SSD system drive getting very slow -- two weeks old

Can you give us any info on the specs of the computer and the make and firmware of the SSD? Also, could you download AS SSD. It's an SSD benchmarking program. Just open it up and select your SSD. You don't have to run the benchmark if you don't want to. I need a screenshot of the page. There is some information on there that may help. The program is free, but with all these programs, don't install the add ons they offer with them, just un select them. This will tell you how to upload a screenshot. Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Also, Windows normally does not schedule defrag for SSDs. If you click the start button, type defragment into the search box and click on disk defragmenter, you will get a window for the defragmenter. Click on schedule and un tick the box to schedule defragmentation. That will put it in manual mode. It will only defragment a disk when you tell it to. For your hard drives, you should go there and analyze them every couple of months to see if they need defragmenting. But, you are correct, never defragment an SSD.

Thank you "essenbe" for your very quick response :)

Images look impressive but I dont understand much of it (Win7 newbie since Jan this year)
Come to look at it I understand very little, but I am very keen to learn

Hope this is what you were looking for ?

Are the System Specs sufficient ?

essenbe said:

For your hard drives, you should go there and analyze them every couple of months to see if they need defragmenting. But, you are correct, never defragment an SSD.

Do you mean "analyze" the hard drives (incl SSD drives) ?
But the analyzed result is just dots and dashes.
What would I do with the results?

Yes, that is exactly what I was looking for. If you will look at the bottom left corner of your post you will see My System Specs. Click on it and you will have a link that says update system specs. If you could fill that out it and click save at the bottom, it would be of great help. That way, any time you come here and post, we can look to see the specs without having to ask you again, or on a multi page post have to go back to post #1 to look and see what they are. Look at the bottom of this post and see mine and you will see what we are looking for. Here is a tutorial of how to do it the easy way. System Info - See Your System Specs

No, do not analyze the SSD, but regular hard drives may need it. Personally, I don't worry about it very often. Highlight the drive you want to analyze and click the analyze button. It will take a couple of minutes usually but it will tell you how much they are defragmented. For me, if they are defragmented less than 10-12%, I don't worry about it.

If you are not sure about the firmware updates, check and update the firmware on your SSD. There are usually instructions with each manufacturer. I don't know which one you have, so couldn't look it up for you, but you can find it at the Kingston Site.

Your SSD is in IDE mode and should be in AHCI mode. If you just change it in bios, your computer will not boot. We first have to make some changes, then change it. It should be quite simple. You will need to look at your motherboard manual to see how to change bios to ahci mode. It is usually in the advanced section under sata mode, sata controllers or storage configuration or a similar name. But, here is exactly how to do it. It should take you about 3 minutes. It is not hard at all. AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista

Feel free to ask any questions. If you will look at the screenshot of AS SSD you will see 234496 in the top left. It is green, that is your alignment and it being green means it is OK., above that is PCIDE, that is not green and says you are in IDE mode but should be in AHCI mode. The numbers above that is the current firmware on the SSD. and will help you determine if you have the latest or not. Kingston makes several versions of SSDs, so just choose your version and go to firmware and there should be a download for the latest and a download of the instructions. Any questions, please ask.

By the way, there is a lot of misinformation and bad information on the internet about SSDs. They are quite reliable and are equal if not better than mechanical hard drives. They are not as fragile as many would lead you to believe and recover from writes pretty quickly if set up properly. I have 8 SSds, and a couple of them are 2nd generation drives that still run quite well. They are about 4 or 5 years old now. Try going to any tech site that sells computer parts such as Newegg in the US. Look at their best rated mechanical drives and read the user feedback. Then look at the better brands of SSDs and read the user feedback. I think you will see, that they serve their purpose very well. All computer components will fail occasionally, but as a whole, the better brands of SSDs will hold up to most any usage scenario.

Hi "essenbe",
I don't know how to thank you for your guidance and patience.
You have been brilliant.

It will take me a few days to digest and action your suggestions.

Regards
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System Specs
I have 5 PCs, two laptops + 3 towers.
I guess I will have to change "My System Specs" depending on the PC-thread

GrayGhost, I should be so lucky to have that many PCs. Who knows, I may catch up to you eventually. Let's hold off on the thank you stuff to see if my suggestions work. They are only good, if they work, but stick with me, and we'll get you straightened out. Just give them a try whenever you can.

Once you get into AHCI mode I'd put the SSD on an Intel SATA controller, I get much better performance with it than anything else. You may have to install the driver from your motherboard driver disk.

Like you I was also timid with my first SSD, I have two now for about 18 months. and love the kick they give. What does degrade performance is many reinstalls of the OS or using secure erase, but after time it will recover. I have left my system sit in BIOS for a few hours or run memtest, the SSD's clean themselves out. For Crucial anyway, Kingston may have a toolbox like Intel and Samsung drives do.