However, in order to ensure that Windows 7 performs at its best when used solid state drives, you'll have to work hard. Windows has evolved over the years and is optimized primarily to work with traditional hard drives. Functions like SuperFetch, PreFetch and ReadyBoot are designed specifically for monitoring and redistributing files launched when the system boots in order to speed up access. However, SSD drives have no moving parts, so these technologies do not provide any performance gains for them.
Windows needs special tuning in order to fully realize the full potential of solid state manufacturers. If this setting is not done, there will not be much benefit from using an SSD - I have seen this from my own experience.
In October 2009 I bought Dell laptop Latitude XT2 with 256GB SSD. First of all I deleted pre-installed Windows XP Professional and replaced it with Windows 7 Professional. The drive was fast but not mind-blowing, and the Windows Experience Index stubbornly gave it a 5.9 rating.
Last summer I decided to finally address this issue and discovered that many similarly configured Dell laptop users were experiencing the same issues. As it turns out, the Samsung PB22-CS3 SSD needs a firmware update to work correctly with the disk management features included in Windows 7. The update was supposed to come from Dell, but it was not yet available last July.
The CrystalDiskInfo utility confirmed that this disk does not support the TRIM command, which is one of the prerequisites for the normal operation of a solid-state drive. This command allows the system to delete blocks of data in background. Windows 7 supports TRIM by default, older ones Windows versions- No.
I recently came back to this issue and discovered that Dell finally released the update I needed a few months ago. Since the update erases all data on the drive, I had to completely reinstall Windows 7.
After this, the system performance increased several times, which is confirmed by the test results. The table below shows the indicators Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) for July (in original OEM configuration) and December 2010 (after updating the SSD firmware and installing fresh drivers disk controller from Intel).
IN new configuration The drive's overall Windows Experience Index score increased from 5.9 to 7.4, and the performance gain was quite noticeable. The speed of random read operations has increased 12 times, which has a direct impact on the performance of the system in everyday use.
A firmware update unlocked drive performance, but that's not the only thing required condition normal operation. Below I'll explain how to configure your system to take full advantage of the SSD's capabilities.
To install Windows 7 on a solid-state drive, you must first prepare the system. Here's what I recommend doing:
1. Make sure you have the latest software installed on your computer latest version firmware for SSD. Updating the firmware erases all data from the disk, so you should take care of this before installing the operating system. You can download updates from the website of the computer manufacturer (if you purchased it assembled) or the solid-state drive (if you purchased it separately). Install new version firmware, following the instructions. Typically, updating requires booting the system from external media- for example, from a USB flash drive.
2. Set the disk controller to AHCI mode. Before you install operating system, in the BIOS settings, enable AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) for the SATA controller. Using legacy IDE or ATA modes will prevent you from installing later suitable driver for the disk controller and will result in poor performance.
3. Use the Secure Erase utility to complete cleaning disk. This is not necessary, but may be useful if the drive has been in use for quite some time. Just don’t format the drive with built-in using Windows. For Intel drives you can use the Intel Solid utility State Drive Toolbox. For Lenovo computers, the Disk Cleanup feature is available as part of BIOS utilities Menu Setup Extension. For OCZ drives, the Secure Erase utility can be downloaded from the OCZ Forum. In addition, you can use the HDDErase utility, which supports a wide range of solid-state drives.
4. Boot the system from the installation Windows disk and run a clean installation. Create partitions on the disk using Windows Installer. If the disk already has partitions created using other tools, delete them and recreate them using Windows 7. This will ensure that the partitions are properly aligned.
5. Install the latest driver for the disk controller. If your computer has an Intel SATA controller, you should use the latest version Intel drivers Rapid Storage Technology from the manufacturer's official website. On this moment the most current version - 10.1.0.1008.
6. Once you have completed installing the operating system, check the Windows Experience Index for the drive. To do this, click on the “Computer” link in the “Start” menu. right click mouse and select “Properties”. In the window that appears, click the “Windows Experience Index” link. The Performance Information and Tools window opens. Rating in the column “Basic HDD"(Primary hard disk) for a properly configured SSD should be higher than 7.0. If necessary, click the Re-run The Assessment link to update your scores.
