How to make ssd system windows 10. How much ssd is needed for Windows. Disable unnecessary functions

Solid-state hard drives SSD (Solid State Drive) have long passed from the category of expensive and not very reliable exotic to the niche of a regular drive of a modern laptop or stationary PC. SSDs are produced not only by “major league players” (Sandisk, Transcend, Samsung), but also by many third-tier companies. In the range of capacities 80–240 GB, you can find any drive for your tasks and wallet - prices no longer bite. At the same time, laptop manufacturers are in no hurry to equip mid-priced models with solid-state hard drives, installing traditional hard drives there - not fast, sensitive to shock and vibration. How to replace traditional hard drive with SSD and install Windows 10? Do you need to optimize your system for the solid state technology? You have questions, and we have answers!

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD requires a number of preliminary settings. Of course, the easiest way would be to put the SSD in a USB pocket and use one of the disk partitioning programs to clone the operating system from the old disk. This would preserve installed applications and settings. But at the same time, the solid-state drive will work in a sub-optimal mode at a reduced speed, and the wear of memory cells will accelerate.

Using a pocket to deploy a system image on disk is an easy way, but this method has more disadvantages than advantages

Also, do not mount an SSD in place of a laptop's optical drive. The interface converters in the converter bays slow down the speed and prevent the operating system from recognizing the drive as solid state. If you need to keep both drives, the SSD drive is installed instead of the standard one, and the old hard drive is installed instead of the optical drive.

If you need to keep access to the old hard drive on the laptop, put it in this "pocket" and install it instead of the optical drive

The best scenario would be to mount the SSD directly into the computer and install the operating system from a previously created bootable media (flash drive).

Presetting Computer Settings

Despite the fact that the legacy hard disk drive interface (PATA) is less and less common on motherboards, almost all modern SATA controllers can work in compatibility mode with it. This mode is enabled by default in the BIOS settings of the motherboard of a computer or laptop. Operating a solid-state drive in this compatibility mode is fraught with loss of performance and reduced storage resource due to sub-optimal read / write operations. Therefore, before installing the SSD, you need to set the disk controller to SATA (AHCI) mode. This can be done using the BIOS settings menu:

1. When turning on the computer, press DEL or F1 to enter BIOS setup.
   Press DEL key to enter BIOS setup
2. Enter the Integrated peripherals section.
   Enter the Controllers and Integrated Peripherals section
3. Find the SATA configuration item, which can take 2–3 values \u200b\u200b(IDE / AHCI / RAID). Set the value to AHCI.
   Select AHCI mode for the SATA controller
4. Press the F10 key and confirm the changes.
5. Restart your computer.

Change the operating mode of the SATA controller before installing the operating system. During installation, OS kernel settings are tied to the operating mode of the disk controller. If you first install the operating system, and then change the operating mode of the disk controller in the BIOS, the computer will not be able to boot and the OS will have to be reinstalled or changed the disk controller drivers through the emergency recovery console.

Preparing bootable media

Since the size of the Windows 10 distribution has long exceeded the size of standard optical media (DVD), the only alternative is to write an iso-image of the disc to a flash drive. A good dozen utilities have been created for this: Rufus, WinsetupFromUsb, Windows 7 USB / DVD Download Tool, Win32DiskImager. But the most correct option would be to use the system update utility, which will independently download the image you need from the server and write it to the USB flash drive, making it bootable. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Download the Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool will create bootable media with Windows 10
2. Run the utility, read the license agreement and agree to it.
3. On the start screen, select "Create installation media ...".
   Select from the list of actions to create bootable media
4. Select the installation language of the system, its edition (home, professional, or for educational institutions) and bit depth (32 or 64 bits).
   Select the bitness of the system, the installation language and the type of distribution
5. Select recording to USB storage on the next screen.
   Confirm Bootable USB Disk Creation
6. Select the one you want to record from the list of discs. Make sure there is no important data on the desired medium, as the disc will be completely erased during recording.
   At this step, do not connect any other external media to the PC, so as not to damage their data
7. The program will download installation files from the Internet and write them to a USB flash drive. This is a lengthy process: depending on the channel speed, it can take from 1 hour or more. The recording progress will be displayed as a percentage.
   When the progress bar reaches 100%, you will have a bootable Windows 10 USB stick
8. When the burning process is complete, you will have a bootable media from which you can install Windows 10 on an SSD.

