Installing Windows 10 on an SSD. Preparing your computer and media for installing Windows

It's no secret that installing an operating system from scratch is fraught with many pitfalls that can seriously spoil your nerves. This is especially true for installing an OS from a flash drive onto an SSD. Both media must be properly prepared and formatted, and the computer's BIOS must be configured accordingly. Otherwise, annoying errors may occur: the installation program will not see the disk or will not start at all.

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD - sleight of hand and no fraud

From the point of view of the operating system and computer hardware, a solid-state drive (SSD) is no different from a classic hard drive with magnetic platters. Accordingly, installing an operating system on an SSD will be no different from installing it on a regular hard drive.

The only nuances will be in setting up the disk subsystem for maximum performance and in creating partitions on the disk before installing the system. Since the disk is new, a clean copy of the OS will be installed.

Installing an OS on a blank disk will always be more difficult than updating, which will download itself from the Internet and carry out all the manipulations in the background, requiring literally a few mouse clicks from the user.

Installing a clean copy consists of several sequential steps that should go smoothly and without errors. Shall we get started?

Preparing bootable media (flash drive)

As practice shows, when installing Windows 10 on an SSD using a bootable DVD, errors often occur that prevent the normal installation of the OS. This happens especially often on laptops in which both the optical drive and the hard drive are connected to the same SATA controller: accessing the optical drive causes the computer to not optimally configure the controller, and the SSD may not work correctly.

Therefore, to install the system, you need to prepare a bootable USB flash drive, installation from which will allow you to carry out the process quickly and without errors.

To prepare bootable media with the OS distribution, you need to download the Windows 10 distribution image, format the flash drive and unpack the image onto it. And if there are no problems with downloading, then further preparation of the flash drive can be carried out by a dozen different programs, similar in function, but different in settings and interface.

We will focus on the official image deployment tool from Microsoft - Microsoft USB/DVD download tool. The program is so simple that it is impossible to make mistakes when using it.

Find the Microsoft USB/DVD download tool on the Internet and download it.
Connect a USB flash drive to a free USB port to which the system image will be deployed. Insert the USB flash drive onto which you want to burn the Windows 10 boot image into the USB port.
Open File Explorer and note the logical drive letter of the flash drive. In our case this is the letter L.
The connected flash drive was mounted in the file explorer as drive L:
Launch the Microsoft USB/DVD download tool.
Using the Browse button, select the ISO image with the operating system distribution and click Next.
Step 1: select the image that you will burn to the flash drive
Select the media type - USB Device (flash drive).
Select the type of media that you will make bootable via the USB/DVD download tool
Select the disk (flash drive) to deploy the media from the drop-down list and click the Begin copying button.
Select your flash drive from the available devices and click the Begin copying button
When asked about erasing media, answer yes. The program will format the flash drive and start copying files to it.
When the progress bar reaches 100% and a message about successful media creation appears, you can close the program.

The bootable USB flash drive has been successfully created, and the Windows 10 distribution files have been transferred to it.

The bootable USB flash drive has been created, and you can begin installing the operating system using it.

The occurrence of any errors while the program is running indicates a faulty flash drive. Change the media to a known good one and repeat the process of creating a bootable disk.

In addition to its simplicity, this method is good because using an official Microsoft tool instead of one of the “free” programs guarantees a secure installation. Using it, you will not infect your computer with keyloggers or annoying adware.

Video: creating a bootable USB flash drive with Rufus

Activating AHCI mode

In order not to find yourself in a situation where the OS installer does not see the disk on which Windows 10 should be installed (this applies not only to SSDs, but in general to all hard drives with a SATA interface), using the BIOS settings, you need to switch the SATA controller to AHCI mode .

Preparing an SSD disk for OS installation

To avoid problems when installing the Windows 10 operating system, the disk on which the installation will be carried out must be completely cleared of partitions. If you do not do this, the system installation program may display a message stating that this disk cannot be used to install the OS. The reason will be the lack of space to create service partitions, invisible to the user, but vital for the operating system.

To prevent this from happening, remove all partitions from the SSD disk. You can do this using the console command diskpart:

All partitions from the SSD have been removed, and it is ready to install the Windows 10 operating system.

