Checking an SSD disk using utilities is a universal method that performs several tasks at once.
- First – checking the drive for errors.
- Second – monitoring the operational life of the device.
The presence and periodic use of such programs is not only desirable for the owner, but also necessary.
After all, the resources of these components of modern PCs and laptops are limited compared to HDDs, and the danger of data loss is higher.
Although these disadvantages are fully compensated by a significant number of advantages from using SSDs, due to the difference in their design from standard hard drives.
Features of using SSD drives
SSD drives are solid-state, non-volatile drives whose operating principle is similar to that of flash memory - SD and microSD cards, USB flash drives and other storage media.
Such devices have no moving parts, and use a DDR DRAM chip to transmit data.
Parallel recording of information simultaneously onto several memory elements and the absence of the need to move the heads that read information (typical of HDDs) allows you to increase the speed of the process several times.
And, if the average read speed of a modern hard drive is about 60 MB/s, even an average SSD drive can deliver 4-5 times higher performance.
When recording data, the excess may be smaller, but the process is still much faster.
Rice. 1. Comparison of read and write speeds of SSD and HDD disks.
Loading speed is of particular importance for those computers on which several resource-intensive applications are installed.
In this case, only the Windows system boots up within 15–20 s for a solid-state drive and from 30 to 60 s for a hard drive.
The same speed improvement occurs in the process of launching programs and recording data.
Other advantages of using SSD drives (read more) include:
- resistance to shocks and falls. A parameter that is important for laptops, the hard drives of which often fail due to mechanical damage;
- compactness - many disks are not much larger in size than a mobile phone battery, others have the dimensions of a memory stick;
- extended temperature range of disk operation;
- minimal energy consumption and no noise during operation.
Rice. 2. Comparison of HDD sizes, standard SSD and mSATA drive.
However, the operation of SSDs also comes with certain disadvantages. These include the relatively high cost of the drive, although as the capacity increases, the price-to-volume ratio becomes smaller.
The second important disadvantage is the limited resource of SSD drives, which is why it is recommended to check them periodically.
Setting up an SSD under Windows 10: Complete step-by-step instructions
Drive diagnostics
The main task of checking SSD disks is to diagnose its condition and provide information about the presence of errors, resource and expected operational life.
This allows the user to know in advance about future problems with the drive, leading to unpredictable loss of information.
In addition, based on the results of the check, you can plan financial expenses for the purchase, the cost of which may not allow you to quickly find such an amount if the problem arose unexpectedly.
In addition, checking the drive does not take much time and does not even require the purchase of expensive software.
Utilities can be downloaded online for free or purchased for an amount not exceeding the cost of a standard antivirus program.
While it is impossible to recover lost information from SSDs, unlike hard drives.
The best utilities for checking SSD drives
To check the status of the hard drive, drive manufacturers and third-party developers have already released dozens of applications.
Most of them are free or shareware, that is, requiring payment only some time after the start of use.
Their effectiveness is almost the same, but the differences lie in ease of use and functionality.
SSD Life
SSD Ready
When checking the status of an SSD drive, you can use the SSDReady application, which only works with solid-state drives. The result of the check is an estimate of the expected operating time of the device based on the collected statistics on writing and reading data. The program runs in the background and requires virtually no resources.
Rice. 6. SSDReady application.
Hard Disk Sentinel
A feature of the Hard Disk Sentinel application, designed to monitor hard drives, is to monitor performance degradation or excess temperature levels and report this to the user. The application constantly checks the information transfer speed, temperature conditions and other parameters. Among its features:
- work with SSD drives, IDE and SATA drives, and even USB drives;
- displaying information about the current and minimum temperature;
- indication of the number of errors and disk operating hours in hours;
- indication of not only the current, but also the maximum possible information transfer mode for the disk.
Rice. 7. Working with the Hard Disk Sentinel program.
HDDScan
The freely available HDDScan program allows you to diagnose hard drives of any type, check them for errors and monitor the “health” of the drives. The utility works in real time and, if necessary, displays a detailed report on the status of the disk, which can be saved for future use.
Rice. 8. HDDScan program report.