Video: creating bootable media using RUFUS

Windows 10 SSD installation process

Installing Windows 10 on a solid state drive is no different from installing the system on a regular hard drive, except that it is several times faster due to the high speed of the SSD. The Windows 10 installer will automatically recognize your solid state drive and enable exactly the options and modes you need to keep it running smoothly.

The installation wizard will guide you from start to finish of the system installation

Just connect the bootable drive to the USB port, select boot from USB in the settings and follow the instructions of the operating system installation wizard.

Video: how to install Windows 10 from a flash drive

Preparing for SSD optimization

After installing Windows 10 on an SSD, you should make sure that the drive and its controller are optimally configured at the level of drivers and ATA interface functions. If these basic functions are not configured correctly, further optimization will not improve the performance of the solid state drive, and may even harm.

SATA ACHI mode activation

If the Windows 10 operating system was not installed from scratch, but was transferred from an old hard drive by cloning the system partition, you should make sure that the disk controller, to one of the channels of which your SSD is connected, works in native AHCI mode, and is not in compatibility mode with old disks, which reduces reliability and performance. To do this, follow the steps:

1. Use the WIN + Pause key combination to open the system information window, and from there - "Device Manager".
   Open the Device Manager option located on the left side of the screen
2. Find the branch "IDE / ATA Controllers" and expand it.
   Expand the Disk Controllers section
3. If there is an AHCI controller in the list of controllers, then the mode of the same name is activated. If there is no such controller there, your system is operating in compatibility mode with old disk devices. The presence of the AHCI controller indicates that the mode of the same name is enabled

Enabling the AHCI mode by means of the operating system is fraught with complete loss of its performance: after rebooting, the OS will no longer be able to start.

Enabling the TRIM command

The writing mechanism in solid-state hard disks (SSD) differs from that in classic hard disks: a write to a memory cell is made only after an erase operation. And when an SSD tries to write information to a cell that stores data from previously deleted files, it must first perform an erase operation and then write. This halves the speed of writing files and reduces the resource of the disk itself, because the number of write cycles of an SSD is limited.

To prevent this from happening, there is a TRIM command in the ATA (Disk Drive Low Level Commands) command set that cleans up unallocated cells. In Windows 10, the TRIM command is enabled in Task Scheduler and runs regularly without user intervention. But if the system partition has been cloned to an SSD from an old hard drive, TRIM can be disabled.

You can check the status of the command and activate it through the command line:

Each SSD manufacturer releases software for their drives that automatically activates TRIM mode, switches the SATA controller to ACHI mode, displays actual drive wear and predicted drive life. Installing such a program immediately after installing the OS on the SSD will be very useful.

Transcend SSD Scope Service Utility will automatically activate TRIM mode on your PC

Several years ago, the author of the article bought a practically new SanDisk SSD, cloned the system from an old hard drive and began to work as usual, without performing any optimizations and settings. TRIM was disabled. Having installed a little over a month later, the service utility, the author was surprised to find that during this time the disk had lost almost 4% of its resource. This is the price of work without the activated TRIM function. After activation, the disk loses a percentage of its resource in about 2 months of operation (quite hard). So don't neglect your SSD optimization settings.

Configuring Windows 10 for SSD

The capabilities of Windows 10 initially include work with solid state drives. No third party software is required to make the necessary settings. Some tweaks do actually increase the performance of an SSD, others have a placebo effect, strengthening the user's faith in them alone.

Default settings for SSD drives

With a clean install, Windows 10 will automatically recognize the solid-state drive and activate the following settings:

• activation of the TRIM function;
• disable automatic disk defragmentation;
• disable hibernation.

Defragment and Optimize SSD

Traditional hard drives were characterized by fairly high linear read / write speeds, which dropped significantly if data was fragmented and physically located on different tracks (and even hard drive surfaces). Therefore, Windows 95 already included a defragmenter program that overwrites data on the disk in such a way that files were not split into parts and free space was not fragmented. Since after each deletion / modification of a file in this defragmented array, "holes" appeared that slowed down the speed, the defragmenter program was launched automatically once a week using the system task scheduler.