This method requires care and a lot of keystrokes, but it gives complete control over the process. If you are a fan of beauty and mouse clicks, you can find hard drive management programs with a graphical interface.

Video: how to manage disks using Minitool PartitionWizard

Installing Windows 10 OS - step by step instructions

The bootable USB flash drive has been created, the computer BIOS is configured, the SSD drive is pristine. We start the operating system installation process:

Boot your computer from the previously created USB flash drive with the Windows 10 distribution.
Select your default interface language and input keyboard, then click Next.
Selecting the default system language and keyboard when installing Windows 10
Click the Install button to start the Windows installation.
Start installing Windows 10 using the “Install” button
“Read” and accept the terms of the license agreement. Without this, further installation will be impossible.
Accept the license agreement to continue installation
Select the installation type "Custom: Windows installation only". A clean copy of the system can only be installed in this way.
Installation of a “clean system” is only possible in custom installation mode
Since we have previously cleared the target disk (SSD) of partitions, in the dialog for selecting a partition for installation, you will need to click the “Create” button, and then set the maximum possible partition size (it will be this by default). Together with it, the system will also create service partitions for its needs. They will not be visible in File Explorer:
- Section #1: Recovery Environment. Contains a recovery environment necessary for “rolling back” the system after critical errors or damage by malware;
- partition #2: system partition (EFI). Contains the boot configuration store (BCD) and files needed to boot the operating system;
- section #3: MSR (system reserved). Required for service operations of built-in and third-party software (for example, to convert a simple disk to a dynamic one);
- section No. 4: operating system. The installed system will be located on this partition. The space not occupied by the operating system will be available for installing applications and storing files.
After selecting the disk, OS installation will begin. During the installation process, the screen may flicker and go dark, and the computer will automatically restart several times. This is required to complete some installation steps.
Copying files and installing updates is the longest stage of OS installation
Now you need to select basic settings for personalization and location, as well as connection and error reporting. The option “Use standard settings (default)” will be most preferable for an inexperienced user. At this stage, it is advisable to have a working Internet connection.
In this window, it is better to use the “Use standard settings” button
After entering the user password, the operating system is ready for use.
The system waits for user actions on the lock screen

Video: Installing Windows 10

Proper preparation of two solid-state media: a bootable flash drive and an SSD disk is the key to a trouble-free and quick installation of Windows 10. In conclusion, I would like to dwell on the choice of system distribution. We strongly do not recommend using homemade OS builds, which are stored in large numbers on torrent trackers. Their authors promise mountains of gold and extraordinary features, but in reality everything can result in viruses built into the system, pop-up ads and hardware failures. Use only original images from Microsoft, even if you install a “pirated” version of the OS.

Many personal computer users often have questions about how to Install Windows 10 on SSD. To answer this question, we have prepared material in which we will describe in detail the process of installing tens from scratch on an SSD.

Preparing a bootable USB drive for installing Windows 10

First of all we need create bootable usb drive, from which we will install the operating system on the SSD.

Therefore, if you have a boxed version of Windows with a disk, then feel free to skip these instructions. To create a bootable drive with ten, we need a proprietary utility from Microsoft called MediaCreationTool. You can download this portable version of the program on the Microsoft Internet resource - www.microsoft.com. After downloading, we will need a USB drive with a capacity of 4 GB or more. In our case, this is a 16 GB USB drive. Having launched the program, we will be taken to its start window.

In this window, developers ask us to accept the license agreement with Microsoft. We will agree and click the Accept button. This action will take us to the next stage.

In this window we are interested in the second item, which will allow us to create our bootable USB flash drive. Select this item and move on to the next window.

Here we must select the parameters of the Windows 10 to be installed. In our case, it is the 64-bit home version. By clicking Next, we will be taken to the window for selecting the boot device to be created.

You can choose from a USB flash drive or a regular DVD. Let's stop at the flash drive and move on to the next stage.

Now let's select our flash drive from the list and continue.

At this stage, the necessary files will begin to be downloaded and installed on the flash drive so that it becomes bootable. Once the installation and download are complete, our USB drive will be ready.

