This includes among other things to make sure that automatic defragmentation of the SSD is disabled or that Trim is enabled on Windows 7. (Users of other [Windows] operating systems need to run software like Intel’s Solid State Drive Toolbox to run emulate the trim command.

For more optimization related tips check out Optimize Slow Solid State Drives, Optimize Windows For Solid State Drives Usage and Use A Ram Disk To Reduce Writes On Solid State Drives.

SSD Fresh is a free software program for the Windows operating system that can be used to optimize the computer automatically for using SSD hard drives. You are asked to register the program (free) by entering an email address and name.

The software displays an overview of all connected SSDs on the system after startup. Information include the drive’s name, type, size, number of partitions, file system and the pie chart visualizing the drive’s used and free diskspace. A drive’s S.M.A.R.T. information are displayed with a click on the Smart data button.

A click on Optimization displays the list of suggested optimizations. The program scans the system automatically and displays the optimization status for each suggestion automatically.

Each optimization is listed with its name, status, description and link to activate or restore the suggested feature.

Here is the list of all suggestions that are currently available in the program:

Indexing (disable search indexing)
Defragmentation (disable automatic defragmenting)
Timestamp (disable access time logs)
Prefetch (disable prefetching)
Defragmentation of boot files
Windows event logging
Systemrestore
8.3 name creation

The program can be used to enable or disable a specific feature or to optimize all of the settings at once. It is recommended to check all suggested optimizations manually before making the suggested changes. It is for instance not recommended to disable the operating system’s System Restore feature unless other forms of backup and restoration are available.

Experienced users can disable all of the suggested features manually, and maybe even faster considering that the software needs to be registered before it can be used. The program fails to address some important optimizations that include the Windows pagefile or the location of the temporary files folder on the system.

Another issue is that it is not possible to make optimizations only for select solid state drives. The changes that you make in the software affect all SSDs on the system.

Interested users can download the SSD optimizer from the Abelssoft website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Only the Intel SSD Optimizer was included as a management tool in previous versions of the toolbox (see Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) Toolbox for a full review). The latest release however has seen two additions that add to the value of the free software program.

Both the System Configuration Tuner and Secure Eraser are new management tools that have been added in the latest release of Intel’s Solid State Drive Toolbox.

intel solid state drive toolbox

System Configuration Tuner

The tool checks if the system configuration is set for the best performance, endurance and power efficiency with Intel SSDs. The status column indicates if the system is optimized, and will notify the user in red text if it is not. The recommended action in this case is to run the tuner to optimize the system for Intel SSDs.

A click on run displays the settings that are checked by the Intel SSD System Configuration Tuner. A red notification again indicates a setting that can be optimized for SSDs.

The tool detected that Superfetch was enabled on our test system, and recommended to disable it.

intel ssd system configuration tuner

Additionally, the tuner will check if prefetching, Readyboost, DIPM and defragmentation is enabled. A click on Tune It changes the unoptimized settings to suggested ones. On our test system this meant that Superfetch was disabled by the tool.

Secure Erase

Secure erase is the second new tool that has been added to the toolbox. It can unfortunately only be used to erase all data on secondary Intel SSD. This means that the tool cannot be used on bootable SSD, or SSD with a partition.

This limits the use significantly. Only users with multiple solid state drives, or one that they do not longer need will benefit from this.

Verdict

The new tools do not add unique features to the Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox, as it is possible to make the changes manually as well to optimize the system for SSDs. Still, having them available in a tool makes things a lot easier, especially for users who run the tool regularly for its TRIM capabilities.

Intel SSD users who do not use Windows 7 or Linux may want to consider configuring the program to run the TRIM command regularly. And while they are at it, run the system tuner once to optimize their PC for the SSD. Download it here.

FlashFire is a software program for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 that can speed up computer systems with SSDs noticeably. The description on the developer’s website is a bit vague. FlashFire seems to make use of computer memory to speed up random writes of a connected SSD. Probably something comparable to a RAM disk.

The good news is that the software works. It works that well that the performance gain is very noticeable after installation of the software and a reboot of the system. There is another aspect that is kinda confusing. Some users state that they have a icon in the system tray upon startup. Some users on the other hand say they do not. This apparently depends on the version of the software program. There are two things that users need to know: Flashfire needs to be started with parameters and settings can only be changed in the Windows Registry.

To start Flashfire a user would use the command flashfire.exe on to turn it on or flashfire x where x is the drive number that the program should speed up. Users who use flashfire.exe on have to make sure that a SSD is the configured drive in the Registry. They need to navigate to

HK_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ffire\Enum

and check the drive number of the Solid State Drive there. They then need to navigate to

HK_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ffire\Parameters

and make sure that drive number is the value of the Disknum key. Flashfire can be turned off easily by issuing the command flashfire.exe off. Several users reported great success with Flashfire on Asus EEEPCs with Solid State Drives. Flashfire can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

This is even more important if a Windows operating system has been installed on the Solid State Drive. (It is basically the same deal for Linux users who should think about moving all write intensive tasks to other drives)

Three different types of tweaks can be applied. Tweaks that are applied directly to the hardware device in Windows, tweaks to the Windows operating system and tweaks to applications.

Hardware Tweaks:

• PIO Mode

Make sure the SSD is not running in PIO mode. To verify that go into the Device Manager, open IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers and double-click all Primary and Secondary IDE Channels.

Verify that there are no signs of PIO Mode under the Current Transfer Mode entry in Advanced Settings. It should list Ultra DMA Mode 5 there.

• Enable Write Caching

Click on Disk Drives in the Device Manager and locate the Solid State Drive. Double-click it and open the Policies tab on top.

Select Optimize for performance and enable “Enable write caching on the disk”. There is no need for the quick removal option as the SSD will never be removed from the computer (like any other hard drive).

Windows Tweaks:

• Moving the Pagefile

Moving the pagefile to another hard drive has a positive effect on the performance of SSD drives.

Go back to System Properties. Click on the Advanced Tabm there on Settings under the Performance entry. Again on Advanced in the new window and finally on the Change button under the Virtual Memory entry.

The Virtual Memory window opens and it will display all drive partitions on top and the size of their paging files. Select the Solid State Drive and check the “No Paging File” entry. Click the Set button to set the new preferences.

Now select another hard drive and assign the pagefile to this drive.

• Move the temp files

The Advanced tab under System Properties has a button entitled Environment Variables. Click it and locate the temp and tmp variables for the user and the system. Change the path to another hard drive if they are located on the Solid State Drive.

• Disable the Indexing Service on the drive

Right-click on the drive letter of the SSD and select Properties from the menu. Locate the Allow Indexing Service to index the disk for fast file searching line and make sure it is disabled.

Application Tweaks:

Most application tweaks center around the idea of moving temporary files to another hard drive. Take the cache of web browsers or temp files during video production for example. Moving them to another hard drive will have an impact on the system’s performance.

Do you know of additional tweaks that might improve system performance of SSD drives?