Windows 7 gets a thorough SSD optimization guide
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 2nd 2010 6:40AM
posted February 2nd 2010 6:40AM
We all know we want an SSD, but do we truly know what to do with one when we get it? Sure, you could plug it into the familiar SATA and power cables and consider your job done, but that's not really the way of the geek. To educate us wistful, hopeful, soon-to-be SSD owners, TweakTown have put together a comprehensive guide on optimizing your solid state storage -- starting from the very first step of picking out the right drive. What lies ahead is a full breakdown of the controllers available on the market today, along with helpful reminders of the importance of Trim command and garbage collection support. After you pick out your perfect life partner, you'll be wanting to ensure it plays along nicely with Windows 7 as well, and they've got you covered on that front too. Just hit the source link and get informed. We did, even though we still can't afford to buy one of these mythical drives.
Great! Thanks!
@loocas
Wow, you actually clicked the reply button to read this!
I'm surprised, you actually bothered with the effort, though let's not kid ourselves, if this wasn't the first post you never would have read this.
So ssd's, well I really have nothing to say about the matter, sorry. I guess if you really want to know something about them, then go to: http://www.anandtech.com
Dude really knows his stuff, though probably a little too technical for most.
engadget (itself) should do this kind of guides more often, these are way more usefull than 5000 rumor articles.
@BogdanGC I agree. Guides like this, which are directly related to gadgets are helpful and probably generate more clicks than something like a CE-Oh-No-You-Didn't
By the way, if you really want to get into SSDs, I suggest reading AnandTech. Here's an article from November that still is incredibly useful:
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667
Here is the Storage section:
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/
Anand is an absolute nut about SSDs and does an unbelievable job going beyond the benchmark.
@BogdanGC
I agree. In depth articles are my absolute favorites on Engadget. All the phone reviews are fantastic with embedded images and videos and no one could possibly forget the passionate plea to Palm to kill the foldeo!
If Windows detects that its an SSD and it has TRIM support, according to the Windows forums most of these optimizations are unnecessary as they are performed automatically upon detection of the SSD drive or show no measurable benefit.
They disable the defrager for example. Thats pretty stupid, as W7 won't try to defrag a recognized SSD drive, and you still want it to defrag your platter storage drives. o_O
I love my SSDs though. :D
All you really need to do is shop for performance and price (don't forget checking write speeds), and make sure the drive has TRIM support and is updated to the latest firmware (usually a destructive process so obviously you want to do it first).
@Ducman69 Oh, and they tell you to disable superfetch with SSDs. MS sez dun do dat! *slap*
Superfetch puts things into RAM. RAM is still many times faster than SSDs!
@THizzle7XU True, but the article is still bogus in failing to realize that its automatically disabled if there is only an SSD present, and I install programs on my storage drive.
BTW, one reason for doing that, and another tip, write performance of SSDs is improved if there is some free space left on your SSD, so try to leave about 15%.
@Ducman69 I don't know if W7 has an improved superfetch but I just can't stand the one on Vista. The damn thing tries to load the huge files such as my VirtualBox files and DivX movies files, even though, I do NOT regularly access them. Every time after bootup, the HD light blinks rapidly for several long long minutes. During that time, it slows down the apps that I start up and actually WANT to use.
exellente for telling me this amigos :)
Oh and for a desktop, just get yourself a cheapo 2TB drive for storage, and you don't need a MASSIVE SSD. 40-64GB is plenty.
The operating system and your frequently used applications go on the SSD. Your movies, pics, music, and infrequently accessed applications can be installed on the regular storage drive (it'll still run faster than if the OS was also on that drive BTW). WIN!
Thanks engadget. Good stuff- definately a bookmark in my Engadget app on my iPhone.
@think before you react
Engadget app user on ipod here, how do u bookmark?
i'm one of the main contributors of the notebookreview ssd thread (huuge thread, lots of info in there).
our main conclusion is, especially for windows 7: don't tweak AT ALL.
default works best. tweaks, if really not being placebo effects, only help for the first moments, afterwards the gain will vanish or actually start to be losses.
so, yeah, it's not "way of the geek", but plugging in, installing os, enjoying life is actually the best guide for any ssd user.
why would you say "gets a long with windows 7"
windows 7 SUCKS!!!!
@groen2 Because Windows 7, alongside Linux, are one of the mainstream OS that has TRIM support. The TRIM is a SSDs function that prevents the premature leak of the NAND flash modules.
Believe or not, Snow Leopard hasn't TRIM command support.
@groen2 Maybe you need to learn how to use it and have decent hardware ..
@AirieFenix Yup, OSX 10.6 still doesn't have SSD optimizations meaning reduced drive life and gradual performance degradation.
That has caused some surprised and unhappy Macbook Air customers, as you can imagine the annoyance of this omission after forking over $3K (at the time) for the device w/ the SSD option since its so slow on its standard harddrive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7hc6qZ_PGI).
If you want a fast booting instant application launching operating system, Linux or Windows 7 are your best bets. =)
@groen2
U dont like 7 u can gtfo to whatever fanboy thread u fancy here
fair eh? New trend on engadget, u dont like u dont read
@fighterfelix that is terrible english. now we can see who the windows 7 target market is, fools like this guy.
no wonder they have to make it idiot proof.
@groen
No, u r teh idiot
look who got downranked
@groen2
And seeing u didnt reply to other non-flame commenters, i say thats bcoz u are an idiot
so that means double idiot
in summary, apple is for u.
Link not working...?
I just don't know if SSD is truly read for mainstream. It trim & GC are not standards used be every manufacturer, and if all modern OS's aren't onboard then is this truly mainstream? I respect MS for forward thinking on this and optimizing W7 for SSD. Nice move! I own a mac so I say Boo Apple, Boo...
@kobioshi The only mainstream problem with SSDs are cost. A truly fast 64GB will run you about $215.
For a performance machine, when mated with a standard storage drive, this is reasonable. TRIM is a standard, and its almost sure that Apple will include it in 10.7.
@Ducman69 Yet it's disturbing most manufactures are still shipping no-TRIM or GC SSDs.
I just added an OCZ 250Gb SSD to my laptop running Windows7 Ultimate and it didn't need any tweaking at all to make my gaming rig running the same OS on raid 5 Velociraptors jealous. I wasn't sure the investment was gonna be worth it but now I reccommend the upgrade to anyone who can afford it.
tweaktown's server is overwhelmed and is not responding
"even though we still can't afford to buy one of these mythical drives"
Return one of your ipads! You got 5 anyway I assume.
Could someone ask TweakTown to put in more ads? The radio of ten flash ads and five ad-word popus to every paragraph isn't annoying enough yet.
Come on, Engadget. How about putting up your own guide?