Choosing a system for an SSD drive

To get the best performance from your SSD, your PC or laptop must have the following specifications:

AHCI mode support;
SATA 3.0 interface support

It is worth considering that when installing Windows 10, AHCI mode must be activated.

Let's consider activating this mode on a desktop computer with motherboard MSI A68HM-P33 And processor AMD Kaveri A10-7850K. MSI A68HM-P33 motherboard is built on A68H chipset, which has support SATA 3.0. For activation of AHCI mode we need to go to the BIOS of the MSI A68HM-P33 motherboard. To do this, when starting the computer, press the DEL button.

Now let's go to the right tab “”.

On this tab we are interested in the “” item, which we will go to.

In the tab that opens, we are interested in the last “” item, which we will move on to.

On this tab we are interested in the block “ SATA Configuration” and the first slot SATA, to which the SSD is connected. The figure shows that AHCI mode is already selected. To set this mode, just click on this item with the mouse.

In a similar way, you can enable AHCI mode on other motherboards of laptops and desktop PCs.

It is also worth noting that on most new PCs, AHCI mode is the default. But if, for example, on an old computer there was Windows XP, then in this case SATA port will work in IDE mode.

Installing Windows 10 on a new SSD drive

After setting up the AHCI mode in the computer on the MSI A68HM-P33 motherboard, let's try installing Windows 10 on it on an SSD drive. To do this, let's boot from the flash drive we prepared earlier.

In the first window, select the language parameters and move on to the next one, in which we click the Install button.

At the next stage, we will accept the license agreement.

In the window that appears, we are prompted to update or install Windows 10 from scratch. We will focus on the second point, which will allow us to install Windows 10 on a clean SSD.

In the disk selection and editing window, create a new partition using the Create button, as shown below.

After creating the partition, let's move on to installing Windows 10 directly.

The example shows that installing Windows 10 on an SSD drive is no different from installing it on an HDD. It is also worth noting that Ten is a new operating system that is adapted for SSD drives. This means that you don't need to tune your system to extend the life of your SSD. For example, in the top ten, automatic defragmentation is disabled for the SSD drive. Installing Windows 7 on an SSD is practically no different from the process described above. But after installing Windows 7, it will have to be optimized to extend the life of the SSD, for example, by disabling automatic defragmentation.

So that our readers do not have to search for information on the Internet about optimizing Windows for SSDs, there is an article on our website “”. In this article you will find all the details of setting up to extend the life of an SSD, including how to disable automatic defragmentation in your laptop or desktop PC.

Is it worth installing Windows XP on an SSD drive?

Quite often, PC users have a question: will Windows XP work on an SSD. Before answering this question, I would like warn our reader.

Firstly, Windows XP is very old An OS that is no longer supported by Microsoft itself. Also for Windows XP New drivers and programs are not released. For example, the Chrome browser has not been released for XP for a long time. All this is fraught with consequences in which the system susceptible to all kinds of virus attacks.

Secondly, Windows XP was released at a time when SSD drives did not yet exist. It follows from this that she not designed to work with them. Of course, you can find many instructions on the Internet for installing Windows XP, but we strongly do not recommend doing this. Then a natural question will arise, how to use software that only works in XP. A virtual machine will help solve this situation. For example, using the VirtualBox program, you can create a virtual machine in Windows 10 and run Windows XP on it.

How to avoid damaging your SSD drive

Initially, the purpose of a new device is to increase the speed of your PC, however, every user wants his equipment to last as long as possible. An article on our website will help you understand how to extend the life of your SSD. Next we will also touch on some important points.

Many PC users have been accustomed to defragmenting local disks since the days of Windows XP. If the user installs ten on an SSD, then there is no need to look for where to disable automatic defragmentation in the settings, since the OS will not use this function. But many PC users are accustomed to defragmenting with third-party utilities that are not included in Windows. Therefore, we advise you to abandon this defragmentation habit when an SSD is installed in the system. Also disable the schedule in such programs that defragments at a specified time.