SSD Tweaker
The free SSD Tweaker application is easy to use and allows the user not only to monitor the status of solid-state drives, but also to disable unnecessary operations in the operating system that reduce the service life of the disk. For example, such as the Windows Indexing and Defragmentation Service. Settings can be configured manually or automatically.
Rice. 9. Working window of the SSD Tweaker program.
HD Tune
The HD Tune application is available in several versions - a free version and a paid HD Tune Pro. The first provides testing of the status of hard drives (including SSDs) and memory cards. The shareware utility, for which you will have to pay $38, has expanded functionality, allowing you to control almost all disk parameters and conduct a number of additional tests.
Rice. 10. Diagnostics using HD Tune Pro.
Regardless of the program you choose to diagnose your SSD drive, at least one of them must be installed on your computer (or run from time to time if it is impossible to install on a working PC).
At the same time, if the drive does not contain too important information, the frequency of checking can be changed by setting, for example, diagnostics not every 4 hours, but once a day. Moreover, despite the greater level of reliability of HDDs, using most of the same applications you can periodically monitor their condition, increasing the security of data storage.
To be honest, the interface of the proprietary utility is not very clear, and in the process of studying the settings, I was often not sure what would happen after pressing the magic button. To begin with, in accordance with the vectors of discussion in the comments, I would formulate these configurations more simply:
- Speed
- Space saving
- Life extension
This is exactly what the categories are titled in the summary table, where, along with a clear representation of Samsung configurations, I added standard Windows settings and my recommendations.
Individual optimization parameters
Let's look at the optimization parameters in the same order as the previous myths.
SuperFetch
Meanwhile, if there is a HDD in the system, Windows does not disable the service, applying logical prefetching to launch applications from all disks. If you don't run programs from the HDD, SuperFetch won't do anything for you, but disabling the service won't speed things up either.
Swap file (FP)
For maximum performance, Samsung recommends using standard Windows settings and relying entirely on the system. To save space or extend the life of the drive, it is recommended to set the initial file size to 200MB and the maximum to 1GB.
In blog comments and forums, I have repeatedly seen the opinion that with N gigabytes of RAM, a FP is not needed at all. It always seems strange to me because it takes PC-based tasks out of the equation.
If you have excess physical memory (for example, 16GB on VKontakte), you do not need FP. But if, with 8GB RAM, you also run a couple of virtual machines at the same time, the fast swapping of the SSD will pleasantly surprise you. I have exactly the second case, and I use swap files on two SSDs of the size chosen by the system.
Hibernation
Samsung suggests disabling hibernation to save space and reduce disk writes, but not for maximum performance. Moreover, the advanced settings say that hibernation should work on mobile PCs. As for desktop computers, sleep is enough for them.
System protection
Here, Samsung's recommendations go against the standard Windows settings and my advice not to disable system protection. The utility lists “a large number of background processes that can reduce system performance” as the reason for all three configurations.
System protection does not reduce the performance of Windows as a whole (and the translator actually made up “a large amount” :). Of course, installing drivers and some programs will take a little longer, since you need to create a point, but on an SSD this is almost unnoticeable. And according to the schedule, restore points are created while the system is inactive, so they do not affect performance in any way.
The utility's help lists another reason - “unnecessary recording to an SSD drive,” but I won’t comment on that.
Write cache buffer and clearing it
I haven't covered these settings in terms of myths, but Samsung's recommendations here are the same as the standard Windows settings. The “Policies” tab in the disk device properties should look like this:
I specifically included the picture because the parameter that controls buffer clearing is very poorly described in the Russian system (double negative). On the other hand, Samsung Magician uses the opposite logic of explanation, although the essence is the same. But just in case, I pressed the buttons to make sure :)
Other parameters
Of the other settings in the list, there is only a power plan. It is curious that high performance is recommended in all configurations, but in the set to extend the lifespan, a remark is suddenly made that mobile PC owners can choose other modes.
Samsung does not stoop to minor tweaks like disabling 8.3, nor does the utility contain recommendations about transferring everything to the hard drive (at best, they have a place in the set to save space or extend service life).
Who to believe?
The table above clearly shows that in terms of maximum performance, most of the recommendations from Microsoft and Samsung are the same. The only exceptions are related to SuperFetch, which does not affect anything, and system protection, which I do not agree with disabling.
photo credit: CollegeDegrees360
Microsoft
The creators of Windows customize it taking into account the variety of hardware and the many scenarios for using the OS. Therefore, the standard system configuration may not suit your case. But much more often it does not coincide with people's ideas about effective work in Windows or is sacrificed to old habits.
