Why Do You Need SSD Maintenance?
Solid-state drives (SSDs) become mainstream in the PC market because they outperform traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) on all fronts including performance, speed, reliability, lifespan, power consumption, etc. However, like HDDs, SSDs might also get torn and worn, and its performance might be downgraded. This post will show you what you can do for SSD maintenance on Windows 10/11.
Option 1: Deeply Clean up Your SSD
When your SSD is going to reach its full capacity, the file transfer speed will deteriorate and the system will become unstable. Consequently, never fill up your SSD to avoid such issues. Over time, there might be a large number of junk files, invalid registry entries, unwanted programs, and more on your SSD.
To clean up your SSD or HDD, MiniTool System Booster is a good choice. This PC tune-up software is designed to optimize your HDD or SSD to operate at its full potential. It supports cleaning up junk files, optimizing memory usage, defragging hard drives, and deleting invalid registries on almost all the Windows systems.
Here’s how to maintain SSD with MiniTool System Booster:
Step 1. Launch this free tool to enter its main interface.
MiniTool System Booster TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2. In the right-pane, click on Performance Home and select Deepclean from the drop-down menu.
Step 3. Hit START CLEAN and then it will deeply sweep up your computer with 7 cleanup tasks below. You can either run them one by one or skip some as per your preference.
Also, choosing the corresponding power plan while running different online tasks will potentially put less stress on your SSD’s flash memory cells. Go to the LiveBoost page and then you can see there are 7 available power options under PowerSense:
- Ultra Performance-Gaming
- Ultra Performance-Music/Video Production
- Ultra Performance-Graphics/3D/CAD Design
- Ultra Performance-Programming
- Endurance-Maximize Battery
- Balanced-Office Productivity
- Balanced-Web Browsing
Option 2: Update Your SSD Firmware
To address some technical issues or bugs, SSD manufacturers release some firmware updates from time to time. Therefore, you can update your firmware in time to maintain SSD. The SSD firmware update varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, so please visit the official website of your SSD manufacturer or official utilities like Samsung Magician, Western Digital Dashboard, Kingston SSD Manager and more to download and apply firmware updates manually.
Option 3: Enable TRIM
The TRIM command is also essential for SSD maintenance. With this command enabled, your operating system will tell the SSD to erase and consolidate blocks of data no longer in use. Therefore, it will prevent your drive from making unnecessary writes and being used.
For Windows 7 and onward, TRIM is enabled by default, so you only need to enable this feature on an older operating system. Here’s how to optimize SSD performance with TRIM:
Step 1. Type cmd in the Windows Search box to locate Command Prompt.
Step 2. Right-click on it to select Run as administrator.
Step 3. In the command window, input the command below and tap on Enter:
fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0
Option 4: Enable AHCI
AHCI, short for Advanced Host Controller Interface, supports advanced SATA features including hot swapping and NCQ. The former enables SATA drives to be switched out without a shutdown, while the latter enhances the performance of file transfers by minimizing the movement of the read-write heads and speeding up the access on hard drive using AHCI. To enable AHCI on your computer, follow these steps:
Step 1. Launch Command Prompt as an administrator.
Step 2. In the command window, type the command below and hit Enter.
bcdedit /set safeboot minimal
Step 3. Restart your computer and enter the BIOS menu.
Step 4. Change the SATA Operation mode to AHCI and hit F12 to save the changes.
Step 5. Once you exit BIOS, your computer will automatically boot into Safe Mode. Run Command Prompt with administrative rights again and execute the following command:
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
Step 6. After completion, reboot your computer and then it will automatically start with AHCI enabled.
Option 5: Disable Index
Windows Search Indexer (SearchIndexer.exe) helps you get instant search results on your computer, while it keeps analyzing files and media in the background even if you don’t perform a search, consuming extra CPU and RAM resources. In this case, disabling Windows Search Service can save system resources to maintain your SSD. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1. Press Win + R to open the Run box.
Step 2. Type services.msc and hit Enter to open Services.
Step 3. In the service list, scroll down to find Windows Search and right-click on it to choose Properties.
Step 4. Set Start type to Disable, hit Stop and then save the changes you’ve made.
Option 6: Disable Hibernation
If you are using a laptop, Hibernation will save your current state and shut down to save more power while idle. However, for desktop PCs, they don’t need it because they are plugged in all the time. Moreover, the hibernation file takes up a significant amount of disk space on your hard drive as it stores a snapshot of your computer’s memory. If you are a desktop user, follow these steps to disable this feature:
Step 1. Launch an elevated Command Prompt.
Step 2. Type powercfg -h off and hit Enter.
Final Words
That’s all for SSD maintenance. After following these practices, it will reduce PC performance loss and your SSD can always run at its full potential. Meanwhile, a tool called MiniTool System Booster is also worth trying. With its help, there will be a noticeable boost in your SSD speed and performance.
MiniTool System Booster TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Aurelie is a passionate soul who always enjoys researching & writing articles and solutions to help others. Her posts mainly cover topics related to games, data backup & recovery, file sync and so on. Apart from writing, her primary interests include reading novels and poems, travelling and listening to country music.