An inquisitive user will certainly wonder: why Windows 10 disables defragmentation, and how third-party utilities affect this. The answer to this question is simple - Each SSD has a limited number of write cycles, so by defragmenting, you reduce the number of these cycles much faster.

We've sorted out defragmentation, now let's try to figure out what harm SSDs cause from formatting and erasing information on the disk. Complete formatting an SSD drive the same as in the case of defragmentation, reduces the number of rewrite cycles.

If you need to change the file system on an SSD drive, we recommend using quick defragmentation.

Regarding erasing information methods such as DOD, NSA and Gutmann, then this only useful for HDDs. The fact is that all SSD drives have a TRIM function, which allows the OS to completely erase deleted files without the possibility of recovery.

Let's sum it up

In this material, we tried to describe in detail the process of installing Windows 10 on a PC. From the material it becomes clear that installing tens on an SSD is practically no different from installing Windows 7 and 8. The only thing that should be taken into account when using the SSD + Windows 10 combination is the computer, which must meet the parameters of solid-state drives.

For example, if you use an SSD with a SATA 2 port rather than a SATA 3 port, then you will limit the speed of your SSD to 300M/s. We hope that thanks to our material you will install Windows 10 on an SSD drive without any problems.

Video on the topic

Having become the owner of a solid-state drive (SSD), users immediately install an operating system on it to obtain the advantages that drives based on memory chips have compared to the magnetic platters of a hard drive.

Today we’ll look at how to install new editions of Windows using the example of 10 (in “seven” and “eight” the process is similar) and the old Windows XP on an SSD. Although XP is used less and less every year, it is still a classic for office and older home PCs and laptops, especially given the current economic situation.

Aligning sections by correlating them with blocks

In an SSD, information is read and written in larger blocks than on a HDD. Because of this, the performance of the solid-state media decreases and it wears out faster. Since Windows XP, unlike Windows 10, is not able to align partitions according to the SSD architecture, we will do this manually.

Let's do this on a computer where Windows 7 - 10 has already been installed.

We connect the SSD and start the computer.
Go to the “Control Panel”.

Launch the “Disk Manager”, located in the “System\Security” section.

Select the SSD and click “Shrink volume” in the context menu.

Set the size of the first volume and click “Shrink”.
Select unallocated space and create a partition in it of the required size for installing Windows XP.

It is not recommended to store files on an SSD, so create one partition for installing XP on it. If you want to use an SSD as storage for multiple OSes, divide it into two or more partitions, each of which will later install Windows.

Specify the size and letter label of the section.

We format it in NTFS and select the cluster volume, no more than 1024 kb.

Click “Next”, then “Finish”.

BIOS setup

In order to install Windows XP on an SSD, it is necessary to switch the operation of the SATA controller to AHCI mode.

Reboot the PC and go into the BIOS.
In the “Advanced” menu we find the “SATA mode” option and select its value as “AHCI”.

Installing XP on an SSD is carried out using the most common method - we will not dwell on the process. The main thing is to use the original image, and not one of the many assemblies, even those optimized for installation on an SSD and with an integrated AHCI driver.

Configuring Windows

For XP to run optimally on solid-state media, you need to configure several OS settings.

Go to the “Properties” of the computer.
On the “Advanced” tab, go to “Environment Variables”.

Select the “Temp” and “Tmp” directories and transfer them to your hard drive using the “Change” button.

Deactivating document indexing

Indexing is used to increase the speed and effectiveness of searches in Windows XP – 10. To disable it, call “Properties” of the system partition and uncheck the box next to the option, as in the screenshot.

Disable the swap file

If you have enough RAM to run XP, you should disable the paging file in order to extend the life of the SSD. This is done through the “Advanced” tab in the properties of the “My Computer” directory.

We go to the “Options” of performance, where in the “Advanced” tab we move the switch to the “Without paging file” position.

Click “OK” and restart the system.

Enable caching

Go to XP Device Manager and call up the SSD properties. Go to the “Policies” tab and move the trigger switch to the second item “Optimize for execution”.

Mini Tweaker utility

All the proposed actions and several less effective methods to increase the performance of the SSD when installing an operating system on it are offered by the developers of SSD Mini Tweaker.