As I noted in the “myths,” when setting up a system to run on an SSD, it is important not to reduce its performance and speed, which often happens with indiscriminate optimization.
SSD Manufacturers
Their tips for saving space and extending the life of your drive often go hand in hand, with Samsung's differing only in the index setting. They are perfect for desktop PC owners who fundamentally disable system protection and do not know how to speed up their work using Windows search.
This blog
You should definitely listen to the device manufacturer, but you should not blindly believe in their approach, because it is not always flawless.
about the author
Perhaps I didn’t understand something, but am I the only one who thinks the article is about nothing?
At first I was happy, I thought I would learn something new!
In my opinion, everything has already been chewed over in the wonderful article by the respected Vadim “12 immortal myths of SSD optimization”, and here there are continuous references to that article, and repetitions, simply written, in other words.
P.S. This is purely my IMHO, but I expected more. Apparently I’m used to the author’s most detailed, thoughtful articles :)
Andrey
plextor m5p 256gb
There is a proprietary utility, but I haven’t used it - there’s nothing sensible in it
Dmitriy
Good reminder for SSD owners. Repetition is the mother of learning.:-) . On my own behalf, I will say that not all “mushrooms” are equally useful; what I mean is that the use of utilities (with the exception of drivers) from the manufacturer is necessary in cases of some kind of problem with the hardware.
Alexei
Well, thank you! I just installed a Samsung SSD on a new system and was surprised at Samsung’s recommendations - but I put off studying it “for later” and completely forgot. And here everything is already sorted :)
The survey lacks the “For common sense” item: D, although for me it coincides with the “standard settings”.
Yuri
I bought an SSD for the note. Kingston, I think V-300. And speed memory too Kingston Harper. I don’t remember exactly, because I’m afraid to use it, and there’s no particular need for it yet. I just know that all the garbage is collected in my Temp folder. A familiar computer builder set up and installed it. My note is weak, but cheap and small, at that time money was tight. The disk is split into two. I installed AVZ, Glary portable and CCleaner on C, thought about it and deleted the latter. True, it seemed to me that the note began to work more slowly. Glary used once. I don’t remember if I used avz and CCleaner, I think not. I have seven, auto-update is enabled. Why it became slower - because of updates or because of them - I don’t understand. I have a seven. I don't like 8th. I wouldn't buy an ssd now. Working on a big one. The creators of programs, including Windows, make them for themselves. It’s like someone else’s cat ran into the house, pays zero attention to me, does what he wants, pisses on the walls, etc. I’m a writer, I can’t live without a computer and with it there’s nothing but troubles.
Valery
Silicon Power Slim S70 SP240GB. I have never seen a proprietary utility, even if it exists. After the purchase, I simply plugged it in and installed Win8 there, without configuring anything specifically for the SSD. There is an old hard drive nearby to store rarely used and large files.
The SSD is used for everything besides the system. All programs, games are installed there, torrents are downloaded.
The flight has been excellent for a year now.
I use a hard drive only when absolutely necessary - after SSD, HDDs work very unpleasantly, slowly and noisily.
OCZ Vertex 4 120Gb + 2 HDDs of 1Tb each.
In my opinion, there were no utilities other than the firmware update utility. From the very beginning, I put off studying settings and tweaks “for later,” and after reading “Myths” I realized that leaving the default settings was the right decision.
Valery
Valery
Yes. CDI incorrectly counts NAND WRITES, underestimating the value by half. And in the latest versions of Plextool, the HOST WRITES indicator was removed from the smart tool so that users would not ask “stupid” questions. All that's left is HOST READS.
Anton
An Intel SSD on a freshly installed Win 7 disabled only the paging file (because I have 32gb of RAM) and hibernation (because I don’t use it), the Intel program also asks to disable Prefetch and SuperFetch, but I don’t see the point in that.
Vitaly K. ©
I didn’t find an item for myself. You probably know my settings disk better than me)))
I read something on the Internet and came up with something myself. As a result, I screwed up the trim, turned off swapping and transferred the tempos to the ramdisk. The disk is guaranteed to work for a long time - it is still 100% healthy.
