Windows 7 - SSD Tweaks and Optimizations in Windows 7

Hello to all my fellow and future users of SSD drives and Windows 7.
I wanted to set up an area with real-world tips on getting the most out of your SSD and the Windows 7 operating system. I will separate each type of tip to its own message to keep things easier to read and to follow.
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Thanks... As far as the event log issue, I haven't had any issues at all...
There is absolutely no harm in leaving them on... The speed increase is really small and not even noticeable in normal use.

Thanks to all,

I was able to get my Command window to always run "As Administrator." And addition thanks to whs, I was also able to change the window's size, color etc. And I proved that my TRIM is active... GREAT!!

BUT (always a BUT, eh?), my motherboard refuses to run in AHCI mode - Windows 7 tells me it is incompatible.... I know I used to be able to run an XP repair to place the drivers on a board, but I don't find a similar capability in Windows 7. Is it possible to install the Intel ICH10R drivers on a Gigabyte P45 mobo without having to re-install Windows 7? And if I can't install it, how is my SSD affected?

I would appreciate any solution, if there is one...

Many thanks again for your great help, Noel

Hmmm... I am running a Gigabyte-GAEP45-UD3r board and am able to do AHCI without any issue. What motherboard and BIOS version are you running?? (I'm on F12 BIOS).

As I understand it, AHCI mode gives you a little better performance - someone once quoted less then 10%. Functionally there should be no advantage.

pparks1,

I have the same mobo, not sure of the BIOS version, but will check tomorrow when I have access. I have never been able to go to the BIOS and select AHCI without getting a BSOD (I never loaded the AHC10R driver during OS install). I tried to load the driver using Device Manager, but that didn't work either. If I do a repair install using XP (also on my computer), will that work, or do I have to load it in Windows 7 (my primary OS)? And is there a way (like repair install) to load it in 7 without having to do a clean install? I'd really like to avoid doing THAT...

Noel

I ran my machine in IDE mode for quite some time. I was on the F8 or F9 BIOS and it had a significant delay initializing the AHCI controller. After updating to F12, I enabled AHCI and reloaded Windows 7 64-bit onto the hard drive.

I did not load any third party drivers...with the exception of my Nvidia video card. So, I went with whatever Windows 7 included on the installation DVD. I did not install any chipset drivers or Intel drivers.

pparks1,

I upgraded my BIOS from v6 to v12 and still can't run the HDDs as AHCI. I guess, like you, I would have to load the drivers while installing a fresh copy of Windows 7, but I don't think I'm ready to do that - just reinstalled it an re-loaded all my apps. I guess I'll have to accept that 10% performance loss for now.

Many thanks for your time and help, Noel

Excellent thread/tutorial I signed up mainly to thank you for it. Good job!

One question though, apparently link shell won't allow me to follow that procedure (they say on their website if it's not available when you right click it's not applicable) and I'm not sure why that could be. Any ideas?

At the most it's 10%...in reality it's probably unnoticeable for most things. Don't worry about it. Enjoy what you do.

pparks1,

Thanks, I agree... But, I finally figured out how to enable my AHCI after I installed the OS... I had cleaned off my SSD using HHDERASE.exe and then reloaded my Windows 7 image. But the OS wouldn't start because there was some installation file or such that couldn't be found, so it told me to use the Windows 7 install disk and do a repair to get it started. That's when I noticed that the repair function gives you the opportunity to load drivers, so I loaded my Intel ICHR10 drivers and it worked!

Now I have a new problem with my SSD, out of the blue... My OS won't start properly anymore... It gets to "xmnt2002 program not found - skipping AUTOCHECK." At this point it takes anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes before it continues the boot. That loses my SSD fast boot capability. Any ideas?

Noel