Solved Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD Underperformance

[Ocman76]

I got a SDD for my new PC and installed it as the boot drive, however I have been running some benchmarks and am confused on the results. For reference, this drive is listed to have 540 MBps Sustained Sequential Read and 410 MBps Sustained Sequential Write speed.

AS SSD Benchmark:

Crystal Disk Benchmark:

The performance seems a little slow on the read I am using a 6 GB/s SATA cable and have already tried using Samsung Magician to optimize the drive. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[essenbe]

Your motherboard most likely does not have sata III ports. You are running on sata II ports most likely. The cable used won't make any difference if the port itself is not sata III. That being said, those numbers are not bad at all. Try running the test on the mechanical drive it replaced.

 

[Ocman76]

Your motherboard most likely does not have sata III ports. You are running on sata II ports most likely. The cable used won't make any difference if the port itself is not sata III. That being said, those numbers are not bad at all. Try running the test on the mechanical drive it replaced.

I don't mean to be rude, but im not that dumb. My motherboard doesn't have any Sata II ports, only Sata III.

This is my motherboard:
ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990X + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com

I will run the benchmarks on the mechanical drive when I get home and post them back here.
Is it possible I just got an underperforming SSD? I'm honestly disappointed because the Samsung SSD's are more expensive than other brands and have better reviews. I could have paid $20 more and gotten double the capacity.

Thanks for responding btw, ive been having trouble recently getting any help on different forums.

 

[essenbe]

You're still getting decent numbers though. I'll save you the trouble. Here id a Western Digital Black 6 GB/s

 

[Ocman76]

You're still getting decent numbers though. I'll save you the trouble. Here id a Western Digital Black 6 GB/s

Thanks. Looks like I do get a good performance jump over a mechanical drive. Should I not expect to be getting that close to the manufacturer listed read and write speeds for me SSD? This is normal?

 

[essenbe]

To some extent yes, and the numbers will change every time you run a test. But, don't run many tests on it. Running too many will slow it down for a while until it has a chance to 'clean' itself up. Actually, the 4KB read speeds and access times are the only numbers you will use on an OS 90% of the time. The rest are not really important unless you transfer 10GB files around.

 

[Ocman76]

To some extent yes, and the numbers will change every time you run a test. But, don't run many tests on it. Running too many will slow it down for a while until it has a chance to 'clean' itself up. Actually, the 4KB read speeds and access times are the only numbers you will use on an OS 90% of the time. The rest are not really important unless you transfer 10GB files around.

Alright, thanks for the help!

Can't say im a little disappointed to know that other people with cheaper drives have faster access speeds though haha.

 

[Forever Forest]

Well I'm glad you lot have got this far !

Firstly, the migration software fails. I've done a clone with another third party software. But, whenever I put the drive in, nothing happens and the laptop kind of turns itself of and then back on repeatedly.

F2 for setup doesn't work whilst it's doing this.

Does anyone think I've got a faulty SSD?

Thanks in advance

 

[essenbe]

What software did you use to clone the drive? You can try this http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html or the easiest way will cost you @20 (US) Paragon Migrate OS to SSD - System migration to Solid State Drives (SSD) - Overview 3 click and everything is done for you.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Those benchmarks are excellent , mine is far worse and i have a new 240 gb SSD.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

What software did you use to clone the drive? You can try this http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html or the easiest way will cost you @20 (US) Paragon Migrate OS to SSD - System migration to Solid State Drives (SSD) - Overview 3 click and everything is done for you.

Even cheaper is either clone the entire drive with Macrium Reflect Free or image just the partitions you want and "restore" them to the SSD (here is a good tutorial on how to use Macrium Reflect for imaging; cloning is reasonably intuitive).

I tried using the Paragon approach and it just made a mess of things (same with Samsung's migration software; multiple partitions throw both of them for a loop). Cloning with Reflect worked perfectly. Running the WEI (Windows Experience Index) ensures TRIM is enabled. Using AS SSD is an easy check to see if the alignment is correct. And make sure Defrag is turned off for the SSD. Most likely, all will be alright after the clone but it never hurts to check.

 

[Forever Forest]

Thanks for the reply essenbe.

I've been using the Samsung software that came with the drive

Thanks