Basil
SSD Intel 520 Series 180GB
The system has two drives, the HDD, in turn, is divided into 250 (I keep Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 on it, and some programs, for example Photoshop) and 450 (for torrents and other garbage) GB.
The utility is available, with the help of it I did the optimization, which Intel recommends doing once a week, everything else is by default. I think it’s still worth it or not to disable the paging file, with 16 gigabytes of RAM….
Valery
Vadim Sterkin: Valery, just a minute, how does CDI generally determine the difference between Host Writes and Nand Writes? This may be a SMART indicator, and then WA=NW/HW can be derived.
Yes. There are corresponding S.M.A.R.T. parameters. For Plextor drives this is 0xB1 (Wear Leveling Count).
NW=(B1 Decimal Value)*(Drive Capacity/2) - value in megabytes (relevant for M2, M3 and M5S of the old revision)
NW=(B1 Decimal Value)*(Drive Capacity) - value in megabytes (relevant for M5P and M5S new revision)
CDI calculates according to the old formula.
Vadim Sterkin: The same SF does not have NW, in cr. at least in my drive and Kingston SMART specifications.
Eat. It’s just that HyperX Smart is poorer and the values are calculated a little differently. The KC300 has 100/0x64 (Gigabytes Erased) and 177/0xB1 (Wear Range Delta) - http://www.overclockers.ru/images/lab/2013/11/02/1/512_big.jpg.
Sergey
I transferred the system from HDD a year ago, SSD Crucial 120 Gb. There is no proprietary utility. Accordingly, the system and most of the programs are on the SSD. After transferring the system, I checked the settings and they coincided with your recommendations, Vadim, with which I completely agree. The performance index (Win 7x64) for the disk is 7.9. Why else rush around.....
The swap file was left at 1GB (not by system choice) on the SSD.
The memory is 16 GB, so I used tweaks:
http://forums.overclockers.ru/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=457299
These tweaks did not speed up the system much, but memory usage increased sometimes even up to 25%. Before the tweaks, the registry was never more than 15%.
I would like to see the above article about optimizing the use of large amounts of memory in 64-bit systems
Dima
Hello Vadim.
There is a crucial m4 60 GB (it used to have an OS) plextor m5r 128 two (one system, 2 hard drives. The first one has no utilities or recommendations (but the quality (private opinion)) I haven’t seen any recommendations from Plextor, the utility, how can I call it softer.... , and the system does not allow it to work in protected boot. Hibernation is disabled - the rest is by default.
You need to think about disabling defragmentation.
Maxim
Thanks for the article, Vadim!
I have an mSATA SSD Kingston SMS200S3120G
Before this, I didn’t even look to see if there were proprietary utilities, since my experience with a Kingston SSD on a desktop PC (Win 7) suggests that the standard Windows settings are sufficient.
After reading the article, I looked at the manufacturer’s website and downloaded the SSD Toolbox. A useful utility for viewing detailed information about the disk and for updating firmware (there are no updates at the moment). There are no settings in it, so there are no contradictions either.
Anatoly
“Ignorance of some principles of Windows operation prevented the company from implementing a more competent solution.” - are you serious?
Basil
Vadim Sterkin
Of course, here's the screenshot. It doesn’t show anything else, only a notification about successful optimization.
Pooh
SSD Mini Tweaker v2.4 and all problems are solved. I uncheck only recovery.
rass
TOSHIBA THNSNH128GBST.
The laptop allows you to install two 2.5″ drives, so I installed an SSD for the system and programs, but for my data I use a 1 TB HDD.
RAM 8 GB
According to the numbering of myths
1. SuperFetch seems to be disabled.
2. I didn’t touch defragmentation, I think Windows disabled it itself.
3. The swap file was left at the discretion of Windows.
4. In order not to waste the 8 GB SSD, I disabled hibernation.
5. I did not disable the Windows recovery function
6. Disabled indexing of files on the SSD drive (I didn’t split it into logical ones, I have one C: drive). And I don’t like how search is implemented in Win7. In addition, all my data is stored on the HDD. There's almost nothing to look for on an SSD.