To make sure that all SSD functions are working properly, install the free utility
It has already lost its leadership in quantitative indicators of active use, significantly losing to the newer and more stable (though not always and not for everyone) Windows 10, there are still a sufficient number of users who continue to give their preference to the “romance of the good old Seven” .
And actually, why not?! Windows 7 is an operating system that has been studied inside and out (as far as possible), everything possible mistakes, even quite exotic ones, have their own solutions, and it works on almost all devices.
And taking into account that installing a solid-state drive can “revive” even an obsolete computer, the combination of Windows 7 + SSD (+ HDD optional) looks quite ambitious.
Therefore, in the spring of 2019, the question of installing the “seven” on a solid-state drive continues to be in demand.
And this is exactly what will be discussed in this article.
Preparatory stage
In solving this problem, a lengthy and scrupulous preparatory stage is not required, since “brand new” SSD drives are equipped with everything necessary for installing an operating system on them.
If desired, and if you have a working computer at hand, you can check whether the system recognizes the disks, whether it is formatted and what partitioning is used by the disk. By the way, using “GPT” on Windows 7, even taking into account the capabilities of the SSD, is not entirely justified; in addition, the computer’s motherboard must comply with the functionality of this markup.
But you can’t do without a preparatory stage when creating bootable media with an operating room image Windows systems 7 of the edition you need.
Which image to use, a “hodgepodge” or a “pure” one, is up to everyone to decide for themselves, just like software to create bootable media. But as a personal recommendation, we can recommend the well-known utility “Rufus”, which has long enjoyed stable user interest. And how exactly to use this software can be found in this article using Windows 10 as an example.
Special attention should be paid to the physical installation of the disk into the case of your computer or laptop, as some may have certain difficulties with this.
It should be noted that attempting to install the operating system on an SSD connected using a SATA-USB adapter will lead to nothing.
After the disk is placed in the designated/allocated space, you need to turn on the computer and open the BIOS. The choice of key that is responsible for entering these settings depends on the manufacturer of your motherboard. For example, this role may include “DELETE”, “TAB”, “F2”, “F12” or “ESC”.
In BIOS you need to check two things:
- This is whether the BIOS sees the installed drive. To do this, just open the “Advanced” tab and find the section responsible for displaying information about connected devices (volume and number);
- This is to check in what configuration the “SATA” mode works. For solid-state drives, this is "AHCI".
If everything corresponds to the specified parameters, then press the “F10” key to save the changes and close the BIOS.
The most important step that remains is the actual installation of the OS on the SSD.
Installation
Despite the fact that installation is the key stage of the entire topic under consideration, the user has nothing special to do here.
The only thing worth touching on is the formatting and distribution of disk space.
Windows Installer has long been able to perform all the necessary manipulations with the disk.
The key point here is how exactly the solid-state drive will be used in the future. It’s worth noting right away that installing an SSD instead of a HDD is far from the right decision, since storing various files (movies, music, documents, etc.) on it will only waste the already limited disk resources.
Maximum efficiency is achieved by using a combination of SSD for the operating system, HDD for everything else (that is, just as file storage).
The final stage of the entire topic under consideration is setting the priority in the BIOS, which will set which disk to use as the default boot one.
This is done in the “Bootdevicepriority” section.
Conclusion
So, the procedure for installing the Windows 7 operating system on solid-state drives was discussed above. As can be seen from the presented procedure, there is nothing complicated in this procedure, especially if the SSD drive has the standard and most common form factor of 2.5 inches.
Recently, solid-state drives have been gaining considerable popularity and becoming more affordable. Considering that the speed SSD operation-disks far exceed the speed of conventional HDD drives, it is quite logical that many people decided to increase the performance of their computer by purchasing this miracle. modern technologies. A solid-state drive can really help your computer think faster, but there are a few things to consider that we'll talk about now.
Make an SSD your system drive
Performance gains can only be achieved by installing a solid state drive as system disk. Otherwise, the speed will increase only in those applications that are installed directly on the SSD, and then not by much.
