimization menu options offered by the SSD Mini Tweaker program.

Notes:

*For maximum performance when using an SSD, it is recommended to connect it to SATA 3 ports operating at 6 Gigabits per second.

* Don't forget to periodically check your SSD manufacturer's website for firmware updates and install them.

As we can see from the article, optimizing the system for working with a solid-state drive requires some settings. And if Windows 7 will have to be carefully configured manually, then in the Windows 10 and 8 operating systems some settings are applied automatically when the system detects a solid-state drive during installation, and adjustment to work with an SSD drive in the system can be done using a specially designed free utility SSD Mini Tweaker.

There are several ways to install an SSD in a laptop, depending on the purpose of using solid-state storage. The device can be used as a main and extra space for storing information. Many users use a solid-state storage device as a system drive, which can significantly speed up Windows.

Installing an SSD in a laptop

New models of solid-state storage devices have larger storage capacities multimedia files and resource-intensive programs.

Choosing an SSD drive for a laptop

The standard solid-state drive has a 2.5″ form factor, which is compatible with the dimensions of a laptop HDD. When choosing a model, you should pay attention to this criterion. The drive must be connected to the SATA interface. Modern technologies provide the ability to use several file storages in a laptop, which expands your choice.

To install the operating system, purchase models with a memory capacity of up to 120 GB. This solution has affordable price and speeds up system loading and work-related operations by 5-6 times system files. Larger solid-state storage capacity is designed to store multimedia files high quality and working with resource-intensive programs.

Replacing HDD with SSD

To replace the hard drive with a modern analogue, you need to disassemble the laptop. To do this you will need a Phillips screwdriver. In most laptop models, the HDD is located immediately under the back cover - unscrew the mounting bolts and carefully remove the cover.

Smoothly remove the HDD by pulling it in the desired direction marked with the guide arrow. An SSD, like a standard HDD, is connected to SATA interface. Install the drive into the 2.5″ hard drive slot and secure the laptop cover with bolts.

This solution allows you to install a modern storage device as your main file storage. Install the operating system on the new device, and further configuration of the storage device will be described below.

Installing an SSD instead of a disk drive

Modern technologies and the presence of the necessary adapters allow you to install an SSD in the connector for optical drive. This solution allows you to expand space on your laptop and save data from old HDD drive. You can use several file storages at the same time.

To install a solid-state drive instead of a disk drive, you will need to purchase an additional adapter - SATA 2nd HDD Caddy for Laptop. When ordering an adapter, check compatibility with your laptop model. To install the adapter, it is necessary to remove back cover laptop.

Some models limit access to the drive, which forces you to deeply disassemble the laptop. Follow the instructions to maintain the integrity of the case and ensure successful disassembly.

Remove the drive and connect the adapter. The adapter supports 2.5″ drives.

Reassemble the laptop case.

Setting up an SSD drive

After HDD replacement on an SSD or installing an additional drive, you need to make subsequent settings in the operating system. If the solid-state drive is used as a disk for the operating system, you need to configure disk loading.

Enter the BIOS to the BOOT section and move the required disk to the first position. The operating system will automatically boot Windows from the required drive.

Configuring and disabling services in Windows

Operating room family Windows systems is aimed at working primarily with HDD drives, which have some differences in the operating principle of SSDs. To improve the functioning and lifespan of the device, you need to make a number of changes in the Windows settings.

Disabling hard drive defragmentation

Defragmenting your hard drive speeds up HDD operation, optimizing its logical structure for quick reading data. For an SSD, this function is not needed; on the contrary, it can harm the solid-state drive. You can disable defragmentation by executing the command in the “Start menu - run - dfrgui «

In the early Windows versions 10 and subsequent updates, this section was called “Disk Optimization”, where defragmentation was redesigned for modern systems. In Windows 10, there is no need to disable this process.

Disabling the page file

If you have enough RAM, it is recommended to disable the page file, which has a positive effect on speed work hard disk.

To perform this operation, you need to open the performance options. Select "No paging file".

Enabling the TRIM function

Starting from version 7, the Windows family began to actively support work with solid-state drives. The developers have added a TRIM function that interacts with the SSD drive. The system sends information about unused blocks to be deleted. This speeds up system performance and increases the service life of the device.

You can check the activity of the service in the following way:

1. Open a command prompt
2. Copy the command fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
3. The received response must contain the value DisableDeleteNotify = 0 or DisableDeleteNotify = 1. If the received value is 0, the TRIM function is active, if the value is 1, TRIM is not functioning.

This feature is enabled by default in Windows 7 and newer versions.