7. I use HDD for the “junk” Downloads folder and for torrent downloads.
8. I install programs by default in ProgramFiles on the SSD; it was important for me that not only Windows would work quickly, but that the programs would also start. (I understand that the programs work with data stored on the HDD).
9. I did not move the AppData and ProgramData folders anywhere
10. Browser cache (I use Opera) - I haven’t disabled it. (disabled only for those who use this browser “Remember the contents of visited pages”)
11. Temporary files were not transferred anywhere, also on the SSD drive (I think this: since my main working files are stored on the HDD, then, of course, opening them will be slow, unlike if they were stored on the SSD, but while the program is running, all changes are saved at the same pace on the SSD, and this is already fast. But the control saves of the working file are already back on the HDD - it will be slow, but not essential)
12. I didn’t do anything fancy with the registry.
I’ve been working with an SSD for a month and I can’t be happier with the speed.
I didn’t use any Toshiba programs, and there don’t seem to be any.
Pooh
Vadim Sterkin,
That's it!!! Because these are all myths!
Valery
Leonid
Not long ago I configured my SSD - Plextor M5 Pro in RAID 0 mode to increase the write/read speed. Although I read information on many forums that a raid is only needed for HDDs. As for the cache, I have 32GB of RAM and it is more than enough for the system, but just in case I allocated some space for the system SSD 2-4GB, I think this will not significantly reduce the service life :)
Paul
My first SSD PCI-Ex4 (slot) OCZ Revo Drive X2 died after a year and a half, at the moment when I was surfing the Internet, many bookmarks were open. I installed the tweak and disabled everything. Windows 7. When I bought a new SSD OCZ Vertex-4 SATA 6gB, I decided to install Windows and all programs and games on it, but I transferred all the user’s folders to the HDD, browser cookies, and downloads too; I disabled the search index and page file, since I have 8 GB of RAM. The SSD life test program showed the disk service life at these settings to be 41 years 10 months 18 days. I didn't make any other tweaks or settings. Now my SSD is 1 year 4 months old (service life). Just in case, I keep money in reserve for a new SSD. :)
Go to Task Manager -> Performance -> Resource Monitor -.> Disk, the way Windows treats your SSD will make your hair stand on end. Anyone who has a second computer or laptop with a regular HDD can compare (it has more write/read requests than an SSD)
Alexander
@Vasily, can you see a screenshot of SSD Toolbox with optimization, which is recommended once a week? I'm interested in what exactly they optimize there @
I’ll answer for Vasily (since I also have Intel), optimization there means forced Trim manually, which I occasionally use and do instead of the system :-) With Intel, the problem is different, I read somewhere - too lazy to look for what to enable/disable caching or enable/disable Clearing the cache (too lazy to search) greatly affects performance. I don’t know, it’s difficult to check, I have it like in your picture.
Paul
In order to check whether your SSD is configured correctly, look at the rating Windows gives it; if 7.9, then it’s correct, if less, then somewhere you missed the settings. If anyone doesn’t know, if you have one or more hard drives, Windows gives a rating only to the drive on which it is installed, and not the lowest, as I previously thought.
Elena
Vadim Sterkin: Vasily, can you see a screenshot of the SSD Toolbox with optimization, which is recommended once a week? I'm interested in what exactly is being optimized there :)
The Intel 520 series itself. There is TRIM once a week. Nothing else.
Vadim
Intel SSD 335 240Gb
I didn’t set up anything, because I completely trust Win8, fortunately it’s a license and no one messed with it. I use it as the only one in my laptop and for everything - system, office, games. Until a certain time, once a week (or two) in the Intel SSD Toolbox I clicked “optimize”, although I knew that it was just TRIM. After six months of absolutely normal operation, the laptop first froze out of the blue, then froze after another 2 days and that’s it... the SSD ran out. The system does not boot and does not display any errors, system recovery also does not load in any way.
Good afternoon, dear members of the CSN club!
In today's review we will look at the Samsung 840 Evo SSD. First of all, Samsung drives are notable for the fact that all internal components are elements of its own design and production. Obviously, such an organization makes it possible to make any engineering improvements to the software and hardware of any component included in the TTN much faster and more efficiently. For the consumer this is only a benefit.