Update the drive firmware
The newer the firmware version, the faster your SSD drive will work. Latest version Firmware can always be found on the manufacturer's official website. Download the driver and install it according to the instructions (must come with the driver).
Install the system from scratch
It is best to install the operating system on a new SSD drive from scratch rather than restore it from an image. This will help avoid compatibility conflicts in future operation.
Disable other drives
Before installing the operating system on an SSD drive, it is recommended to turn off the power or unplug the SATA cables from all other drives. This is necessary for Windows 7 to accurately determine the type of drive and reconfigure services to work with the SSD drive.
Install a clean image
Only the original and full image Windows 7. "Optimized" Windows builds Of course, they take up less disk space, but they can disable or even remove services and functions that are vital for the stable operation of the operating system on an SSD.
Activate AHCI mode
Before installing Windows 7 on your SSD, enable recognition of SATA devices in AHCI mode in the BIOS settings. This option allows you to activate some new Windows features, aimed at accelerating the operation of the disk subsystem.
Format the drive
If your SSD drive has been used before, you will need to completely format it before installing the operating system. Since the principles of recording data on HDD and SSD are significantly different, quick formatting an SSD drive will not be enough
Mark up wisely
Partitioning a solid-state drive into partitions is more convenient and reliable using utilities from third-party developers, such as Acronis Disk Director.
Check
After installing Windows 7 on your SSD, it doesn’t hurt to check how correctly it is recognized by the system. For this it is best to use free program CrystalDiskInfo. We launch the program and look at information about our disks. In line Rotational speed The disk type must be specified - SSD. Also in line Possibilities The TRIM function must be specified.
Now let's check if AHCI mode is active. We go to the Task Manager and in the item IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers We are looking for a controller called AHCI. If there is none, then restart the computer, go to the BIOS settings and try to activate the AHCI mode again.
Disable indexing
The indexing feature helps speed up searches in the Windows operating system environment. However, this option increases the load on the disk, thereby accelerating its wear and slowing down its operation (a little, but still). In addition, the solid-state drive, due to its high speed and without indexing, quickly finds necessary files. Therefore, you can safely disable indexing. To do this, go to Explorer, right-click on the icon of our SSD drive and select context menu paragraph Properties. Then uncheck the option Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to file properties.
Disable the defragmentation service
Due to a different operating mechanism than HDDs, the defragmentation service is not needed for solid-state drives and is even contraindicated (NAND memory used in SSD drives has a limited number of rewrite cycles). As a rule, Windows 7 automatically disables the defragmentation service during installation on an SSD drive, but if this does not happen, then we can disable it manually. Open the menu Start, press Execute and write in the line: services.msc. Now we find the service in the list Disk Defragmenter, double-click on it with the mouse and in the field Startup type select a parameter Disabled.
Disable creation of restore points
When the point creation function is active Windows recovery the operation of the TRIM function, which is very important for SSDs, is blocked, which ultimately leads to a gradual decrease in the speed of the SSD disk. To disable the function of the operating system creating restore points, right-click on the icon My computer, go to Properties and go to the tab System protection. Click on the button here Tune and select the item disable system protection.
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- Very high speed operation of the Operating system compared to conventional HDDs
- low power consumption (for laptops significantly increases the time battery life)
- high fault tolerance under severe overloads and damage (shaking, falling laptop, etc.)
But besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages:
- higher cost compared to HDD
- limited number of rewrite cycles
How to get rid of the last minus will be discussed in this article.
During operation of the operating system, service files are constantly changed, written and overwritten. Also, modern operating systems often automatic mode defragment the disk and perform other operations that, when working with a regular HDD, serve to speed up the operation of the system as a whole.
But when working on an SSD, such operations are harmful because they reduce the disk’s recording resource.
Therefore, it is necessary to rid the operating system of these procedures or at least reduce them to an acceptable minimum.
The optimal version for working on an SSD from the Windows family is version 7 and higher. Implementation based on Windows XP is also possible, but the result will not be as successful, because Microsoft introduced full support for these media only with the release Windows series 7.
What to consider?
