Hi everyone. I recently found some terrific deals on a few SSDs (two Intel X25-M 80GBs and a Samsung 830 120GB) to rejuvenate our not-so-new PCs, while taking advantage of the cheap Win8 upgrade offer. I've google and read around, found some conflicting info, and am wondering what the expert opinion is on current best practices to optimize SSD usage? I'm not necessarily aiming for top-of-the-line benchmarking performance since these are ~4-5 yr old PCs, I just want to use them optimally as I can without screwing them up/wearing them out unnecessarily. I figure they can always be moved to another PC in the future when upgrading.
PCs in question are all Win8 x64, either Core2 Quad or Athlon X2, have 4GB RAM, and have an HDD in addition to the SSD. Usage is web browsing, some MS Office, light Media Center usage.
1. I've read a lot about moving the C:/Users folder to the secondary drive. It also looks like some folks say that with current SSDs, worries about overusing the drive by keeping User files on the SSD are largely overblown. Would you say it's best to move the entire User folder to the HDD, or just leave it on the SSD?
2. hiberfil.sys. Is it best to disable hibernation and delete? None of these PCs use hibernation much (one is a laptop, the others are desktops), but I believe they all use hybrid sleep. Again, looking for the best balanced approach: not too worried about losing a desktop session if the power goes out, minimizing the # of watts used is nice, but I don't want to unnecessarily wear out the SSD.
3. pagefile.sys. Is it best to keep the pagefile on the SSD, move it to the HDD? I've read where some suggest just keeping a minimal-size pagefile on the SSD or disabling paging altogether, but 4GB of RAM isn't massive nowadays. Is there a current consensus on this?
4. TRIM/cleanup/maintenance. I've got BIOS set to RAID, as I don't have explicit AHCI settings on these computers. My understanding is Win8 is supposed to be pretty good about SSD maintenance. I see it sets itself to do a once-weekly optimization. Do you recommend anything beyond this, either in optimization frequency, or using other tools in addition to Win8's?
Since this is my first post, thanks for taking the time to read and respond. Looks like a great site, I appreciate the terrific tutorials you guys have put together, am still reading up. Thanks!!
PCs in question are all Win8 x64, either Core2 Quad or Athlon X2, have 4GB RAM, and have an HDD in addition to the SSD. Usage is web browsing, some MS Office, light Media Center usage.
1. I've read a lot about moving the C:/Users folder to the secondary drive. It also looks like some folks say that with current SSDs, worries about overusing the drive by keeping User files on the SSD are largely overblown. Would you say it's best to move the entire User folder to the HDD, or just leave it on the SSD?
2. hiberfil.sys. Is it best to disable hibernation and delete? None of these PCs use hibernation much (one is a laptop, the others are desktops), but I believe they all use hybrid sleep. Again, looking for the best balanced approach: not too worried about losing a desktop session if the power goes out, minimizing the # of watts used is nice, but I don't want to unnecessarily wear out the SSD.
3. pagefile.sys. Is it best to keep the pagefile on the SSD, move it to the HDD? I've read where some suggest just keeping a minimal-size pagefile on the SSD or disabling paging altogether, but 4GB of RAM isn't massive nowadays. Is there a current consensus on this?
4. TRIM/cleanup/maintenance. I've got BIOS set to RAID, as I don't have explicit AHCI settings on these computers. My understanding is Win8 is supposed to be pretty good about SSD maintenance. I see it sets itself to do a once-weekly optimization. Do you recommend anything beyond this, either in optimization frequency, or using other tools in addition to Win8's?
Since this is my first post, thanks for taking the time to read and respond. Looks like a great site, I appreciate the terrific tutorials you guys have put together, am still reading up. Thanks!!
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My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8 Pro
- System Manufacturer/Model
- Dell Inspiron 530
- CPU
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
- Motherboard
- stock
- Memory
- 8GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- GeForce GT430
- Hard Drives
- Intel X25-M SSD + spinners