At the moment, the Samsung drive line is divided into EVO and PRO, which differ from each other in performance, manufacturing technology and market positioning. The Samsung 840 EVO drive is positioned as a universal everyday solution for laptop and desktop PC users. And Samsung 840 PRO is positioned as a solution for demanding users :)
The drive range consists of disks with capacities: 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB, 750 GB and 1000 GB.
Chapter I. Technical Specifications
Technical characteristics are given in the table:
Let's move on to the hero of our review - the Samsung 840 EVO drive uses Toggle - mode NAND memory modules with a cell capacity of three bits of information. The memory is manufactured using 19 nm tech. process (unlike the 21 nm process in the Samsung 840), which allows the maximum storage capacity to be doubled (compared to the previous version). The main advantage of this type of memory (for Samsung) is its lower cost compared to other types of memory. Although, using the example of a 120 GB drive, this cannot be said - the price is at the level of competitors with faster memory.
The controller has been updated, instead of MDX we got Samsung MEX 400 MHz, ARM Cortex-R4. The frequency has increased by 100 MHz, support for the SATA 3.1 specification has been added. The increased frequency will make it possible not to lose performance when operating encryption systems and increase the speed of random read/write operations. Buffer volume (separate memory chip) - 256 MB LPDDR2-1066 (memory with reduced power consumption, the manufacturer is fighting for autonomy). In the case of more capacious drives, the buffer size also increases.
Here I would like to make a small lyrical digression and talk about the main types of memory.
With your permission, I will provide a screenshot (the authorship is not mine) that clearly demonstrates the differences between one type of memory and another.
SLC (Single Level Cell)
- the most reliable and fast memory, high read/write/delete speed and a huge number of rewrite cycles. The cost is high, usually used in the corporate segment. The likelihood of finding a drive with SLc memory on sale is low.
MLC (Multi Level Cell)
- average in reliability and speed, 2 bits of information fit in one cell.
TLC (Triple Level Cell)
- the most economically advantageous (from the point of view of the price per 1 GB, therefore it is often used in flash drives), but the ability to write 3 bits of information in one cell theoretically leads to rapid wear. Low speed of operations.
To catch up with competitors and provide competitive speed, Samsung is “inventing” Turbo Write technology, which increases the speed of sequential data writing.
This technology allows TLC memory cells to emulate high-speed SLC type memory (Samsung did not pioneer this technology; Toshiba and OCZ did this earlier - but the implementation was slightly different).
A typical TLC cell stores three bits of information. In SLC emulation mode, the cell begins to store only one bit of information, but at what speed does it perform the program/erase operation! The drive, in turn, understands it as a cache that serves as a buffer between it and the operating system. When writing data, the emulator cells are first filled, and then the data from them is moved to the TLC cells. If the data flow is large and long-lasting, then the speed is significantly reduced (to normal TLC speeds - almost half).
If you do the math on a calculator, it turns out that for every 1 GB of cache we lose 2 GB of usable space. A total of 3 GB of cache emulated in a 120 GB drive actually takes up 9 GB.
It becomes clear that Samsung came up with Turbo Write technology in order to increase the speed and reliability of the not very fast and reliable TLC memory. Well, she presented it beautifully to us, ordinary mortals.
But despite all the nuances, the Samsung 840 EVO is a serious competitor to drives with MLC memory (at least until the 3 GB barrier is overcome [remember that the cache size depends on the total capacity of the drive], after which the speed drops noticeably). Office users will not feel any discomfort or difference compared to drives made using other technologies.
Chapter II. Packaging and delivery
The drive comes in a modest and uncomplicated dark-colored box. On the front side there is printed information about the capacity of this copy and its belonging to the line.
Here is the reverse side.
In clear English it is said that:
The SATA-3 connection interface is backward compatible with SATA-2;
extremely high speed of operation is ensured;
it is possible to use the company’s proprietary software to facilitate the migration process from your old drive to a new one;
support of the company's proprietary software for managing the performance of a solid-state drive;
the disk is covered by a limited three-year warranty (everything is tricky here. On the Internet I found information that a 3-year warranty OR 80 TB of recorded data).
Now let’s carefully open the package and admire the “starry night” color drive with a thickness of 6.8 mm.