Starting with version Windos 8, the defragmenter program has been replaced with a new utility - Disk Optimizer, which automatically recognizes the media type. So, for an SSD, the TRIM command is performed as an optimization, and for a regular hard disk, the space is defragmented. This allows you to maintain the maximum performance of both the SSD and the hard drive when two drives are installed in the system.

Disk Optimizer in Windows 10 is flexible and only defragments hard drives

Defragmenting data on an SSD is useless and even harmful. A solid-state disk provides equally fast access to any cell in its space, and the defragmentation program with numerous write cycles will only reduce the resource of the cells and the disk itself as a whole. As a result, in Windows 7, SSD defragmentation has been disabled by default.

Deactivating the paging file

The swap file (swap) is a special place on the disk where the operating system saves data from programs that are in the background (minimized) from RAM. This mechanism allows you to organize multitasking on computers, even with a small amount of RAM.

On the one hand, multiple writing of data to the same SSD cells (the paging file is created during OS installation and is physically located in the same place on the disk without moving) significantly reduces the resource of the solid-state disk. On the other hand, disabling the paging file can make it impossible to run applications at all on systems with insufficient RAM. On a computer with 3-4 GB of RAM and a disabled paging file, free RAM will run out after opening 15-20 bookmarks with sites in the browser.

Therefore, it makes sense to disable swap only in configurations with 8 GB of RAM and above. This is not difficult to do:

1. Open the system information window with the WIN + Pause key combination and go to "Advanced system settings".
   Open "Advanced system settings" for further settings
2. Open the system performance options. Open the system performance settings by clicking on the corresponding button
3. Go to the "Advanced" tab and click "Change" in the virtual memory control unit. Open the window for changing paging file parameters
4. Uncheck the "Automatically select paging file" checkbox, then select the "No paging file" size option and click Set. Remember to restart your computer after disabling the paging file
5. Restart your computer.

Disable hibernation

Hibernation is a further development of the system of low power consumption (sleep). During this process, the entire contents of the RAM are written to a file on disk, and the computer is completely de-energized. When you turn it back on, the contents of the RAM are restored from the hibernation file, as if the computer were in sleep mode. The disk space occupied by the hibernation file is approximately equal in size to the amount of RAM. Like the paging file, the hibernation file is created when the function of the same name is activated and is only overwritten in the future, which exposes the SSD memory cells to rapid wear.

There is no need to use hibernation on a laptop - the electricity consumption in sleep mode is so low that the laptop battery can power it for months. And waking up from sleep will still be faster than waking up from hibernation, even with a drive as fast as an SSD.

For a stationary computer, hibernation is preferable to sleep, because it does not have an autonomous power source. If a PC is in sleep mode, disconnect the power cord, then after a while it turns off and all unsaved data will be lost, and open documents may be damaged.

However, if you still want to disable hibernation, the easiest way to do this is using the command line:

System protection (restore checkpoints)

The restore point system is a protective mechanism implemented in Windows OS since its 7th version. When enabled, the system monitors the installation of drivers and software, writing the change logs to a special folder on the disk. If you installed a faulty hardware driver, a malfunctioning program or caught a virus, you can roll back to the closest checkpoint, and the OS and the set of installed programs will correspond to the state at which the restore point was created. Naturally, over time, the checkpoint folder begins to take up a significant amount of disk space. Disabling the service will help free up disk space and extend its life.

Booting with the rescue disk allows you to return the OS state to the desired checkpoint

Do not disable system protection. The payment for a couple of extra GB of free space can be a complete inoperability of the computer and the need to reinstall the OS.

It would be most reasonable to configure the protection system and allocate the minimum amount of disk space for its needs. This will allow you to save 2-3 checkpoints, which are usually enough to restore the OS in case of serious problems. To configure the protection system, follow the instructions:

1. Open the system information window and go to the System Protection tab.
   Open the System Protection option in the System section
2. Select the system drive from the list and click "Configure". Select the drive to configure system restore points
3. Move the slider of the disk space reservation so that 5-6% of the disk space is allocated for checkpoints. Then click "OK". Set the required amount of disk space for recovery points

Transferring files and folders to other HDDs

Each computer user has a lot of files, access to which does not require super speed, but they take up a lot of space. These are films, music, work documents and photographs. At the same time, the price of capacious SSDs (256 GB and above) continues to be quite high. Therefore, an excellent solution when upgrading is not to get rid of the old hard drive, but to install it with a second drive and transfer user information to it, leaving the SSD for the operating system and programs.