- First of all, to reduce the volumes being written (and to reduce the volume in general), you need to get rid of the paging file. This in turn means that the number random access memory on your computer/laptop should cover your needs with a margin (at least 30-50%). Those. If you usually use up to 2 GB of RAM for work, then you need to have 3-4 GB in your computer. Otherwise, when there is a peak in RAM usage and it exceeds 4GB, the system may crash and crash.
- It is also necessary to understand that there are no accurate statistics on SSD operating resources. various manufacturers and models included in the OS, and thus there is no way to accurately predict the moment when the disk will exhaust its resource and begin to fail. Therefore, I recommend systematically SSD monitoring specialized utilities (will be described in more detail at the end of the article) and also do not forget to backup important data to removable media or network/cloud storage. I recommend using the Yandex.Disk resource as a “Cloud” resource for backing up data because of its ease of use and good accessibility throughout Russia.
Before installing the operating system:
It is advisable to disconnect all other media (HDD and USB-Flash) if they are connected - this will simplify the installation and allow Windows 7 to independently optimize some of the parameters for the SSD during installation.
You also need to check the inclusion for SATA controller AHCI mode. For most modern PCs and laptops, it is already enabled by default, and if you haven’t changed anything yourself, then you may not need anything.
Windows 7 installation:
Installation is best done from the original image. Do not use ready-made assemblies- in most cases they have a setting that does not allow making changes that will be required in the future to reduce the number of rewrites.
Setting up Windows 7 on SSD:
For quick and easy setup, the easiest way is to use a special free utility SSD Mini Tweaker.
SSD Mini Tweaker - will quickly and correctly make all the necessary changes to the system to reduce the frequency of writing system files.
But you will also need to independently disable indexing of the contents of files on the disk.
To do this, open the properties of the system disk and on the "General" tab, uncheck the "Allow file contents to be indexed..." checkbox. After that, click apply and in the “Confirm attribute changes” window that opens, select the option “... to all attached files and folders”, then click “Ok”. The process will take some time. During this process a message will be displayed indicating that you do not have permission to edit files - you can select the "Skip all" option and continue.
After completing this operation, you can consider the setup complete. After this, you can turn off the computer and connect other storage media (HDD), which will serve to store large amounts of data (media library, game library, galleries, etc.)
Have a nice work!
As mentioned above, for systematic diagnostics of SSD it is advisable to use specialized software. One option is SSD Life.
The program does not calculate the “health” state of the disk, but receives it from the disk itself, more precisely from the S.M.A.R.T. system. Then, based on the data received and based on the current mode of use of the drive, its service life is calculated.
In this regard, for a more accurate assessment of the health of the SSD, SSD program Life needs to monitor the operation of your drive for some time, viewing its load and calculating average values. The longer the analysis period, the more accurate the data.
Frequently asked questions about solid state drives
Before we answer any questions, we'd like to remind you that we are convinced that SSD storage for laptops and desktops (as well as for enterprise servers) has a bright future ahead of it. SSDs are truly capable of delivering high performance, improved system responsiveness, increased battery life, high reliability, faster boot times, and reduced vibration and noise. As prices come down and storage quality improves, we believe more and more computers will be sold with SSDs instead of traditional HDDs. With this in mind, we have focused the necessary engineering efforts to ensure that users can fully experience the benefits of working with a new type of storage device.
Q: Will Windows 7 support tweaking?
Oh yeah. This has already been discussed above.
Q: Will defragmentation be disabled by default for SSDs?
Oh yeah. Automatic start Defragmentation tasks will not include partitions created on the SSD or identifying themselves as such. In addition, if the system partition shows random read performance higher than 8 MB/s, it will also be excluded from the list for defragmentation. Performance levels were determined through internal testing.
The threshold performance level test was added to the final version due to the fact that only a few of the SSDs on the market identify themselves as SSDs in the system. 8 Mb/s is quite modest. SSD performance ranges from 11 to 130 MB/s. We tested 182 HDDs, and only 6 of them exceeded the 2 MB/s bar in the random read test. The results of the remaining 176 lie between 0.8 and 1.6 Mb/s.
Q: Will Superfetch be disabled for SSDs?