We launch the program, check the boxes for all or the options you need, click “Apply changes” and restart the computer. Everything is simple and, most importantly, fast. But the program in XP (unlike “seven” and “ten”) does not always work stably, so some options will have to be changed manually.

Solid state drive and "ten"

In principle, installing Windows 10 on an SSD is no different from installing this OS on a hard drive. The main thing is that the motherboard has the new SATA version 3 interface standard to obtain maximum superior performance of the solid-state drive.

We connect the drive to the computer.
We go into the BIOS and specify the operating mode of the solid-state drive as AHCI.

The option is located in “Integrated Peripherals”, “Peripherals” or “Advanced”.

Press F10 to exit and save the parameters.
The following is a normal installation of Windows 10.

If necessary, divide the SSD into several partitions in order to install other operating systems on them.

As in XP, when using an SSD as storage in Windows 10, the OS must be properly configured.

Defragmentation

Unlike its predecessors, Win 10 does not defragment solid-state drives, but optimizes them using TRIM technology. It notifies the drive controller about which blocks of information have been deleted from the file system and are free for new data to be written to them. Therefore, all the stories about the need to turn off defragmentation or SSD optimization in Windows 10 are nothing more than a legend or the opinion of users who do not understand anything.

Deactivating indexing will have a slight impact on the performance of the Windows search engine, but will slightly extend the life of the drive, which is much more important. You can always use Total Commander as a search program, which does not require indexing, during which a large number of write operations are performed.

Call up the “Properties” of the drive and uncheck the last option, then click “Ok”.

Having at least 4 GB of RAM (it is quite enough to run everyday applications, and even the swap file will not ensure the functioning of heavy packages), it is better to disable the swap file. When using it, Win 10 performs an incredible number of operations with the pagefile.sys file, reducing the operating time of the SSD.

In the search bar, write “Performance options” and select the item corresponding to the request. In the “Advanced” tab, click “Change”.

Select the option “Without paging file” and save the settings.

Disabling hibernation

When the computer goes to sleep, all data stored in RAM is written to the system partition in hiberfile.sys. Since the fast startup technologies implemented in Windows 10 allow it to boot instantly, using sleep mode, which reduces the service life of the SSD, is ineffective.

The simplest method to deactivate hibernation is to enter the command “powercfg -h off” into the search bar and then restart the PC.

File history and the creation of recovery points when using an SSD in the “ten” should be disabled, because during operation Windows constantly copies system files and creates shadow copies of modified documents. Also, the background copying process eats up hardware resources and slows down your computer.

The option is disabled in the system settings in the “System Protection” tab.

As it becomes clear, there are no difficulties or nuances in installing Windows on an SSD, except for switching the operating mode of the drive and a correctly configured operating system.

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An SSD solid-state drive differs in its properties and method of operation from a hard HDD drive, but the process of installing Windows 10 on it will not be much different; there is a noticeable difference only in preparing the computer.

Preparing the disk and computer for installation

Owners of SSD drives know that in previous versions of the OS, for correct, durable and full-fledged operation of the drive, it was necessary to change the system settings manually: disable defragmentation, some functions, hibernation, built-in antiviruses, the page file and change a few other parameters. But in Windows 10, the developers took these shortcomings into account; the system now performs all disk settings itself.

You especially need to focus on defragmentation: previously it did a lot of harm to the disk, but in the new OS it works differently, not harming the SSD, but optimizing it, so you shouldn’t disable automatic defragmentation. It's the same with other functions - in Windows 10 you don't need to manually configure how the system works with the disk, everything is already done for you.

The only thing is that when dividing a disk into partitions, it is recommended to leave 10–15% of its total volume as unallocated space. This will not increase its performance, the recording speed will remain the same, but the service life may be slightly extended. But remember, most likely, the disk will last longer than you need even without additional settings. You can free up free interest both during the installation of Windows 10 (during the process in the instructions below), and after it using system utilities or third-party programs.