A highly expandable desktop PC lets you install multiple drives in a chassis. If you upgrade your laptop, you can use an adapter pocket that will allow you to install a hard disk instead of an optical drive or install an M2 or miniPCI open-frame SSD. At the same time, the standard hard drive remains in its place.

M2 solid-state drive will allow you not to get rid of the regular laptop hard drive

Superfetch and Prefetch Services and Disk Indexing

Superfetch and Prefetch services significantly speed up the launch of applications in Windows 10 with any type of disk. Therefore, you should not disable them, especially since there are no standard tools for this, and editing the system registry is fraught with device breakdown.

But the disk indexing service can be safely disabled, since the speed of the SSD during search operations is an order of magnitude higher than the speed of the hard disk. This can be done by disabling the corresponding service using the service manager:

1. Start the "Service Manager": use the WIN + R key combination to bring up the command line and enter the Services.msc command.
   
   Start "Service Manager" from the command line
2. In the window that opens, find the Windows search service in the list.
   Open the properties of the indexing service
3. Call the service properties window by right-clicking on it and selecting the "Properties" option. In the window that appears, click "Stop" and then restart your computer. Stop the indexing service and restart your computer

Automatic optimization with SSD Mini Tweaker utility

SSD Mini Tweaker is a simple and completely free tool to enable or disable SSD optimization settings in two clicks. The clear Russian interface and the system of tooltips make it an indispensable tool for an inexperienced user.

In the SSD Mini Tweaker program, it is enough to tick the necessary functions and click the "Apply changes" button for the settings to take effect

Windows 10 is the best operating system to install on a solid-state drive, as it was developed at a time when SSDs were becoming mainstream from an expensive curiosity. A clean install of this OS will do well on an SSD, even without additional optimization. And if you use the tips described in the article, it will work even better and the disk will last longer.

SSD drives ( Solid state drive) managed to gain wide popularity among users. Faster Windows responsiveness, faster copying and faster file handling are the undeniable advantages of an SSD over a regular hard drive.

As a rule, the operating system (OS) itself and the most necessary programs are installed on a solid-state disk, and the hard disk is used exclusively as a storage for other files. Undoubtedly, this is a good decision and it will have a positive effect on performance, but do not forget that this has its own nuances.

As you know, an SSD disk is limited in the cycles of copying and writing information, and when this limit is reached, the disk will die. However, there are several Windows OS tweaks that can significantly extend the life of such drives. The main task of this manual is to approach the operation of the solid-state drive as carefully and expediently as possible, as well as determine what makes sense to disconnect and what does not.

General principles of proper operation of an SSD

Before considering the impact of specific Windows features on SSD performance, you should know the basics of working with them:

• Free space reserve... Keep at least 15% of the solid state drive volume free. This is a feature of this disc. It can be long and tedious to describe the "why" and "why", so in short: this amount is necessary to maintain optimal performance and life of the SSD.
• Disk mode... Only in the AHCI mode, the solid-state drive reveals all its functions for the highest possible performance and duration.

You can now move on to a more detailed overview of service optimization. As it turned out, in Windows 10, the developers went to meet the owners of SSDs, and the most important options are already involved in the system. Further adjustments can only slightly extend the life of the drive, but it also brings in its consequences.

Consider the following issues that can affect the life of solid state drives in Windows 10 to one degree or another:

1. Is it worth turning off Disk Defragmenter.
2. Superfetch and its impact on the drive.
3. Swap file - keep or not.
4. Location of temporary files.
5. Hibernation - disable or not.
6. Impact of the System Protection function.
7. Impact of the Disk Indexing function.

Read also:

How to remove password when logging into Windows 10: setting up automatic startup

Defragment (optimize) disks and SSDs

Contrary to the opinion of most, to extend the life of an SSD, disk defragmentation (aka disk optimization) in Windows 10 does not need to be disabled, since it is in this OS that it works in a slightly different way. The developers explained this as a different approach to individual drives, that is, defragmentation is harmless to an SSD drive. This is due to tRIM technologies, which distributes the load and accesses to the used blocks of the disk evenly. Therefore, specifically in this operating system, defragmentation does not harm the disk, and it is turned on only if System Protection is enabled.

