Prefetch and SSDs

[stereo]

No, Prefetch is not SuperFetch. Keep Prefetch. Should keep SuperFetch too.

Ok, i know how to enable the SuperFetch , because i know how i did disable it.
But what about Prefetch ?
Thanks.

 

[Dave76]

I agree with logicearth and Wishmaster, leave Prefetch on.

 

[Hopalong X]

+1 Dave76

The only thing I turned off on my SSD is Hibernate.
Sleep was already off.
Sleep might be a necessity on a laptop. I don't have a laptop so not an issue.

If I leave my PC for 30 minutes or longer it gets turned off.

 

[hp79]

A thread from more than a year ago

About superfetch, in my opinion, if you have 8gb ram just because ram is dirt cheap now a days and don't run software that uses much ram, keep superfetch on. RAM is much faster than SSD.

Otherwise, if you have 4gb, then either leave it on, or disable it.

I don't think prefetch does much harm to the SSD as I initially thought couple years ago when I first bought the X25-m 80 gb.

 

[essenbe]

As far as superfetch, I have a Vertex2 and an Intel G2 80GB ssd. I have run it both ways. The Vertex saw no difference, the Intel seemed to run better with it off. If you haven't done so, download Intel's toolbox. Run the system optimizer and system configuration. It will notify you to turn off superfetch and will do it for you.

 

[pparks1]

Yeah, I'm confused on Superfetch...my brain says RAM is always faster than any SSD...but yet the Intel Toolbox says my drive is not optimally configured until I turn off Superfetch. I just haven't ever read anything from Intel to explain exactly why turning this off would make my machine more optimal.

 

[essenbe]

PParks1, I can't answer that other than to guess it has something to do with the controller. But, I have tried running mine with Superfetch enabled and it didn't seem to run as well.

 

[stereo]

I tried with Superfetch, disabled and enabled.
All the applications opens faster. So i leave it enabled.

 

[essenbe]

Is there a possibility it has something to do with ready boost? Ready boost is part of Superfetch. Most SSD forums recommend to turn off superfetch so there must be a reason.

 

[Hopalong X]

I tried with Superfetch, disabled and enabled.
All the applications opens faster. So i leave it enabled.

I tried it both ways.
IE-9 web pages load faster with Superfetch on.
That was good enough for me.

Which ever works best for you is the right way.

 

[stereo]

Is there a possibility it has something to do with ready boost? Ready boost is part of Superfetch. Most SSD forums recommend to turn off superfetch so there must be a reason.

What now ? Should i disable or should i leave it on ?

 

[Hopalong X]

I'm with WHS. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

Leave it on if it works better for you.
That is what I'm doing.

I tried it both ways and it works better with Superfetch on.

Neither way is wrong. What works best for you is the way to have it.

Mike

 

[essenbe]

I'm with WHS. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

Leave it on if it works better for you.
That is what I'm doing.

I tried it both ways and it works better with Superfetch on.

Neither way is wrong. What works best for you is the way to have it.

Mike

That's what I think. But the Intel toolbox disagrees.

 

[pparks1]

That's what I think. But the Intel toolbox disagrees.

Exactly, and they seem pretty convinced that it should be turned off...I just don't understand why.

 

[essenbe]

That's what I think. But the Intel toolbox disagrees.

Exactly, and they seem pretty convinced that it should be turned off...I just don't understand why.

I don't either. I've been to their forums and searched, they say turn it off but no explanation of why. I've turned mine back on for now. I want to see how it works out. OCZ forum says the same with no explanation. I've tried it both ways with the vertex2 and saw no difference, but it seems to make a difference with Intel.

 

[hp79]

That's what I think. But the Intel toolbox disagrees.

Exactly, and they seem pretty convinced that it should be turned off...I just don't understand why.

I don't either. I've been to their forums and searched, they say turn it off but no explanation of why. I've turned mine back on for now. I want to see how it works out. OCZ forum says the same with no explanation. I've tried it both ways with the vertex2 and saw no difference, but it seems to make a difference with Intel.

Intel tool box might not consider how much ram you have, and could just think 4gb as the maximum. Or it has no idea how the user uses his memory. I'd say if you have 8gb+ and don't have much other things for the ram, leave superfetch on whatever intel toolbox says.

 

[GeneO]

Should Prefetch be disabled or not ? for SSD owners..

I keep Superfetch on. It should work even better with SSDs. Instead of loading frequently used programs from the SSD into memory when you first use them, superfetch will load them in the background at startup - and this pre-loading shouldn't take very long with an SSD. It will be a faster first time load, but then again it may not be that perceptible to you.

 

[essenbe]

According to Overclockers net, an SSD writes in blocks, superfetch loads the memory to ram but writes its logs to the SSD thus writing a whole block. Everytime it detects a change in your patterns, it writes a new log to the same block. The concern seems to be that it is not the size of the writes that will hurt the SSD, because the logs are verry small, but it is the constant writes to the same block. They also say that ram does not write in properly aligned sectors. How much truth is there, I don't know. But I have read on the Intel forums that SSDs write in blocks. If the SSD is set up in 512kb blocks and you write 4kb to it, the SSD will write 0 or 1's to the rest of the block.

 

[GeneO]

According to Overclockers net, an SSD writes in blocks, superfetch loads the memory to ram but writes its logs to the SSD thus writing a whole block. Everytime it detects a change in your patterns, it writes a new log to the same block. The concern seems to be that it is not the size of the writes that will hurt the SSD, because the logs are verry small, but it is the constant writes to the same block. They also say that ram does not write in properly aligned sectors. How much truth is there, I don't know. But I have read on the Intel forums that SSDs write in blocks. If the SSD is set up in 512kb blocks and you write 4kb to it, the SSD will write 0 or 1's to the rest of the block.

An SSD won't let you write to the same physical block over and over. Wear leveling will prevent that. Windows writes small amounts of data to lots of logs and databases (like the registry for instance). This is no different I think.

I have had my OS on an SSD for 1 month now with 176 power-on hours and with Superfetch/prefetch on. I also have my browser and photoshop caches on the drive. According to the SMART wear indicator from the drive, I have used .16% of the SSD lifetime. That means I have 50 years left on the SSD! (12 power on years).

 

[Hopalong X]

+1 GeneO

Spent the last hour plus on the Intel web site.
From everything I could find on the Intel site including the forum the controller by wear leveling rotates the write blocks.
Not a worry to me.
They could be a little more up front with explanations.
Unfortunately all the SSD makers think everything is top secret.