Super fast SSD response w/ XP-MCE, NTFS, Prefetch & Pagefile

Hello friends,

I realize that there are some workarounds relating to the Snail-like SSD performance with XP installed but I come here today to offer you an excellent alternative. I'm pretty sure that the workarounds thus far require Fat32 drive format and to disable the prefetch, page file and system restore...give this method a try and I guarantee that you will learn to love your SSD once again...hell, roll the dice and throw Vista on your little lappy! If this solution has already been covered then please hold your comments so this post makes it way down the board, otherwise, enjoy!

Alright, I performed a fresh install of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 formatted to NTFS and by default the prefetch, pagefile and system restore are enabled. I wonder...how this 'fix' would affect a FAT32 partition? Would someone out there try it on their FAT partition and post results...thanks. Ok...

'right click' on my computer and select manage or open the 'control panel' then 'system' then 'hardware' tab then click on 'device manager'

expand the 'ide ata/atapi controllers' tree then 'right click' on the 'secondary ide channel' then click 'update driver'

select the 'install from a specific location' option then click 'next'

select 'don't search, i will choose the driver to install' and click 'next'

now you should (2) drivers listed, your current driver 'secondary ide channel' and one named 'standard ide/esdi hard disk controller'

highlight the 'standard ide/esdi hard disk controller' then click 'next' and finish driver update by proceeding through any windows warnings

a restart is required so answer yes to reboot

hopefully you already noticed a increase in boot time to your desktop but lets make it better...

'right click' on 'my computer' then 'properties' or got thru the 'control panel' and open the 'system' applet

'click' the 'advanced' tab then click the 'settings' button under 'performance'

'click' the 'advanced' tab and set your paging file size to what ever you want...I have mine set as custom size with an initial size of 1024 and a max size of 2048

after you have made your changes you will be prompted to restart...agree to restart unless you would like to disable windows system restore for increased system performance. system restore options can be found under the 'system restore' tab. put a check mark in the 'turn off system restore' box to turn off disk monitoring. agree to restart when prompted.

when reboot completes click the 'start' button then 'run' and type 'regedit' then press enter

****those of you not familiar/comfortable with the registry...don't be discouraged...this is easy.********

click the little plus sign next to 'hkey_local_machine' folder in the left column, now expand 'system' then 'CurrentControlSet' then 'control'. Scroll down and expand the 'session manager' folder then 'memory management'...highlight the 'PrefetchParameters' folder and a list of associated registry key settings will appear in the right column.

double click on the entry named 'EnablePrefetcher' and enter '5' inside the value data box then click ok

since your here...highlight the 'MemoryManagement' folder in the left column just above 'PrefetchParameters' and double click the 'DisablePagingExecutive' registry entry in the right column. place a value of '0' in the entry box and click ok

scroll to the top of the registry tree (left column) and expand the 'hkey_current_user' folder then 'control panel' then highlight the 'desktop' folder. in the right column double click on 'AutoEndTasks' entry and put '1' in the value data box then click ok. scroll down within that same right column and give 'MenuShowDelay' a value anywhere between 50 - 200. a lower value will reduce the delay before menus are displayed...mine is set to 50.

exit the registry and open 'my computer' then right click on your 'C' drive then select 'properties' and remove the check mark next to the 'index this drive' option. if prompted about file restriction access, click 'ignore all' and wait for the process to complete.

restart one last time and hopefully your computing experience has improved greatly...Enjoy!

 

excellent guide.
would you think it will work with:
a)vista
B)sata drives
c)zif hdd's
going to try on my vista zif setup, as i was just about to reinstall to de crap it, ive got too much on it now and it runs slow
rory

 

Vista: YES
SATA: YES; I tried with my AcerOne150 with 120gb SATA and lost about 10MB/s read/write performance...your results may differ
ZIF HDD: YES; however performance could be positive or negative

 

For those interested in Vista...the Intel Turbo Memory Application/Driver is only available for the Vista OS so I wonder how well that works with the SSD. I'll try later tonight and post my results.

 

Can you post the boot time from button press to desktop(w/ the SSD light not blinking, finished loading everything)? My XP SP3 install boots to desktop in 40sec on a slow Intel SSD.

Some of your tweaks makes sense. Some I don't seem to agree that it would make a big difference compared to the fat32 trick. :?:

 

Thanks!
I made these changes the way you described them and it makes a big difference. System now seems a lot more responsive and has almost none of the usual time-out-seconds while the SSD is doing who knows what...
Disk is formatted in FAT32 though.

Matt.