What should I do now that I have my SSD? Superfetch/Prefetch, disk cache, pagefile, virtual memory, etc. location

[thecynicalmonk]

Hey guys,

I just got one of the Samsung 840 120GB SSD on sale through Newegg this weekend, and I had a couple of questions. I'm running a SSD/HDD combo (120GB SSD/1TB Seagate) as is common among builds these days. I decided to do a fresh Windows 8 install versus cloning my old drive because it would give me an opportunity to configure my system to better utilize my SSD.

What I've Done So Far: (BTW I'm open to any critique/constructive criticism on anything that I've already done...after all, that IS why I'm reaching out to you guys! )

1. Enabled AHCI (source)
2. Enabled Trim (source)
3. Disabled System Restore(source)
4. Disable Indexing (source)
5. Relocated the pagefile to my HDD (Instead of removing it outright as the source suggested) (source)
6. Changed default Installation Location and personal file locations (i.e Documents, Music, etc.) via regedit (source)
7. Disabled Hibernation files (source)
8. Disabled prefetch/superfetch and Windows write-cache buffer flushing (source)
9. Disable ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache (source)
10. Disable Services for Windows Search and Superfetch (source)
11. Set the “High Performance” Power Option (source)
12. Over-provisioned my SSD by 11.5 GB via Samsung Magician.

I guess where my questions lie is:

1. What else can I do to ensure that the SSD is being used optimally in terms of program installation/install path?
2. Where would be the best place to actually put the page file? I mean the SSD is undoubtedly faster, but I worry that having the pagefile and virtual memory on the SSD would shorten its life expectancy.
3. Being that Windows 8 utilizes the hibernation file in booting up faster, am I actually hurting myself by disabling the hibernation file?
4. Is there anything I could do or do better?

I'm concerned that by splitting my installations among multiple hard drives I'll run into problems in the future.

My Samsung 840 120GB benchmarks via Crystal Disk Mark

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 522.286 MB/s
Sequential Write : 138.499 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 442.150 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 138.443 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 26.062 MB/s [ 6362.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 61.168 MB/s [ 14933.7 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 187.393 MB/s [ 45750.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 135.390 MB/s [ 33054.2 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 26.4% (26.5/100.3 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2013/04/30 22:12:06
OS : Windows 8 [6.2 Build 9200] (x64)


Thanks Guys!
theCynicalMonk

 

[Johnny828]

-Disable Disk Defragment Schedule (never defrag your ssd)
-Turn Off Windows Write-Cache Buffer Flushing
-Turn Off Multi-Boot Selection

and maybe some more stuff: source (the link also explains how to do those 3 things I just mentioned)

 

[thecynicalmonk]

Well now my system hangs when restarting :-/ I followed the guide exactly

 

[Johnny828]

I don't know what to say, as I've followed the guide as well and it worked for me. :S

 

[thecynicalmonk]

Idk either, it hangs for like 15 seconds when shutting down :-/ Ill change the msconfig boot back to standard..maybe that will fix it

 

[Johnny828]

I'm curious, did you find out what's making shut downs hang?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Cynical Monk - Cool Avatar.

ACHI is a feature of the motherboard's system BIOS. The rest of the tweaks you mentioned are adjustments to Microsoft Windows. Some of them are old ones that go back to the early days when a 32GB ssd cost more than $100.00 and users only installed the operating system which tended to expand in size as time passed. Think of it as making Windows more efficient because of limited space on the ssd.

OOPS! I have to take care of something. I'll have more info for you later today.

 

[thecynicalmonk]

I'm curious, did you find out what's making shut downs hang?

Sadly I didn't, but the problem has been replaced with another... Now when I leave my computer for an hour or so and come back to it the screen is black with no sign of my cursor or anything, just black. ...I have a G15 keyboard with an LCD on the top, so I can see the CPU and RAM activity moving...so i know that the system is still "alive and well", I just cant see anything!! The only way I've found is to force a reboot with the reset button/ long pressing the power button (which i REALLY don't like to do :-/ )

Cynical Monk - Cool Avatar.

And thanks, JohnnyLucky! Its from EVE

 

[Palorim12]

Have you tried the Magician software for Samsung SSDs? it has hella optimization options. if it didn't come with the software you can get it from http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html