Preliminary PC setup

In order to install Windows on an SSD drive, you need to switch the computer to ACHI mode and make sure that the motherboard supports the SATA 3.0 interface. Information about whether SATA 3.0 is supported or not can be found on the official website of the company that developed your motherboard, or using third-party programs such as HWINFO (http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html).

Switching to SATA mode

Turn off your computer.
As soon as the startup process begins, press the special key on the keyboard to go to the BIOS. Typically the Delete, F2 or other hotkeys are used. Which one will be used in your case will be written in a special footnote during the inclusion process.
The BIOS interface will differ in different motherboard models, but the principle of switching to ACHI mode on each of them is almost identical. First, go to the Settings section. To move through blocks and items, use the mouse or arrow keys with the Enter button.
Go to advanced BIOS settings.
Go to the “Built-in peripherals” sub-item.
In the “SATA Configuration” block, find the port to which your SSD is connected and press Enter on the keyboard.
Select ACHI operating mode. It may already be selected by default, but we needed to make sure of this. Save the settings made in the BIOS and exit it, boot the computer to proceed to preparing the media with the installation file.

Preparing installation media

If you already have a ready-made installation disk, you can skip this step and immediately begin installing the OS. If you don’t have one, then you will need a USB flash drive with at least 4 GB of memory. Creating an installation program on it will look like this:

We insert the USB flash drive into the port and wait until the computer recognizes it. Open the explorer.
First of all, it is important to format it. This is done for two reasons: the memory of the flash drive must be completely empty and divided in the format we need. While on the main page of Explorer, right-click on the flash drive and select “Format” from the menu that opens.
We select the NTFS format mode and begin the operation, which can last up to ten minutes. Please note that all data stored on the formatted media will be permanently erased.
Go to the official Windows 10 page (https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10) and download the installation tool.
Launch the downloaded program. Read and accept the license agreement.
Select the second option “Create installation media”, since this method of installing Windows is more reliable, because you can start all over again at any time, and also use the created installation media in the future to install the OS on other computers.
Select the system language, version and bit depth. You should take the version that suits you best. If you are an ordinary user, then you should not load the system with unnecessary functions that will never be useful to you; install Windows at home. The capacity depends on how many cores your processor has: one (32) or two (64). Information about the processor can be found in the computer properties or on the official website of the company that developed the processor.
In the media selection, select the USB device option.
Select the flash drive from which the installation media will be created.
We wait until the media creation process is completed.
Reboot the computer without removing the media.
During startup, enter the BIOS.
We change the boot order of the computer: your flash drive should be in first place, not the hard drive, so that when you turn on the computer, it starts booting from it and, accordingly, starts the Windows installation process.

Windows 10 installation process on SSD

Installation begins with choosing a language; set the Russian language in all lines.
Confirm that you want to start the installation.
Read and accept the license agreement.
You may be asked to enter a license key. If you have it, then enter it, if not, then skip this step for now and activate the system after installing it.
Proceed with manual installation as this method will configure the disk partitions.
A window will open with disk partition settings, click on the “Disk Settings” button.
If you are installing the system for the first time, then all the memory on the SSD disk will not be allocated. Otherwise, you need to select one of the partitions to install and format it. Divide unallocated memory or existing disks as follows: allocate more than 40 GB to the main disk on which the OS will be located, so as not to encounter it being clogged in the future, leave 10–15% of the total disk memory unallocated (if all the memory has already been allocated, delete the partitions and start forming them again), we allocate all the remaining memory for an additional partition (usually drive D) or partitions (drives E, F, G...). Don't forget to format the main partition allocated for the OS.
To begin installation, select the drive and click Next.
Wait until the system installs in automatic mode. The process may take more than ten minutes, do not interrupt it under any circumstances. After the procedure is completed, the creation of an account and installation of basic system parameters will begin; follow the instructions on the screen and select the settings for yourself.

Video tutorial: how to install Windows 10 on an SSD

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD is no different from the same process with an HDD drive. Most importantly, do not forget to enable ACHI mode in the BIOS settings. After installing the system, there is no need to configure the disk; the system will do it for you.

