Buzz
Many people have switched from traditional HDDs to SSDs because of the superior read/write performance of this type of drive. This is also one of the ways to fix when your computer is running slow.
But what makes SSDs much faster than HDDs and how to optimize your SSD even faster. Let's follow the article below to answer these questions.
Why is SSD Faster Than HDD?
Similar to USB drives, SSDs are solid-state and have no moving parts in their structure. All information on the drive will be stored in a chip.
In contrast, HDDs are constructed from metal disks coated with a layer of magnetism. That's where all your data is stored. When the HDD is in operation, the disk will spin and a read/write head on an arm will access this data. Hence, the speed of HDD is much slower when compared to SSD.
However, many users also complain that in reality, the speed of SSD is not as fast as expected. Follow the next part to find out the reasons and how to fix a slow SSD.
Optimizing, Speeding Up Your SSD
1. With a New SSD
If your newly purchased SSD shows signs of running slow, try enabling AHCI mode in the BIOS. When AHCI mode is enabled, the Native Command Queuing (NCQ) feature will be activated. From here, it allows the SSD controller to reorder data access requests and optimize data transfer bandwidth. This will improve the performance of the drive.
Compared to IDE mode, using AHCI helps the drive speed up significantly.
How to Enable AHCI Mode
For most motherboards, AHCI mode is enabled by default, but to be sure, you can access the BIOS to check. If AHCI is already enabled, exit the BIOS. If not, switch to AHCI mode.
Next, enable TRIM if you are using Windows XP or Vista. When TRIM is enabled, your SSD will automatically clean up junk files and maintain optimal performance.
If you are using newer operating systems such as Windows 8 or Windows 10, you can also check if this feature has been activated or not.
To perform this, go to Command Prompt. In cmd, type the command line: fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify
If the result DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means TRIM has been enabled.
If DisableDeleteNotify = 1, enter the command: fsutil behavior query | set DisableDeleteNotify = 0 to activate TRIM.
2. For Used SSDs
If your SSD is becoming increasingly sluggish without being caused by viruses, it could very well be due to incorrectly partitioned drives on the SSD.
By default, Windows will automatically partition drives when creating or formatting a drive in Disk Management. Actions such as moving, copying, resizing drives, and other system commands can lead to incorrect drive partitions.
Use the free tool MiniTool Partition Wizard to check drive partitions on the SSD and fix incorrect partitions in just a snap.
Download MiniTool Partition Wizard
To execute, select a drive or select all drives on the SSD. Click on Align Partition or Align All Partitions in the task column on the left.
If the selected drive has already been partitioned, Partition Wizard will display a message
“The specific partition does not need to change partitions alignment. It’s already aligned” (The selected drive does not need to be repartitioned).
Otherwise, if the partition is incorrect, Partition Wizard will help you realign it by pressing the Apply button in the top-left corner.
Above, Tamienphi.vn has just introduced some tips to boost your hard drive's performance. These tips will help your hard drive operate smoothly, efficiently, and always achieve the highest possible performance, helping you to work and access data as quickly as possible.
If you are currently using or planning to use an SSD, you should also use the SSD Fresh utility to optimize and extend the lifespan of your SSD by helping users configure the system, minimize disk writes, and regularly check the health of the drive. Especially SSD Fresh has the ability to enhance data access speed on SSDs. Download SSD Fresh for free to your computer.