SSD and the Impact of Superfetch

If there is a specific goal of extending the lifespan of an SSD, then disabling this service will help. The fact is that, on the one hand, if you disable Superfetch, the write and copy cycles will actually be less, and accordingly the disk will last longer, but the computer's performance will also "sag" a little. How to disable Superfetch can be found in a previously published article for tuning Windows 10... The effect will not be very noticeable, but it will still be.

Swap file and SSD

Here it is already quite difficult to say whether to disable it or not. On the one hand, if more than 8 GB of RAM is installed, the system will cope without it, thereby saving the SSD from regular loads. On the other hand, some programs do not work correctly when the paging file is disabled. Experts from Microsoft say that this file is rarely used and only for especially resource-intensive applications, which means that there will be not so many write and copy cycles. Plus, big companies like Samsung and Intel strongly recommend keeping this file enabled.

Transfer Temporary Files Folders from SSD to Hard Drive

We also touched on this topic when we looked at the instructions for clearing temporary files. This method will be effective, although it will lower the performance of the system. Thus, the choice is up to the user, which is more important - the OS performance or the operating time of the SSD.

Hibernation and SSD

Of course, this service is not good for SSDs. It is important only for laptop users, and then - only in order to quickly start interrupted work. If there is a desire to disable this service, then it is fastest to do it from the command line. The combination Win + R will bring up the "Run" window, in which we enter cmd. In the window that opens, it remains to enter the command "powercfg -h off" and confirm by pressing Enter. After that, hibernation will be completely disabled, the hiberfil.sys file will be deleted, which will free up some disk space. If there is a need to return everything as it was, then you should simply enter the command "powercfg -h on" in the same way.

Good afternoon, dear readers, today we will analyze how much free space is needed for ssd to install the Windows operating system, how to predict further data growth so that everything works like a clock and does not disable the device.

SSD (Solid state drive) is a storage device that has no moving parts like a regular hard disk drive. An SSD uses flash memory to store memory. In simple words, this is such a big flash drive that has become very firmly established in our lives.

Why do you need an ssd disk

And so we figured out the definition, now let me answer the question of what ssd is needed for and where it is used. Literally 5 years ago, all computers and server solutions, as a disk subsystem, had HDD hard drives, which have already rested on their performance due to their design and spindle speed. The world demanded further development, especially in the field of mobile devices, it was they who became the locomotive that pushed through the new technology, Solid state drive. SSD drives brought us:

• hundreds of thousands of input-output operations (IOPS) compared to HDDs with a maximum of 150 iops,
• reduced electrical consumption,
• reduced the required amount of physical space inside servers and computers

• Ceased to bask
• They have become more durable and not critical to falling or light impact on them
• Reduced weight of devices
• Laptops have increased battery life

I think you now understand why you need an ssd disk to make your life more comfortable and less nervous. How many times have I seen people at work, whose hard disks started to die, having checked their condition with a special utility, I stated that the Khan's disk will soon have nothing to change for, be patient. And now a man with gritting teeth and wild brakes of the operating system tried to work, getting irritated every minute, more and more. With ssd, this does not threaten, it only has a 5-year warranty period from the manufacturer, and with average use in companies, it will live all 8-10 years, saving a lot of money for employers.

Ssd volume in 2017-18

And so we figured out the question of why an ssd drive is needed, now let's talk about its volume, which interests the modern user most of all. When I told you above about the comparison of hdd and ssd, about all its advantages, I forgot to mention, two significant disadvantages that are still holding back its massive ousting from the market of servers and personal computers:

1. Much smaller volume compared to HDD
2. The price can be several times higher than that of hard drives

Although the volume of SSDs increases and the price per gigabyte decreases every year, they still leave much to be desired, HDDs according to the formula volume and price per gigabyte are still winning. In such situations, they come to a compromise, in which a solid-state disk (ssd) is used for a clean installation of Windows 7 and higher, and a regular HDD 3.5 is used for any data.

