Yet another samsung SSD + Intel RST + poor performance question....

[buddhaseeking]

Numerous people on net have reported similar issues, but i can't fix this trouble still. I cloned the HDD of a Thinkpad T410 to a new Samsung 850 EVO SSD. I used macrium reflect and the SSD is running Windows 7 fine, after switching it for the internal HDD. No problems functionally. But i have the following 2 issues to resolve.

■ I am not getting the performance that i should get. I have installed this same SSD in another machine with similar specs, and got it to reasonable speeds after i updated the Intel RST drivers. So, i have prior experience getting AHCI to give the expected average speed. But, despite installing the RST that is provided at Lenovo website, i am not even seeing half the average speed reported by others on net (see http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Samsung-850-Evo-120GB/Rating/3484). Granted, this is a SATA ii laptop, but my benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark is shows that Random 4k read at 11MB/s and random 4k write at 22 MB/s. I am running Windows 7 - 64 bit Professional edition, with all drivers upto date from Lenovo website.
I tried getting the latest RST driver from intel website, but it is not clear to me how i can install it from within Windows 7, as they do not give any installation instructions. Any comments ?

■ Samsung Magician software does not see the SSD as a samsung product. The name is correctly reported in BIOS, but the software does not recognize the SSD. Some people on net said they could get this problem resolved by updating the software version. So, i downloaded the latest version from Samsung website, but still the problem. I think this is a Samsung software issue, since the currently installed Intel 5 series 6 port SATA AHCI driver is working fine on the SSD and i have not seen any other problem in the SSD functionally.

 

[Chugalug_]

VERY bad idea cloning a laptop hard drive.
It will copy over all the windows files and drivers/software associated with the laptop hardware.
It will also be an OEM install of windows, meaning it will be tied to that motherboard, and will likely report as an illegitimate copy of Windows due to being recognized on another desktop motherboard.
It will cause compatibility issues and mayhem with recognition and drives due to the fact that the laptop won' have the same setup of Sata ports or motherboard components for the windows license to recognise.
Wipe the HDD, buy a new copy of windows, and install it using your new PC.

 

[buddhaseeking]

Thanks for the reply Chugalug. I should have been more explicit i guess...... The clone has been installed in the same hardware - NOT a different machine. I simply wanted to switch out the laptop HDD for a new SDD, for better performance. There is absolutely no problem with the clone, since i researched a ton on the net before doing it, and it is being used exactly in the same hardware setup. No intention of using that Windows 7 in another machine. Besides, i have done exactly the same thing on another laptop (DELL latitude E6420 with XP) which was way harder to accomplish because it was Windows XP. So the problem lies in the two areas that i have identified now.

1. Either the SSD is bad or the Intel RST version needs updating (to something better than what Lenovo has on its site).

2. Samsung Magician is messed up software from samsung (and many have reported some trouble or other with it). Even though i am running the latest from their website as of today, I am missing something else - perhaps my mistake was not to initialize the SSD using the Magician software prior to cloning ? But then, initially i had the SSD on an external USB caddy attached to the laptop, and others on net had complained that Samsung Magician software does not recognize its SSD that are externally attached. What a pity, if a SSD maker can not identify its own drives (even if they are attached externally).

So, I came here, looking for someone who had tackled similar issue before i spend any more time troubleshooting this myself. Thanks for any replies.

 

[buddhaseeking]

Here is a picture of my current CrystalDiskMark and SSD-Benchmark scores. I have gone into registry to verify that Windows 7 is indeed running in AHCI mode (IaStor - intel storage driver is being used). The only shortcoming seems to be the Random 4k read & write (when i half the average numbers given at

UserBenchMark ). The results there are for Sata-III so i just half them to see what is reasonable in my SATA-II machine. I am starting to think that it could be the 4GB memory and the older CPU (Intel i7 @ 2.6Ghz) since a higher memory and higher CPU would indirectly affect the Random 4k reads (and all other numbers as well). Would be nice to get a comment from someone who really knows this stuff well, from seeing many machines.

CrystalDiskMark Result
SSD-BenchMark

 

[Chugalug_]

It may be that there is a locked BIOS in effect on that particular laptop, have you tried contacting Lenovo to inquire about this?
Don't mention that you cloned the HDD, go about it in a less conventional manner.
Just say that you want to add more storage, or your HDD died and is it possible to replace?
It is unlikely they will help you if it is an activity which voids the warranty.