I don’t know about you, but “Xeralik” is on the tip of my tongue. Don't even ask :)
Under the blister you can find the delivery kit. The kit is quite rich, even the WD black 2 I reviewed earlier did not have a disk with proprietary software.
In the kit you can find:
Disk with software;
warranty brochure;
quick guide to quickly installing the drive;
stickers indicating that your PC is "charged" by the SSD.
Chapter III. Appearance
External view of the solid state drive.
Don't drink water off your face - that's what folk wisdom says. I can note the tactilely pleasant material of the drive case and the cute “starry night”.
In my opinion, the appearance of any internal component plays the last violin in the orchestra; its performance or other functions (for example, capacity, if we are talking about hard drives) are much more important.
The reverse side will please those who like to read first and then “talk.” I mean listen. Pay attention to the current consumption - 0.86 A. For a more complex hybrid drive (with built-in SSD and 1 TB hard drive), the declared current consumption is limited to 0.55 A. Most likely, the increased power consumption is caused by the use of more energy-intensive TLC memory.
The plus side shows a “bunch” of pictograms that do not provide any useful information to the end user.
Test stand, testing methodology:
CPU type = Intel Core i3-4130, 3400 MHz (34 x 100);
Motherboard = Gigabyte H81M-S2PV;
Motherboard chipset= Intel Panther Point H81, Intel Haswell Bridge;
System memory= 4096 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM);
Video adapter = integrated into the H4500 chipset.
The Windows 7 operating system was installed on the SSD drive, the latest versions of the motherboard drivers were installed, and several movies were recorded (to increase the capacity).
During the work, the following software was used:
CrystalDiskInfo 5.6.2 Shizuku Edition;
- CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 Shizuku Edition X64;
- HD Tune Pro 5.50;
- AS SSD 1.7.4739.38088.
Go!
So, first, the SSD SMART information:
You can note the presence of a built-in temperature sensor. The temperature sensor comes from the use of TLC nand memory, which is known to be extremely sensitive to overheating. When a critical temperature is reached, the controller reduces the “operability” of the drive, thereby allowing it to cool down. So the temperature sensor is not a reason to be proud. In a desktop PC case, the disk temperature is unlikely to ever reach critical temperatures. In a cramped laptop compartment and under intense load - easily.
Support for the SATA-3 interface, as well as TRIM and NCQ functions, is also confirmed.
At the moment, the self-diagnosis indicators are within the specified tolerances.
Information from standard OS tools, how can you forget about everyone’s favorite assessments :)
Test one - CrystalDiskMark:
The program tests the SSD drive, working with compressible data. In this case, we use standard settings. The test is standard, sequential read/write operations and writing blocks of a predetermined size.
Seq- sequential read/write speed. In relation to the speed of reading/writing videos, images, etc. In general, all indivisible files are large.
512k- has almost the same meaning as sequential reading speed.
4k- speed test for reading/writing random blocks of 4 kB in size. In practice, the best example to illustrate the importance of a high value is the operation of your operating system.
4K QD32- the same test with a queue depth (length) of 32. When used at home, the likelihood of encountering such a task is extremely small.
Test two - AS SSD 1.7.4739.38088:
The AS SSD program tests SSD drives by working with incompressible data. Not all controllers can show decent speed in such a test. This performs a sequential read/write test, a random read/write test of 4 kB blocks (queue depth 1) and a random read/write test of 4 kB blocks (queue depth 64).
Visual graph of read/write speed.
Test three - HD Tune Pro 5.50:
The program allows you to visually evaluate the average read speed and processor load level at peak drive load times.
Now zoom-zoom:
To be honest, the rather high level of processor load is confusing. I ran the test several times, but the readings varied within the margin of error (±2.5%).
The sequential read/write speed of a 1000 MB file in HD Tune Pro is no different from CrystalDiskMark testing.
Well, to confirm the speed parameters of the drive, as well as for comparison with testing utilities, an additional test was carried out in the Atto Disk BenchMark software. The results are presented below.
What conclusions can be drawn? Before us is an excellent representative of the family of solid-state drives. Decent read/write speed (only if you are not in the habit of transferring 50 GB of media files every day), a reputable manufacturer and a three-year warranty are an excellent reason to purchase this particular drive.