A: Yes, for most computers with SSD. If the drive is an SSD, and if it shows adequate random write/overwrite results, then Superfetch, Prefetch for loading and running applications, ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive will be disabled.
Initially, these features were supposed to be disabled for all SSDs, but we found that this resulted in poor performance on some systems. Exploring possible reasons such a situation, we have found that some early SSD models have serious problems with random writes, ultimately leading to the fact that reading from the disk stops altogether and for a long period of time. With Superfetch and Prefetch enabled, performance in everyday use again improved noticeably.
A: Compressing files helps save disk space, but requires additional processor power for compression and decompression, which leads to increased power consumption on laptops. Strictly speaking, for folders and files that are used very rarely, compression can serve good tool saving expensive SSD space – in case free space is really so necessary.
However, we do not recommend using compression in cases where folders and files are constantly in use. Your Documents folders and the files in them are not a problem, but temporary Internet folders and mail directories should not be compressed, since they are constantly writing and rewriting a large number of files in batch mode.
Q: Is the indexer working differently? Windows search on SSD?
Q: Is Bitlocker encryption optimized to work with SSDs?
A: Yes, on NTFS. When Bitlocker is first configured for a particular partition, it is read in its entirety, encrypted, and written back. As soon as this happens, file system will issue a command to carry out adjustments that optimize the operation of the drive.
We encourage all users concerned about the safety and protection of their data to use Bitlocker on their drives, including SSDs.
Q: Does Media Center do anything special when configured on an SSD?
Oh no. Although SSDs have advantages over traditional HDDs, the price per 1 GB for SSDs is still significantly higher than for conventional drives. For most users, the HDD optimized for multimedia content remains the best option, since such content involves a significant write and playback load that has sequential read/write characteristics.
Q: Does write caching make sense for SSDs and how does Windows 7 help support write caching if the SSD supports it?
A: Some manufacturers install RAM chips on their devices not only to operate controllers; they should, as with traditional disks, cache reads and, if possible, writes. For drives that cache writes in fast, non-volatile memory, Windows 7 assumes that the presence of overwrite and write-queue commands will be no less effective than for HDDs. Additionally, Windows 7 assumes that user settings that disable caching will be treated by the SSD as if it were a regular drive.
Q: Does it make sense to configure RAID for an SSD?
Oh yeah. The reliability and performance gained by configuring RAID on traditional drives is maintained when using an SSD.
Q: Do I need to place the page file on the SSD?
Oh yeah. The main operations with the paging file are random writing of small volumes or sequential writing of large amounts of data. Both types of operations work fine on an SSD.
By analyzing telemetry focused on estimating writes and reads for the pagefile, we found that:
reading from Pagefile.sys takes precedence over writing to pagefile.sys in a 40:1 ratio,
The read blocks for Pagefile.sys are typically quite small, with 67% of them being less than or equal to 4 KB and 88% being less than 16 KB.
The write blocks in Pagefile.sys are quite large, 62% of them are greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% are almost exactly 1 MB.
Generally speaking, the typical page file usage patterns and SSD performance characteristics fit together very well, and it is the file that is highly recommended to be placed on the SSD.
Q: Are there any restrictions for using hibernation mode with an SSD?
A: No, hiberfile.sys is written and read sequentially in large blocks, and can be located on either an SSD or HDD.
Q: What changes have been made to the Windows Experience Index to correctly reflect SSD performance metrics?
A: In Windows 7, these are new criteria for evaluating random writes, overwrites, and reads. The best samples can receive an index from 6.5 to 7.9. To qualify for this range, drives must have outstanding performance for the specified types of operations and be able to withstand heavy loads of these types.
During the Windows 7 beta testing, there were cases where the index varied from 1.9 to 2.9, or as if the drive (SSD or HDD) was not performing as expected at all when running a performance benchmark. We received a lot of feedback on this issue, most objecting to such low ratings. As a result, we have simply banned SSDs with potential performance issues from competing for the 6.0+ and 7.0+ tier ratings that were recently added. SSDs that are not among the favorites in this type of race will receive indices approximately the same as they would have in Windows Vista, without benefiting much from the improved random write performance in Windows 7.
Michael Fortin
program manager of the Fundamentals team
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