DISCLAIMER: THIS INFORMATION APPLIES ONLY TO PEOPLE RUNNING WINDOWS SEVEN ON A SOLID STATE HARDDRIVE.
IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE, OR WHAT THIS MEANS, DO NOT FOLLOW THE INFORMATION IN THIS THREAD.
Piriform assumes no responsibility to damages you do to your computer through use of the information in this thread, or the extensions file Winapp2.ini.
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If you moved your Windows 7 installation from a traditional platter hard drive to a solid state hard drive, there is some information you should know:
When a solid state drive is present, Windows 7 will disable disk defragmentation, Superfetch, ReadyBoost, as well as boot and application launch prefetching.
Windows 7 by default uses a prefetch, which subsequently creates files in C:\Windows\Prefetech
Windows 7, when moved to an SSD disables the following:
Disk Defragmentation
- SSD's handle files using flash memory, which eliminates the need for defragmentation. Defraging only causes unessescary wear and tear on your expensive SSD.
Superfetch
- Used to load files into memory before you launch them, to speed up loading. This is moot on an SSD since it is inherently faster than a HDD.
ReadyBoost
- Uses flash memory as RAM. Not something you want happening to your SSD.
Boot and Application launch preteching
- Same as Superfetch.
These operations all execute read/write cycles frequently, reducing the life of your SSD, this is why they are shut off.
Windows 7 should autonomously shut these things off, but there is no data to say that it does so when moved using an image file from a hdd to an ssd, so you should explore the following options to improve your drives lifespan:
run services.msc and disable the following services
Superfetch
Disk Defragmenter
You should also
Turn off the automatic disk defragging
Disable the prefetching service
To disable the prefetching service, run regedit and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
It will have a subkey named EnablePrefetcher, which will likely have a default value of 3 (Application launch and boot enabled)
Set the subkey's value to 0.
Now that the prefetch is disabled, you can delete the contents of the prefetch folder.
To do this with CCleaner, you can add the following to a file called Winapp2.ini, and place it in the CCleaner installation directory
[Windows Prefetch*]
LangSecRef=3025
DetectFile=%WinDir%\Prefetch
Default=False
FileKey1=%WinDir%\Prefetch|.|REMOVESELF
Then you need only open CCleaner, select the entry and run it once, and the useless prefetch files will be removed from your system.
Otherwise, you can navigate there manually and delete the files yourself.
User's choice:
The following are possible other things you can do to help improve the life of your SSD.
- Pagefile
I chose to move Pagefile into another drive (HDD). In my opinion takes too much space from SSD and moving it reduces writes from SSD. I think setting it to another drive is better than disabling it. Enough amount of RAM is needed if chosen to disable, or move, the Pagefile (probably 8GB and up). On the plus side, if Pagefile is on SSD, it loads faster (recommended on low RAM PC's).
- Hibernate
I disabled/deleted hibernate, takes spaces, makes some writes and I don't need/use it. Also might cause problems on some PC's; unable to wake from hibernate etc.
- Temps
Moving Temps to other drive (HDD), I haven't done this, though haven't yet examined this much.
- Drive Write Cache
- System Restore
- Windows Search & Indexing
SSD Wipe / Secure Erase:
You shouldn't wipe your SSD with "normal" tools used with HDD. Also, you shouldn't use CCleaner for wiping (overwriting) SSD at all, including "Free Space", "ADS", "Cluster Tips" and "MFT Free Space" options. These operations are useless on SSD, might wear it down (reduce the lifespan) and/or cause some problems, some of mentioned in sources below.
To wipe (reset to factory defaults) your SSD, you should use manufacturer's toolbox if available ("Secure Erase" command) or some other recommended method:
- HDDErase
Encrypting SSD is also a good way to secure it's contents.
More reading about SSD's security, wiping and encrypting
TRIM
Also forgot to mention about TRIM; user's should check if it's on/used.
Run Command prompt (as an administrator) and type: fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)
DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)
How to enable:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
How to disable:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 1
A nice tweak/guide how to enable AHCI in Windows 7 after instalation
Here's one link from MSDN Blogs about SSD/Q&A
Drivers such as AHCI & chipset should be installed/updated
More info on AHCI and what it does
*Credit to Nodles for the above.
Other reading:
SSD Tweaking
Thank you Nergal and Nodles for this information.