SSD became slow, any fixes?

Sanvean said:

Hi exia!
I would have gotten a link for you quicker, but I just got home from work a bit ago.

If you install Windows 7 as a fresh install on a ssd, it will align the partitions correctly, xp you have to jump thru some hoops.

The following is taken directly from OCZ (Posted by Tony Offical OCZ staff):
1 I check the board is in AHCI mode, if no option is available there is nothing you can do.

2 I check if S1 and S3 sleep are supported in bios, I usually set S1 but S3 should be ok also....if they are not in bios there is nothing you can do

3 I check ACPI 2.0 is in bios and enabled, if its not in bios there is nothing you can do

4 I boot to 32bit win7 RC1 on USB which also has Sanitary Erase on the USB drive. I run SE off the USB drive using the CMD window within the win7 installer. if the drives are brand new i do not bother with this step.

5 I then power off, swap USB drives to 64bit win7 final and I Install win7 off this new USB drive ( I do this is its much faster than off DVD, but you can use DVD)

6 I let win7 installer create and format the partition, all i do is hit NEXT even though the installer sees the drive and reports the drive space is RAW. Win7 will create a primary partition and quick format all on its own.

7 I use win7 native AHCI driver for both AMD and INTEL systems.

8 Install takes 10mins tops, i then load Video and Sound drivers and any LAN driver I may need.

9 The tweaks:

Disable Superfetch

Disable Defrag scheduler

Disable drive Indexing (Drive properties uncheck last option at bottom)


I'm an Intel ssd user, but from my surfing on the OCZ site, garbage collection will happen if you let the system set at the login screen for about a few hours a week.

I just found this:
"For use within windows 7 there is absolutely no maintenance needed apart from allowing the machine to idle at the login screen for a few hours each week, this allows the garbage collection time to recover the drive and free up space TRIM has not been able to deal with. For all other windows based OS with no TRIM support...The simple answer is an application called Wiper.exe."

So it seems exia, you don't need to run wiper if you run Win7!
Another suggestion after you install Windows 7 on an ssd, is to run the WEI bench, this verify it's detected correctly. Platter drives only go as high as 5.9, ssds 7.+

WEI score is 6.7 for my SSD.

GC will run at the login screen? Does it say how long I have to idle for? Seriously who leaves their computer at the login screen? 99% of users probably don't.

And what is with the long ass install guide you have posted, again 99% of users will not even bother. I think OCZ got it wrong this time, most people will not even go through such a tedious process to get their SSD to work "properly", seems like OCZ is using it's customers as guinea pigs or didn't bother making a proper SSD.

How come I can't run wiper.exe? I would really like to run it, despite having to run a maintenance program for my drive which is suppose to take care of itself if OCZ did their job properly. This is the last time I buy an OCZ drive, I should have just paid the extra cash and bought an Intel drive.

spyknee said:

I would suggest that you just leave well enough alone. You need to make an effort in order to do it properly. Someone gave you a method and you whined about it. It takes what it takes to work with this hardware. Research what you need to do, or leave it alone.

I don't understand why you are here, why don't you use Linux?

exia said:

I don't understand why you are here, why don't you use Linux?

I use W7, so thats why I'm here.
Its really not that complicated, but if you do not follow the steps right, you will be disappointed. There is alot of reading to do, but until you do, you will not understand the steps I give you. I am not a professional but I built an SSD puter. You need to get FW 1.5 and burn the iso to disk. You need to get SE and install it on a windows OS disk so you can SE the one SSD you have used.
I spent two weeks at the OCZ forum filtering thru the muck to get an approach to do an upgrade from RC1 to retail. More than happy to share but you have to get yourself to a point. Spend a day at OCZ on the 1.5 and SE guides. Then I will give you a laymans way to get by and you will understand it.

C'mon guys. Don't get off track. spyknee is right. You have to go thru the motions or leave it alone and get a somewhat lesser performance.
As an alternative, you can create an OCZ service ticket and ask them whether they would flash it for you when you send it in. They once did that for me free of charge.

How can I tell if my SSD is in IDE mode? The above guide says I need to be in IDE mode, but my drive is a SATA drive obviously.

Just flashed to 1.5

Now what do I have to do to make sure my drive is up to speed? Do I still have to idle at the login screen?

I ran wiper and then ran WEI and my score changed from 6.7 to 6.8. So I guess TRIM and GC does work.

I don't have any more questions for the time being so unless any of you have anything to add I will let this thread be.

FWIW, this is probably the most helpful forum I have ever been on. It has never let me down so far, keep up the good work!