At the moment, the largest ssd volume is 15 TB and it costs $ 10,000, which only large companies can afford for very fast RAID arrays. This is what this solid state drive looks like from Samsung.

But this, as it turns out, is not the limit, Samsung is already developing ssd with a volume of 60 TB and this is already a very serious volume, I think that in the next 5-7 years this market will grow strongly and make the price of SSDs less than that of hard drives.

How much ssd is needed for windows 10

Let's now figure out how large a solid-state drive should be with Windows 10 Creators Update installed. Here I can cite figures from my practice, which includes servicing more than 700 computers with this OS.

• For Windows 10 itself, you will need a 20GB ssd solid state drive
• At the time of installing updates, the Windows 10 operating system may require an additional 15 GB from you, just an example of the transition from threshold 2 to the anniversary update, at this moment the Windows.old folder is created so that the user can roll back the system at any time.
• Third-party programs from 10 GB
• Space for temporary files, about 5-10 GB

To summarize, for Windows 10, the volume of a solid-state drive ssd in the amount of 120 GB or more will suit you, at current prices, it will cost you from 3200 rubles, which is not very expensive, the only thing is that you will have to make tuning to reduce its wear and buy an additional screw for your main files (Music, photo, video)

How much ssd is needed for windows 7 and 8.1

Let's now figure out how large a solid-state drive should be with Windows 7 or 8.1.

• The seven itself will require 12-15 GB, but with constant updates, the folder can grow up to 30 GB, so you will have to constantly clean up old updates.
• Office suite Microsoft Office will require another 5-7 GB of space from you
• Third-party programs from 10 GB

To summarize, the seven will fit for 60 GB, but I advise you not to asshole and buy 120 GB. The happiest thing is that this technology is only getting better every year, we will wait. Today we examined what an ssd drive is and why you need it, if you have questions, then write them in the comments, I will try to answer.

Generally, SSD solid state drives do not need any deep tuning and optimization for the latest version of Windows. In addition, Microsoft support specialists say that self-tuning can negatively affect the operation of the operating system and drive.

One way or another, when optimizing an SSD, you need to take into account some of the nuances and know how solid state drives work in the top ten. With the advent of a new operating system, a lot of recommendations for setting up an SSD were posted on the Internet, among which most are copies of instructions for similar manipulations to previous versions of Windows, without taking into account the changes. For example, there are recommendations about the need to activate WinSAT to detect the SSD system. They also write that it is necessary to disable automatic defragmentation, which by default starts for such drives in Windows 10.

Windows 10 default settings for SSD drives

The tenth version of Windows was originally geared towards the maximum performance for an SSD. In addition, the system can automatically detect solid state drives and set appropriate settings for them, without doing anything.

When such a drive is found, the "ten" immediately performs certain settings to optimize its operation. This disables defragmentation and ReadyBoot. The Superfetch / Prefetch function is also used, which does not require disabling the SSD, as it was in Windows 7. In addition, the drive power is optimized.
In addition, the TRIM function is enabled by default for SSDs.

However, the default settings remain unchanged, which causes some controversy about the need to optimize the performance of SSDs. This includes indexing files, protecting the operating system, flushing the write cache buffer, and defragmentation.

Defragmenting and Optimizing SSDs in Windows 10

Most of the users could have noticed that automatic optimization is activated in the top ten. This fact led some to decide to disable it, while others began to study how to do it.

It is worth noting that the tenth version of the OS does not defragment the SSD, but does optimization using TRIM to clear blocks. This does no harm to the drive, and even vice versa. Defragmentation can only be performed if system protection is disabled. Drive Optimization is used to mark non-usable blocks on SSDs that were not checked by TRIM.

Defragmenting the SSD is necessary and can be applied automatically. However, for such a drive plan, this process is a little different.

What features to disable for SSD and is it necessary

Many users who set out to set up a Windows SSD might have come across recommendations on the network that suggested disabling SuperFetch and Prefetch, removing the paging file, or moving it to another partition. It was also suggested to deactivate OS protection, hibernation and disk indexing. There are tips to move folders, temporary files, etc. to other drives, etc.