Let's talk about how to set up an SSD for Windows 10. Let's start simply: in most cases, there is no need for any configuration and optimization of SSDs for the new OS. Moreover, according to Microsoft support staff, independent optimization attempts can harm both the operation of the system and the disk itself. Just in case, for those who accidentally came in: .

However, some nuances should still be taken into account, and at the same time we should clarify things related to how SSD drives work in Windows 10; we’ll talk about them. The last section of the article also contains more general (but useful) information related to the operation of solid-state drives at the hardware level and applicable to other versions of the OS.

Many have noticed that by default automatic optimization (in previous versions of the OS - defragmentation) is enabled for SSDs in Windows 10 and some rushed to disable it, others to study what was happening during the process.

In general terms, Windows 10 does not defragment the SSD, but optimizes it by clearing blocks using TRIM (or rather, Retrim), which is not harmful, and even useful for SSDs. Just in case, .

Some have written lengthy articles on how SSD optimization works in Windows 10. I will quote part of such an article (only the most important parts to understand) from Scott Hanselman:

I dug deeper and spoke with the team of developers working on implementing storage in Windows, and this post is written exactly in accordance with what they answered the question.

Drive Optimization (in Windows 10) defragments the SSD once a month if Volume Shadow Copy (System Protection) is enabled. This is due to the impact of SSD fragmentation on performance. There is a misconception here that fragmentation is not an issue for SSDs - if the SSD becomes highly fragmented, you can reach maximum fragmentation where the metadata cannot represent any more file fragments, causing errors when attempting to write or increase file size. In addition, a larger number of file fragments means that more metadata needs to be processed to read/write a file, which leads to performance losses.
As for Retrim, this command runs on a schedule and is required due to the way the TRIM command is executed on file systems. The command execution occurs asynchronously on the file system. When a file is deleted or space is otherwise freed, the file system queues a request for TRIM. Due to peak load restrictions, this queue may reach its maximum number of TRIM requests, causing subsequent ones to be ignored. In the future, Windows drive optimization automatically performs Retrim to clean up blocks.

To sum it up:

Defragmentation is performed only if system protection is enabled (restore points, file history using VSS).
Disk optimization is used to mark unused blocks on the SSD that were not marked when TRIM was running.
Defragmentation for SSDs may be necessary and is automatically applied if necessary. At the same time (this is from another source) a different defragmentation algorithm is used for solid-state drives compared to HDDs.

However, if you want, you can.

What functions to disable for SSD and is it necessary?

Anyone who has wondered about setting up an SSD for Windows has come across advice related to disabling SuperFetch and Prefetch, disabling the page file or moving it to another drive, disabling system protection, hibernation and indexing of disk contents, moving folders, temporary files and other things to other drives , disabling disk write caching.

Some of these tips came from Windows XP and 7 and are not applicable to Windows 10 and Windows 8 and to new SSDs (disabling SuperFetch, write caching). Most of these tips can actually reduce the amount of data written to the disk (and SSDs have a limit on the total amount of data written over their entire service life), which in theory leads to an extension of its service life. But: through loss of productivity, convenience when working with the system, and in some cases, to failures.

Here I note that despite the fact that the service life of an SSD is considered shorter than that of an HDD, it is highly likely that an average-priced solid-state drive purchased today with normal use (games, work, Internet) in a modern OS and with reserve capacity (to avoid loss performance and service life extension, it is worth keeping 10-15 percent of the space on the SSD free, and this is one of the tips that is relevant and correct) will last longer than you need (that is, it will eventually be replaced with a more modern and capacious one). The screenshot below shows my SSD, it has been used for a year. Pay attention to the column “Total recorded”, the guarantee is 300 Tb.

And now, point by point, about various ways to optimize the operation of SSDs in Windows 10 and the advisability of using them. Let me note again: these settings may only slightly increase service life, but will not improve performance.

Note: I will not consider such an optimization method as installing programs on the HDD if there is an SSD, since then it is not clear why the solid-state drive was purchased in the first place - is it not for the quick launch and operation of these programs?

Disabling the page file

The most common advice is to disable the Windows page file (virtual memory) or move it to another drive. The second option will cause a drop in performance, since a slow HDD will be used instead of a fast SSD and RAM.

