How to Optimize SSD Drive Performance

If you are already using SSD drive and to improve your computer's performance, you should know that TRIM support is essential.

A trim command (known as TRIM in the ATA command set, and UNMAP in the SCSI command set) allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally. That way, the solid state drive can access only the blocks holding the data. Furthermore, whenever a delete command is issued by the user or the operating system, the TRIM command immediately wipes the pages or blocks where the files are stored. This means that the next time the operating system tries to write new data in that area, it does not have to wait first to delete it.

When deleting and rewriting data, a solid state drive that does not use TRIM has to partially move significant pieces of information, wipe out all the block(s) containing it and, finally, write the new data onto those blocks. On the one hand, this means that the device’s performance is poor. On the other hand, it means that the SSD does lots of erasing and rewriting. These all pile up and cause fast wear of the flash memory chips that are found inside the SSD.

TRIM ensures that both these issues are prevented, by eliminating the need to erase and rewrite large chunks of memory continually. Instead of managing whole blocks, a TRIM enabled SSD can work with the smaller memory clusters called pages. Even more, whenever a delete command is issued by the operating system or the user, the SSD automatically sends a TRIM command to wipe the storage space being erased. This ensures a faster writing speed when new data is stored in that area.

If you want to check whether TRIM is enabled or disabled on your solid state drive, you have to use the Command Prompt. Open the Command Prompt by clicking Start Menu --> All Programs --> Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt, and open it as an administrator. In Windows Vista and later versions of Window operating systems type cmd.exe into Start Screen or Start Menu, right-click on Cmd.exe, and open it as an administrator.



Then, at the Command Prompt window, type this command: fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify and press Enter key.

Command Prompt displays a message that contains one of these two options:

• “NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0” - means that the TRIM feature is enabled on your SSD.
  
• “NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 1” - means that the TRIM feature is disabled on your SSD.

If you run the command for finding out whether TRIM is enabled or not on your Windows PC, and you found that it is disabled, you might want to turn it on.

To do so, you have to open Command Prompt as administrator, enter this command: fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0, and press Enter key.



If you get the message “NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0”, it means that TRIM has been enabled on your SSD.

SSDs work in an entirely different manner from hard drives; spreading data over multiple channels to multiple chips. Attempts to defragment SSD do nothing but use up precious write cycles (sometimes as few as 1,000), prematurely aging the SSD.

Windows uses Optimizing as a catch-all phrase to cover both defragging hard drives and trimming SSDs. The Optimize console is available by right-clicking a drive letter in Windows Explorer, then selecting Properties > Tools > Optimize. With hard drives, Optimize will do a minor defrag or file system check; with SSDs it forces the TRIM command.



Sending a TRIM command to an SSD simply tells it that it’s time to clean house. Trimming erases cells and blocks of NAND that no longer contain data, and consolidates data into fewer locations. Because these operations take an eternity in computer terms (anywhere from a couple of seconds to a minute), they are often deferred until the drive isn’t busy. Or in many cases, until explicitly invoked via the TRIM command. Forcing TRIM can restore most of your SSD’s missing performance.

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