Some tips are applicable for Windows 7, but cannot be used for the eighth and tenth OS versions, as well as for new SSDs. Most of the recommendations can help reduce the amount of information that is written to the disk, which can prolong its life. But at the same time, you can lose in performance, convenience in working with the operating system, and failures can also occur.

Many people know that SSDs have a shorter lifespan than conventional hard drives, however, the average SSD will likely last longer than the user needs in typical use and the presence of spare capacity to help reduce performance degradation and extend lifespan. It is necessary to leave 10-15% of the volume unoccupied on such drives in order to work longer with SSD.

There are several ways to optimize the performance of a solid state drive in Windows 10, however, not all of them are useful. In addition, it should be borne in mind that such methods may slightly extend the life of the drive, however, performance will suffer.

It is worth noting that there is no point in installing programs on a regular hard drive if you have an SSD, since the feasibility of buying it disappears. Its purpose is to quickly launch utilities.

Disable paging file

Very often on the Internet it is advised to disable the paging file or move it to another disk. If you do the second, then the drive will seriously lose in performance, since the SSD will not be used, and all operations will take place on the slow HDD.

The use of the first option raises some doubts. In truth, computers with more than 8 GB of RAM can work without this file in most cases, which will extend the lifespan of the solid state drive. However, some programs without a paging file may refuse to run or may crash.

But, it is worth taking into account the fact that the paging file in Windows is used in such a way that there are fewer calls to it. This is affected by the size of the RAM. Microsoft Corporation claims that this file has a read-to-write ratio of 40: 1 for standard computer use. This means that there is not a lot of writing being done.

However, it is worth noting that developers of solid-state drives from eminent companies, I advise you not to disable the paging file. On the other hand, judging by some tests in which SSDs with low performance were examined, disabling the paging file can lead to better performance.

Disable hibernation

Alternatively, you can try disabling hibernation. This function is used to quickly launch the operating system. In this case, the hiberfil.sys file is written to disk when the computer is turned on and is used for fast startup in the future. As a rule, it occupies several gigabytes on disk. As a rule, its size is almost the same as the amount of RAM.

In the case of laptops, disabling hibernation is not a very good solution, especially if this function is used, which turns off everything on the device after closing the lid. In addition, this can lead to inconvenience and a decrease in the battery life of the laptop, since it will have to be turned on all the time, and it takes longer to fully start up, which wastes the battery.

For computers, disabling hibernation is more appropriate if you need to reduce the amount of information that is recorded on the solid-state drive. If you don't need it, you can turn off hibernation. Alternatively, Fast Boot can be left on the computer with hibernation disabled. To do this, the size of the hiberfil.sys file must be halved.

System protection

When a certain function is enabled, the tenth version of the operating system automatically writes restore points and file history to disk. Some users recommend disabling system protection when using an SSD.

Additionally, some developers advise you to follow this procedure. Among them is Samsung, which recommends disabling system protection in its products.
Here, the developers claim that creating backups leads to many background processes and slows down performance. However, this function is launched only when changes are made to the operating system, and only when the PC is idle.

In turn, Intel does not recommend doing this with its SSDs. Microsoft is doing the same. In addition, experienced computer users are also not advised to disable operating system protection, as this may prolong the elimination of computer problems.

Transferring files and folders to other HDDs

In addition, you can find another option for optimizing SSD performance. It consists in transferring user folders and files, temporary files and other things to a regular hard drive. This can actually reduce the amount of information written, but it also slows down performance if you move temporary files and cache to another location. You can also suffer from the convenience of the work, as you constantly have to access a regular hard drive.

If the computer has a fairly large separate hard drive, then it is possible to transfer rather large files such as movies, music collections and other things to it, which does not require constant access. This will help free up space on your SSD and prolong its performance.
Superfetch and Prefetch, Indexing Disk Content, Write Caching, and Flushing the Write Cache Buffer

With all these elements, confusion may arise, since each manufacturer gives its own recommendations, which you need to familiarize yourself with on official resources. According to Microsoft, Superfetch and Prefetch are great for SSDs. In Windows 10, these features are slightly modified and work differently when applied to SSDs. Samsung claims that this function is not used by such drives.

As for the write cache buffer, most users consider it advisable to leave it, but opinions were divided over clearing it. In this regard, Samsung remains incomprehensible, which in its Samsung Magician program advises to disable the write cache buffer, but the official website contains the opposite information.