Disabling hibernation - sleep mode

The system startup speed on an SSD drive is 5-6 times faster than on an HDD. The sleep mode function loses its relevance when using a solid state drive. Hibernation mode creates a system writable file. Disabling this feature simplifies system operation and optimizes device performance.

Disabling file indexing

File indexing occurs continuously and creates a writable file, which could theoretically shorten the life of the SSD drive.

Disabling indexing will not affect the speed of file search, since the SSD has high speed working with files. You can disable indexing as follows:

• Open the “My Computer” shortcut;
• Open the properties of the required disk;
• Uncheck the “Allow file contents to be indexed...” tab.

Installing a modern storage device not only speeds up the system, but also requires maintenance and detailed configuration.

Hello dear friends, today I would like to tell you how to install Windows on SSD drive and make an important, initial adjustment.

Solid state drives are becoming more and more popular every day due to their phenomenal operating speeds compared to hard drives.

Half a year ago, I collected for myself system unit, with good performance components, but I didn’t buy an ssd, which I regret now!

Then they cost twice as much, but who knew that everything would turn out like this, the fall of the ruble, rising prices and other political clownery, but that’s not about that now.

Well, I couldn’t resist and bought an ssd, I couldn’t resist the temptation. I decided to use this disk as a system disk, that is, the operating system and programs are installed on it. All other data is stored on the hard drive.

Comrades, I’ll tell you, this is the bomb! Booting the system from pressing the power button to loading the desktop takes seven, ten seconds, and on the HDD it was a minute and a half.

Programs open and run much faster. Photoshop with a bunch of plugins opens in a couple of seconds, previously you had to wait about ten. In general, there are a lot of advantages, I recommend it to everyone!

Installing Windows 7 on SSD

First of all, connect the drive to the computer. I won’t tell you how to do this, it’s all simple! The main thing is that your motherboard supported SATA III, to which you need to connect, otherwise on SATA II you won't achieve maximum performance from of this type drives.

Next, it is necessary to BIOS set the operating mode for our SSD AHCI. Since everyone's BIOS is different, the settings will accordingly differ slightly. For example, I need to go to the tab Configuration, then select SATA Controller working mode, and select from the drop-down list AHCI. Next you should click F10, to save your changes.

Now you can start installing Windows 7 on the SSD. She's the same as normal installation, which I wrote about in detail in my article.

Setting up an SSD under Windows 7

In principle, after installation, the system will work normally, but we need to extend the life of the solid-state drive and disable some system functions that adversely affect the operation of the SSD itself.

To do this you need to download the program SSD Mini Tweaker 2.4 for x32 and x64 bit systems. Launch the program, and in the window that opens, check all the boxes as in the picture below:

Disabling scheduled defragmentation on SSDs

Click on the button Set up a schedule . A settings window will open where you need to click on the button Select drive:

In the window that appears, uncheck our SSD drive and click OK .

Disable indexing of file contents on an SSD.

Click on the inscription Disable indexing of file contents on disk . In the window that appears, uncheck the box and click OK .

A confirmation window for changing attributes will appear. Check the box as shown below and click OK .

After this, a message may pop up stating that you do not have enough rights to perform this operation for some files. Click Skip for all! Due to a few system files, nothing will happen.

After completing all the above settings, click Apply changes , close the program and restart your computer.

Well that's all, now you know how to install Windows on SSD, as well as perform its initial setup.

If you have any comments, suggestions or questions regarding this article, write in the comments, we will try to figure it out.

Now solid-state drives, or SSDs, are actively taking over the market and are replacing the good old HDD drives. They gradually fall in price, and their volume is constantly increasing. But it's not that simple. These drives have their drawbacks. The fact is that the service life of memory cells is limited, and it is greatly influenced by the number of rewrites. That is why the correct configuration of an SSD drive under Windows 7 directly affects the service life of this device. Let's look at all this in more detail.

SSD Lifespan

This disk is a regular flash memory, i.e. microcircuits. There are no mechanical, moving parts. This flash memory consists of cells, and they tend to wear out. The more information you write to the disk, the more they wear out. Therefore, setting up an SSD drive is very important. If the disk is being read, then this does not affect its wear.

There are various utilities that can be used to obtain information about the operation and status of the drive. One of them is CrystalDiskInfo. With its help, you can find out many characteristics and performance indicators of the disk. For example, firmware serial number, total number of operating hours, number of starts, rotation speed (if we are talking about HDD), etc. We will be interested in the field showing the number of host records. The disk controller counts the total amount of data written to memory during its entire operation. This is due to the way flash memory works. Therefore, the figure shown here in gigabytes will exceed the capacity of your disk.