The first option (disabling the paging file) is very controversial. Indeed, computers with 8 or more GB of RAM can work with the page file disabled in many tasks (but some programs may not start or detect failures during operation, for example, from Adobe products), thereby preserving the reserve of the solid-state drive (fewer write operations occur ).

At the same time, you need to take into account that in Windows the page file is used in such a way that it is accessed as little as possible, depending on the size of the available RAM. According to official Microsoft information, the read-to-write ratio for the page file during normal use is 40:1, i.e. no significant number of writes occur.

It’s worth adding here that SSD manufacturers such as Intel and Samsung recommend leaving the page file enabled. And one more note: some tests (from two years ago, actually) show that disabling the page file for underperforming cheap SSDs can lead to improved performance. See if you suddenly decide to try.

Disabling hibernation

The next possible setting is to disable hibernation, which is also used for the fast startup feature of Windows 10. The hiberfil.sys file, written to disk when the computer or laptop is turned off (or put into hibernation mode) and used for subsequent quick startup, takes up several gigabytes of storage space (approximately equal to the occupied amount of RAM on the computer).

For laptops, disabling hibernation, especially if it is used (for example, it automatically turns on some time after closing the laptop lid) may be impractical and lead to inconvenience (having to turn the laptop off and on) and reduced battery life (fast startup and hibernation save battery power). compared to normal inclusion).

System protection

Restore points automatically created by Windows 10, as well as File History, are, of course, written to disk when the corresponding function is enabled. In the case of SSDs, some recommend disabling system protection.

Among some is Samsung, which recommends doing this both in its Samsung Magician utility and in the official SSD manual. It is stated that backup can cause a large number of background processes to run and reduce performance, although in fact, system protection only works when changes are made to the system and while the computer is idle.

Intel does not recommend this for its SSDs. Just like Microsoft does not recommend turning off system protection. And I wouldn't: a significant number of readers of this site could fix their computer problems many times faster if they had Windows 10 protection turned on.

Read more about enabling, disabling and checking the status of system protection in the article.

Transferring files and folders to other HDDs

Another proposed option for optimizing the operation of an SSD is to transfer user folders and files, temporary files and other components to a regular hard drive. As in previous cases, this may reduce the amount of data written, while reducing performance (when moving temporary file and cache storage locations) or usability (for example, when creating photo thumbnails from user folders transferred to the HDD).

However, if you have a separate capacious HDD in the system, it may make sense to store really large media files (movies, music, some resources, archives) that do not require frequent access on it, thereby freeing up space on the SSD and extending the lifespan services.

Superfetch and Prefetch, disk content indexing, record caching and record cache buffer flushing

There are some ambiguities with these functions; different manufacturers give different recommendations, which I think should be read on the official websites.

According to Microsoft, Superfetch and Prefetch are successfully used for SSDs, but the functions themselves have changed and work differently in Windows 10 (and Windows 8) when using SSDs. But Samsung believes that this function is not used by SSD drives. Cm. .

Regarding the write cache buffer in general, the recommendations boil down to “leave it on,” but on clearing the cache buffer they vary. Even within the same manufacturer: in Samsung Magician it is recommended to disable the write cache buffer, and on their official website it is said about this that it is recommended to keep it enabled.

Well, as for indexing the contents of disks and the search service, I don’t even know what to write. Search in Windows is a very effective and useful thing to work with, however, even in Windows 10, where the search button is visible, almost no one uses it, out of habit, looking for the necessary items in the Start menu and multi-level folders. In the context of SSD optimization, disabling indexing of disk contents is not particularly effective - it is more of a read operation than a write operation.

General principles for optimizing SSD operation in Windows

Up to this point, we've mostly talked about the relative uselessness of manual SSD settings in Windows 10. However, there are some nuances that apply equally to all brands of SSDs and OS versions:

I guess that's all for now. The general result of the article: in general, you don’t need to do anything with a solid-state drive in Windows 10 unless there is a clear need for it. If you have just purchased an SSD, then you may find the instructions interesting and useful. However, in this case, in my opinion, a clean installation of the system would be more appropriate.