It is worth noting that Windows search is quite a useful and effective function in work. But despite the fact that in the top ten this button is located in a conspicuous place, it is practically not used. Many users use the start-up and folder structure the old fashioned way to find the items they need. Therefore, disabling disk content indexing will not be a very effective option for optimizing your SSD. It is needed more for reading than writing.

General principles of optimizing SSD performance in Windows

All of the above described the relative uselessness of manual settings for solid state drives in the tenth version. But there are nuances that can be applied to almost all SSD brands and OS editions.

To improve the performance and life of a solid state drive, you should always keep 10-15% free on the disk. This is influenced by the peculiarities of data storage on such media. All SSD configuration programs have Over Provisioning. Using this function, an empty hidden section is created on the drive, which is designed to provide free space in the required amount.

It is also worth checking if the drive is running in AHCI mode. If you are using an IDE, some features that affect performance and longevity may not work. You can see this mode through the device manager.

When connecting an SSD to a computer, it is necessary to use SANA 3 6Gb / s ports, which do not work with third-party chips. Most motherboards have SATA ports on the chipset and additional ports on foreign controllers. It is recommended to connect to the former. You can find out the native ports using the motherboard documents, by the numbers that are located first and have a different color.

To summarize, it can be noted that practically nothing with an SSD drive is needed if it is not necessary. Therefore, after purchasing the media, you just need to install it in your computer and use it.

Let's talk about how to set up an SSD for Windows 10. It's easy to start: in most cases, you don't need to tweak and optimize your solid state drives for a new OS. Moreover, according to Microsoft support staff, independent optimization attempts can harm both the operation of the system and the disk itself. However, some of the nuances should still be taken into account, and at the same time and at the same time clarify things related to how SSD drives work in Windows 10, we will talk about them. The last section of the article also contains information of a more general nature (but useful) related to the work of solid state drives at the hardware level and applicable to other versions of the OS. Immediately after the release of Windows 10, a lot of instructions on how to optimize SSDs appeared on the Internet, the vast majority of which are copies of manuals for previous versions of the OS, without taking into account (and, most likely, attempts to understand them) the changes that have appeared: for example, they continue to write that WinSAT needs to be started in order for the system to detect the SSD or disable automatic defragmentation (optimization) enabled by default for such drives in Windows 10.

Windows 10 default settings for SSD drives

Windows 10 is configured by default for maximum performance for solid-state drives (from the point of view of Microsoft, which is close to the point of view of SSD manufacturers), while it detects them automatically (without starting WinSAT) and applies the appropriate settings, no need to initiate this in any way.

Now for the points on how exactly Windows 10 optimizes SSD performance when it detects them.

1. Disables defragmentation (more on that later).
2. Disables the ReadyBoot feature.
3. Uses Superfetch / Prefetch - a feature that has changed since Windows 7 and does not require disabling SSDs in Windows 10.
4. Optimizes the power of the solid state drive.
5. TRIM is enabled by default for SSDs.

What has remained unchanged in the default settings and causes disagreement regarding the need to configure when working with SSD: file indexing, system protection (restore points and file history), caching records for SSD and clearing the write cache buffer, about this - after interesting information about automatic defragmentation.

System protection

Restore points automatically created by Windows 10, as well as File History, when you enable the corresponding function, of course, are written to disk. In the case of SSDs, some recommend disabling system protection.

Some include Samsung, recommending doing this in both its Samsung Magician utility and the official SSD manual. At the same time, it is indicated that backups can cause a large number of background processes to run and decrease performance, although in fact system protection only works when changes are made to the system and during computer idle time.

Intel does not recommend this for its SSDs. Just like Microsoft does not recommend disabling system protection. And I wouldn't: a significant number of readers of this site could fix computer problems many times faster if they had Windows 10 protection enabled.

Read more about enabling, disabling and checking the status of system protection in the article.

Transferring files and folders to other HDDs

Another suggested option for optimizing SSD performance is to move custom folders and files, temporary files, and other components to a regular hard drive. As in the previous cases, this can reduce the amount of data recorded while reducing performance (when transferring temporary files and cache storage) or usability (for example, when creating thumbnails of photos from custom folders transferred to the HDD).