Setting up an SSD under Windows 7

Modern flash memory (MLC) is designed for sufficient big number rewrite cycles, for example 1000, 2000, etc. This means that you can completely rewrite the disk, for example, a thousand times. If you have 128 GB, then you multiply this value by a thousand and get the final result - the total amount of data that you can write to the drive over its entire service life. This indicator appears in the “Total host records” column. It indicates the amount of data written to the disk since it began operating. For comparison, it must be said that 128 GB SSD drives are designed to record 40-70 TB of information. At very active use On average, a disk writes to about 10 TB of information per year. Thus, its service life will be about 4-7 years.

With moderate using SSD- drive, the amount of data written to the disk will be two or even three times less, and its service life will be correspondingly longer. That is why they are recommended under But first you need to achieve correct settings SSD. Installing and configuring an SSD under Windows 7 will not take much time. But that is not all. In order to achieve best results, another process is running. This is the Windows 7 setting for optimal performance with SSD storage.

How the system is configured

Above we learned how flash memory works and what its resource is. Now let's look at how the setup is done and Windows optimization 7 for proper operation SSD disk. It does not require deep knowledge of computer science or deep knowledge of the system. Even a novice user can do this. You will need to complete eight steps to optimize Windows to use an SSD drive. Myths and reality are closely related to each other, and some may get a little confused. We will tell you step by step where to click and what commands to set.

Disabling System Restore

We need to disable Next - "System and Security", then - "System". Then you need to open "Advanced system settings". In the "System Protection" tab, click on "Configure". There are several options here: “Enable protection” and “Disable protection”. We can also configure the number of gigabytes that we allocate for system protection.

What is meant here is automatic creation a copy of the system, the so-called recovery point, and how much disk space is allocated for this. The default is from 2.5 GB to 10 GB. Accordingly, if we disable system recovery, the specified number of gigabytes will be freed on the disk. This setting makes sense to increase free space SSD drive and at the same time reduces the amount of data written to the SSD. However, system protection is very useful feature, and whether to turn it off or not is up to you. If your SSD storage capacity is large enough, then you can leave everything as is. If not, or you do not use protection, you can disable it.

Turning off data indexing

This item has more practical significance, which directly affects the speed of your SSD and its longevity. In the "My Computer" tab we find " System disk" and go to "Properties".

Below, by default, the option to allow indexing of files on disk is enabled. This function was developed to optimize the performance of HDD media. This was due to the specific operation of their magnetic plates and heads. There is no such need for SSD drives, so we uncheck this function. This will eliminate unnecessary writes to the SSD disk. If an error suddenly occurs, it will be related to the swap file. You will need to disable it, reboot the system and repeat disabling the above option again.

Disabling the page file

By Windows default creates on the system disk special file- this is the swap file. It is used to write some information from RAM to an area on the system disk. This is used in resource-intensive applications such as Photoshop. Some information is unloaded from RAM onto the hard drive, and when necessary, it is loaded back. If you have enough RAM (8 GB or more), then this page file can be safely disabled. This will reduce the number of writes to the system disk. If RAM is small and the applications you use are quite powerful, then disabling this file may cause system instability. Here you need to look individually.

To disable the file, follow the following path: “Control Panel”, then “System and Security”, then “System”, then “Advanced Settings”, then “Advanced”, then “System Performance”, “Settings”, then “Advanced” , "Change". By default it is enabled, you need to uncheck the box and then click “No paging file”.

Turning off hibernation

Hibernation is a special sleep mode, supplemented new feature. It was also developed for Windows Vista. In this mode, data from RAM is rewritten to system partition, and we can turn off the computer from the network. After switching on, all information is restored, automatically read from the system media into RAM. So everything open source software find themselves on the desktop again. Data will not be restored in normal sleep mode. If you do not use hibernation, you can disable it. This will reduce the number of writes to the SSD and free up additional space.

Go to the command line: Start menu, enter “cmd” in the search, run it as administrator. Enter the following phrase there: “powercfg-hoff”, and then press Enter. After this, restart the computer. If in the future you want to return everything back, you will need to enter “powercfg-hon” in the command line and then restart the computer.

Disabling Prefetch (Files in RAM)

This feature loads some data into RAM if you access it frequently. The operating system itself monitors these files and anticipates this possibility. For example, do you often use text editor Word. Some files are already loaded into RAM, and this program launches faster.

For an SSD drive you will not get any noticeable increase in speed, since it works faster than an ordinary HDD, so you can turn off this function. Most often, the operating system itself disables this function when Windows installation to an SSD drive.

