Prefetch and SSDs

[GeneO]

It won't matter by then. We'll all have computers in our brain and SSDs will be the size of a postage stamp.

It won't matter to me because I will prob be in a nursing home being spoon fed :roflmao:

 

[essenbe]

It won't matter by then. We'll all have computers in our brain and SSDs will be the size of a postage stamp.

It won't matter to me because I will prob be in a nursing home being spoon fed :roflmao:

By a nurse with an SSD for a brain. You'll get through that meal quick.

 

[Cableaddict]

This is good information to know! I'm surprised superfetch is disabled tho, it seems even with the rocking speeds of SSD's, RAM speeds still destroy them when it comes to transfer rates, especially due to the SATA 2 controller limits. I guess maybe it's a minuscule gain and not worth letting your system worry about it? I dunno..

My understanding is as Geneo posted, earlier: Win7 monitors your boot drive, and only automatically disables SuperFetch (and Prefetcher???) if it decides your SSD is fast enough. That must mean that some are too slow.

As a reference: I am using generation 2 Intel SSD's (with the latest firmware) and if I disable Superfetch, my OS & apps boot times slow down dramatically. I'm about to switch to an OCZ RevoDrive, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Anyway, I really don't see any great need to disable these manually, what's the big deal? A 4 year lifespan instead of 5 years?

-but I also admit to being kind of confused on this. (g)

 

[Hopalong X]

Cableaddict

I have the same on my Intel 320. Superfetch on is faster with some software. So I left mine on.
On a 120GB as this one is there is plenty of space for it so why not.

It seems on the newer drives you try it both ways for your SSD and set up and which ever works best that is the way to go.

My 2 cents.

 

[rseiler]

Although it may have been answered here, I didn't see it: how does W7 react to a system that has a spinning data drive in addition to an SSD system disk? If it determines that the SSD is fast enough to disable the various features mentioned above, are they still enabled for the mechanical drive? Or does it not disable anything if it sees a mechanical drive regardless of SSD?

 

[whs]

I do not understand this discussion regarding Superfetch. Why would anybody want to disable that. RAM is still a lot faster than any SSD and a nice pack of cached stuff enhances performance.

Am I missing something. Please enlighten me.

PS: The argument of extra write operations to the SSD does not count. That is a phony argument. SSDs do not wear out as long as you care to keep it.

 

[essenbe]

I do not understand this discussion regarding Superfetch. Why would anybody want to disable that. RAM is still a lot faster than any SSD and a nice pack of cached stuff enhances performance.

Am I missing something. Please enlighten me.

PS: The argument of extra write operations to the SSD does not count. That is a phony argument. SSDs do not wear out as long as you care to keep it.

+1

 

[Hopalong X]

Although it may have been answered here, I didn't see it: how does W7 react to a system that has a spinning data drive in addition to an SSD system disk? If it determines that the SSD is fast enough to disable the various features mentioned above, are they still enabled for the mechanical drive? Or does it not disable anything if it sees a mechanical drive regardless of SSD?

Please start a new thread. Then state a question concerning your inquiry.

There are nine pages in this thread so I have no remembrance of all that was covered.

Thank you.
Mike

 

[whs]

Good idea Mike. Will do.

 

[rseiler]

Please start a new thread. Then state a question concerning your inquiry.

There are nine pages in this thread so I have no remembrance of all that was covered.

Thank you.
Mike

OK, though I thought here was appropriate because the thread had recent posts and my question is exactly aligned with the content of the thread.

 

[hp79]

I do not understand this discussion regarding Superfetch. Why would anybody want to disable that. RAM is still a lot faster than any SSD and a nice pack of cached stuff enhances performance.

Am I missing something. Please enlighten me.

PS: The argument of extra write operations to the SSD does not count. That is a phony argument. SSDs do not wear out as long as you care to keep it.

At the time when these SSD optimization tweaks were written, most users were maxed at 4GB RAM. If I only had 4GB RAM right now, then I would disable Superfetch. Reason being even though the usual frequently ran programs get fetched onto RAM, because the lack of RAM (yeah, I think 4GB is not enough), they will be replaced with any other data sooner or later. Even though reading from an SSD is really quick, this will just make more disk IO during boot. So I think it makes sense to disable it ONLY if you have 4GB or less RAM.

These days RAM is so cheap you can get 16GB kit for $40 to $60 on special deals such as after rebate. With 8GB RAM, I would keep the Superfetch enabled because the RAM is darn fast at everything.

I think the tweak instructions should be updated. Also, I never seen defrag schedule getting disabled automatically when I install Windows 7 on a SSD. I tried on intel X25-M(80GB), Samsung 460 (256GB), OCZ Agility2 (120GB). I had to manually disable defrag schedule on all of them.

 

[logicearth]

At the time when these SSD optimization tweaks were written, most users were maxed at 4GB RAM. If I only had 4GB RAM right now, then I would disable Superfetch. Reason being even though the usual frequently ran programs get fetched onto RAM, because the lack of RAM (yeah, I think 4GB is not enough), they will be replaced with any other data sooner or later. Even though reading from an SSD is really quick, this will just make more disk IO during boot. So I think it makes sense to disable it ONLY if you have 4GB or less RAM.

Umm...4 GB is more then enough. My god...I've been using 2 GB since Windows Vista and it is more then enough with Superfetch ON. I swear, when it comes to RAM people pull out the most...Bah. Having Superfetch ON will not use more or less I/O then it is OFF. Either way the same amount of I/O will be used, the only question is does it happen now or later. Not that it matters, SSD drives have no READ lifespan-limitations like WRITE does.

 

[whs]

At the time when these SSD optimization tweaks were written, most users were maxed at 4GB RAM. If I only had 4GB RAM right now, then I would disable Superfetch. Reason being even though the usual frequently ran programs get fetched onto RAM, because the lack of RAM (yeah, I think 4GB is not enough), they will be replaced with any other data sooner or later. Even though reading from an SSD is really quick, this will just make more disk IO during boot. So I think it makes sense to disable it ONLY if you have 4GB or less RAM.

Umm...4 GB is more then enough. My god...I've been using 2 GB since Windows Vista and it is more then enough with Superfetch ON. I swear, when it comes to RAM people pull out the most...Bah. Having Superfetch ON will not use more or less I/O then it is OFF. Either way the same amount of I/O will be used, the only question is does it happen now or later. Not that it matters, SSD drives have no READ lifespan-limitations like WRITE does.

I think he may have a good point. Yes, Win7 runs perfectly well in 2GB of RAM. But his point was, when you have a lot of RAM, you have a lot of space for caching and the items that are cached will not be swapped all the time. With 2GB of RAM, frequent swapping is a very likely scenario.

 

[logicearth]

With 2GB of RAM, frequent swapping is a very likely scenario.

Regardless of his/her point, turning Superfetch off is not going to solve anything as s/he was suggesting it would.

 

[whs]

With 2GB of RAM, frequent swapping is a very likely scenario.

Regardless of his/her point, turning Superfetch off is not going to solve anything as s/he was suggesting it would.

Agreed. My point was focussing on the milage you get from Superfetch.

 

[Wishmaster]

Ive noticed it does take a bit of time though for Superfetch to really start being of any benefit.
Rather, its not something you can turn on and get instant boost from.


After a clean install (meaning once everything is installed and setup) it seems to me it takes about 5 days or so to really start becoming effective. So it can get a better grasp on what you use the most etc.


I know after a reboot now that my clean install has been running for a while, in a matter of about 5-10minutes my 8GB RAM is showing 0 free.
Its seems to Pre-Fetch my most common stuff right off the bat, then keeps going until its out of RAM.