SSD Management

haxbydave

Member
Great article and I implemented everything as soon as my new pc arrived.

However after only a month or so I started getting that temporary hang up as the SSD sorted out its deleted files.

I do have a 1gig cache for Second Life on that drive but wouldn't expect that to have used up the 70gig I have spare and was wondering if watching BBC iPlayer and other streaming video services could be 'over' using the SSD.

If so can I direct the cache for streaming videos onto my hard drive (Drive D)?
 

Buzz

Master
Most on demand streaming sites delete the cache as soon as you close the browser. I use Iplayer a lot and dont have that issue at all. Have you cleared your internet cache and cookies? What make and model is your SSD. DId you check if it had Trim enabled? What about your windows temp folder. Might be lots of redundant files/folders in there. If you have installed lots of stuff like for EG Nvidia Drivers when you go to install, extract the files first to default C:\Nvidia folder which can be removed. Things like this take up lots of additional space.

Try maybe downloading Advanced system care and clean your crud and see if emptying the temp files and folders will help.

Thanks for the Rep prodipopo. Much appreciated.
Buzz
 
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haxbydave

Member
Thanks Buzz, I may not have made myself clear - I haven't run out of space on my SSD (120 gig intel 330 series, and double checked TRIM is enabled) my spare space varies around quarter of a gig either side of 70gig so no problems there.

What happens is that most days, at some apparently random stage, my computer appears to seize up with that rotating circle thingie. After a fairly short period, 30 seconds to 2 minutes I guess, everything starts working again as normal. I followed the instructions about intelimouse etc causing freezing but uninstalling that had no effect.

It looks like the SSD is going through its re-organising activites (though I don't know how to check that is what is happening) if so it implies not that the drive is full but that it has all been written to at some time. I can cope with the interuptions but was concerned that I may be making large quantities of un-necessary writes and reducing the life of my SSD (though I do suspect that in practice it could outlive me)
 

Buzz

Master
How old is the drive? How many times has windows been installed on the drive? I doubt your issue is to do with the SSD and the deleted files, especially if Trim is enabled. The spinning timer icon can be down to a numerous amount of things. Have you ever cleared your registry and temp files and folders? As I mentioned in previous post, try downloading a cleaner like Advanced system care and run it in deep care mode, and clean out your comp. Defrag your registry (Do not defrag the ssd itself) etc. See if that helps first and come back to me then.

When the icon hangs like that again, right click the taskbar and load task manager, click the processes tab, and sort by memory and see what processes are running at the time of the spinning circle.
 

Yamikotai

Expert
It might be worth updating this guide to mention that Windows 8 (and Windows 7 SP1) automatically have defragging disabled, as well as superfetch and prefetch. Also that with modern SSDs, they're rated for writing 40GB a day for 5+ years, so it's not really worth doing in Windows 7 anyway (anything equivalently old as an OCZ Vertex 2 or older, it's still a good idea. Newer, it doesn't make much difference).

Also, the images don't work.
 

pcpower

Bronze Level Poster
In CMD and when I Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to get Admin command prompt. I dont get Account Control' dialog box to appear. Ive press Ctrl+Shift+Enter loads of time but nothing is happening.

when I type fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify, it's say (The FSUTIL utility requires that you have administrative privileges)

Is there some other way I can get to Account Control dialog box to appear, because Ctrl+Shift+Enter dont work.
 
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athsco

Member
Much appreciate your advice Buzz. Very informative.
Athsco.

Proposed* HAF-X ~ I7-4770K MAX 4.40GHZ ~ ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO ~16GB HYPERX 2400MHZ* ~ 3GB GTX 780 ~3 X 240GB INTEL® 530 SSD ~1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK~CORSAIR 1000W ~CORSAIR H100I HYDRO ~ASUS 27" PB278Q * awaiting G Skill 2400 C9Q 16GTXD
 

Zangetsu

New member
Hi Buzz, i have been researching about virtual memory im quite worried to change it or lower it just because i read that if im doing allot of stuff at the same time on my PC and it goes over what my RAM can handle my PC will just crash?

This is my VM at the mo: http://gyazo.com/8b69ee7b0b4775bab5da6395e18a757e

Just wondering if this is ok or too much or what?

Any help is much appreciated.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Windows 8 (and 8.1) systems also have a swap file, called swapfile.sys. This is used as a paging file for suspended Modern Apps and it cannot be moved using the same technique you use to move the page file.

It is possible to move the swap file off an SSD, it just requires a bit more work....

1. Go to the location where you set the page file size and set no paging file on all drives. Then reboot. Both pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys should now be gone, if they're still there then just delete them (they won't be being used).

2. Now you need to create a symbolic link on the C:\ drive pointing to wherever you want the swap file to be (on my system it's on the D: drive which is my HDD). Open an elevated command prompt and enter the command "mklink c:\swapfile.sys d:\swapfile.sys" (without the quotes). Obviously you might want to change the drive letter of the destination drive to suit.

3. Now go back into where you set the page file size and set either system managed or whatever size you like on the same drive where the swap file links points to (I believe the page file and swap file have to be on the same drive). Now reboot.

You'll see an entry for swapfile.sys on your SSD still, but it's just a symbolic link (0 bytes), if you look at the destination drive you'll see that both pagefile.sys and swapfile.sys are now on there.
 

ianmer

Member
I used this guide back when I got my first SSD build, really good information and advice!

I was wondering if you would be able to drop some advise RE upgrading to Windows 10. I am thinking of upgrading but was worried it might not be as easy as hitting the upgrade button and everything going smoothly from there! e.g. would I need to go through the equivalent tweaks from this guide after the upgrade, would it affect my availalble space etc.

Also, wasn't sure if this was appropriate for this thread - if I should post this as a new thread just let me know!
 

pcsa

Active member
I thought that since Windows 8 you can leave Defrag set to on once a month for ssd's as it takes care of the trim.
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I thought that since Windows 8 you can leave Defrag set to on once a month for ssd's as it takes care of the trim.

Do remember that most of this thread was written before the release of Win8, as you seem to have replied to an old thread, so some of it will not be relevant anymore.
 

pcsa

Active member
Do remember that most of this thread was written before the release of Win8, as you seem to have replied to an old thread, so some of it will not be relevant anymore.

Perhaps it needs an update to the first page of information or a new sticky for Win 8 / Win 10 ssd's defrag information.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Perhaps it needs an update to the first page of information or a new sticky for Win 8 / Win 10 ssd's defrag information.

You should never defrag an SSD as they don't fragment, any defrag will just take up rw cycles and reduce the life of the drive. This is on any OS.
 
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