How can you check if this option is enabled and how can you disable it? This is done using system registry. You need to open the system registry editor. Go to the “Start” menu, enter “Run” in the search bar and open the “Run” window in the results. Enter the word regedit there and click OK. The system registry editor window opens. Here we go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE directory, then to the SYSTEM tab, then CurrentControlSet, then Control, then SessionManager, MemoryManagement and PrefetchParameters. Click EnablePrefetcher, select “Change” and replace the number 3 with 0. Click OK, reboot, and the function will be disabled.

Disable SuperFetch (disabled by default) and Windows Search

This function can be disabled more easily, without the system registry. Go to: “Control Panel”, then “System and Security”, then “Administration”, then “Services” and look for Superfetch in them. Click the mouse and select "Properties". Then click "Startup Type" and then "Disabled". Next, click “Apply”, OK. After a reboot, the changes will take effect.

If you wish, you can turn off the Windows Search service. It helps you search for files on your computer. Accordingly, turning it off will be at your discretion. If you still decide to do this, then in the “Services” described above you need to find Windows Search, then “Properties”, then “Startup Type”, then “Disabled”, OK. In principle, this is not necessary.

Turn off clearing Windows cache

This step will not have a positive impact on performance for all drives. For example, on Intel SSD drives, the company itself does not recommend disabling this option.

Select: “My Computer”, “System Disk”, “Properties”, “Hardware”, required SSD, "Properties", "General", "Edit Settings", "Policy". Check the box "Disable cache buffer clearing...". If after these steps the performance of your disk has dropped, it is recommended to uncheck this box.

Disabling ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache (disabled by default)

The ClearPageFileAtShutdown option allows you to clear the page file when the computer boots, and the LargeSystemCache option is the size of the cache memory file system. By default, when installing an operating system on an SSD, these options should be disabled. Windows 7 disables them itself. In order to check this, you need to go into the system registry.

We also go to the system registry editor (see how to do this above). In the branch, go to the following folder: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/MemoryManagement". In the right field we find the file LargeSystemCache. Click on "Change". If the field is 0, then it is disabled. We immediately find and also check the file ClearPageFileAtShutdown. If the field is 3, then you need to change it to 0, then click OK and restart the computer. You will learn further how to set up an SSD drive for Windows.

conclusions

That's basically it. The basic settings have been touched upon here. It is definitely necessary to disable the ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache, SuperFetch and Prefetch, data indexing options. If desired, if RAM allows, you can turn off the paging file. System Restore and Windows Search are also disabled at will. To clear the cache, you need to look at the performance of your drive.

Setting up an SSD drive for Windows 7

Now let's talk about how to configure an SSD drive so that it optimally uses the resource stored in it. What steps and points must be followed in order for the disk to work as quickly as possible and its memory cells to remain operational for a sufficient amount of time? Setting up an SSD under Windows 7 does not require much time and is quite simple.

There are two modes of operation of the SATA controller. The first is the IDE, and it is usually enabled by default in the BIOS. The second mode is AHCI. It is this that will allow us to use NCQ and TRIM technologies, which will increase the speed of random writing and reading from an SSD drive. The TRIM command is sent by the system and allows disk cells to be freed from physically deleted data, thus increasing its performance.

Enabling AHCI Controller Mode

If you have not yet installed Windows, then you can change the mode from IDE to AHCI without any problems in the BIOS. After this, Windows 7 is installed and configured on the SSD drive, and everything works. If you have already installed the system, the procedure will be described below.

We need to go to the registry editor, finding the file regedit.exe. How to do this was discussed above. In the system registry editor you need to open a branch according to the following scheme. SSD configuration under Windows 7 occurs in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci directory. Here we need to find the ErrorControl parameter. Click and select "Change". The default value will be 3. You need to replace it with 0, then OK. Just below we find the Start parameter. We also change the value from 3 to 0 and click OK. Next, reboot the computer and go into the BIOS. Now we change the controller mode from SATA to AHCI, save the BIOS and load the operating system.

Now we need to check whether changes have occurred in the system. To do this, go to “My Computer”, then “Properties”, then “Device Manager” and find the IDEATA item here. It needs to be opened, and if you have the line “Standard PCIIDE controller,” then nothing has changed. If you have AHCI in this place, then everything is in order, setting up the SSD under Windows 7 was successful. These steps can be carried out before making changes to the registry and BIOS. You may already have AHCI mode enabled.

Now we have the TRIM command, which will allow the disk to function faster when littered with data, and NCQ technology is available, which allows you to increase the speed of random reading and writing of information.

Thus, the optimization of the SSD operation under Windows 7 was successful. The tips given above should help you in setting up the system for the SSD. All this will make your computer work as efficiently as possible.