Well.... taking into account all the nuances described above :)
Chapter IV. Software
So let's get started. After installing the software disc into your CD-ROM drive, you will be prompted to choose from the SSD drive installation guide or install the Samsung SSD software.
The software package includes two applications:
Samsung Data Migration is a software tool that allows you to clone an existing disk.
Samsung Magician - for servicing the drive.
We will not dwell on Samsung Data Migration in detail; the program has an intuitive interface. So that even a novice user will not have any questions about its use. All you have to do is click the “Start” button.
Let's move on to Samsung Magician
The capabilities provided by Samsung Magician are quite interesting, I would like to dwell on the most important of them in more detail.
Disk Drive Tab . When you first launch it, the main program window and the Disk Drive tab appear before your eyes. In this window you can see:
Drive name;
serial number (the software even verifies it);
firmware version;
SMART information;
total amount of data recorded.
It also provides information about the AHCI mode, the type of connection (in our case, SATA-3) to the motherboard, and checks whether the operating system is optimized for using an SSD drive.
Firmware Update tab. Possibility of “hot” update of the drive firmware online.
OS Optimization Tab . Allows you to select one of three operating modes:
Maximum performance;
- maximum capacity;
- maximum reliability.
This wizard is quite friendly to a novice user. The program automatically enables or disables certain Windows OS functions that affect the selected operating mode. Just. It is most important.
Over Provisioning Tab . Enabling this feature allocates a small amount of free space on the drive, which the controller uses to improve the performance and life of the SSD.
Secure Erase tab
. This function is an analogue of regular Windows formatting. Due to the fact that it is impossible to format the system disk while the OS is running, Samsung Magician software offers to create a boot disk (including USB) and perform the formatting operation. When using it, the program sends a special command to the drive controller.
What is the need for this, you ask! The fact is that over time, the performance of an SSD drive decreases, this is due to the amount of data recorded, the operation of the TRIM command and the speed of the controller when it communicates with garbage. Therefore, it is recommended from time to time to return the drive to its original state, which is what this function does. After this operation, read/write speeds will return to their original values.
Rapid Mode Tab
. According to the manufacturer, it increases the performance of the entire system. To activate it, your PC must meet the minimum requirements set by Samsung. It is noteworthy that initially Magician did not support Pro series drives. This issue has now been fixed, and any Samsung drive is supported.
What kind of animal is this and what is it eaten with? Essentially, Rapid Mode uses part of your PC's RAM (the so-called RAM disk - 1024 MB is eaten from RAM) as an additional cache. This speeds up certain applications, folder access, and read and write operations of your operating system. All this happens automatically. In addition, you not only speed up your system, but also increase the service life of the drive. When the PC is powered off, the data is stored in the cache.
How big is the real benefit? If you often access the same files previously written to the RAM disk, then the increase in speed will be noticeable.
Data Security Tab . The following hardware data encryption modes are supported:
Class 0;
- TCG Opal;
- Encrypted Drive.
Thanks to the new support for new standards, encryption has become possible using standard OS tools.
To be honest, I am far from encryption, but I think this function will be in demand among corporate users. On the other hand, this drive is positioned as a SOHO solution, where it is unlikely that anyone will ask such a question. In general, for me the question remained unclear and open.
The test drive firmware supports all three types of encryption.
Results
Samsung, it seems to me, has set the direction for the development of competing companies. Over time, the share of drives based on TLC memory will grow, and performance will also increase. Today, Samsung acts as a pioneer, partly due to its own production and the search for new ways to take money from the population.
The Samsung 840 EVO drive turned out great, in every sense of the word. Innovative technologies alone are expensive! And the three-year warranty is an excellent indicator of the company’s confidence in its brainchild.
The corporate segment will not accept it, because... As the load intensity increases, the reliability and lifespan of the device decreases proportionally. But EVO doesn’t want to go there.
Of course, no one has ever managed to please all categories of the population, but the mass buyer will thank the company for its excellent performance and friendly software. If the price doesn't put him off. Because for this money the choice is huge, but you can lower the price bar and find a drive that is almost as good as Samsung’s brainchild.
If your tasks do not include constantly pumping terabytes of information, you have extra money in your wallet and want flagship performance - you are welcome. By purchasing EVO you will not regret your choice!
P.S. I express my gratitude to the site administration and to you, my dear readers!
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