Your Bleeding Edge Tester - rF2 Works on Windows 10

I see on the included pic that it does show Windows version 6.4

Edit: Strange that I typed my posting at same time as above but has two different times.
Edit #2: Also I get put on second page after first edit.

 

hehehe


It tells you I know what I want and need.




I am a simmer, that is all I care about.

Like I said " device and mobile people" love it, I can understand that.

But I won't waste my time or money replacing a OS that already works excellent for years.

Just makes no sense to me.

 

So I won't confuse you with facts, your mind is made up

 

Confirmed: DirectX 12 Available with Windows 10

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/directx-12-available-with-windows-10.html

Notice that Win10 will not be out until mid to late 2015? Well that's why the Preview Program is so cool. MS will be updating the Win10 Preview all the way until release! That means users get a free OS with updates for almost a year!

I'm done with Win8. I will be using Win10 until it comes out and then buying it. It's rock solid and fast. All that Metro UI is gone. More like Win7 but with more stuff under the hood. Love it!

 

I haven't seen any of the Metro UI junk since the first day i installed Win 8.1. My Win 8.1 PC looks just like Win 7 but with more stuff under the hood . All people need to do is spend 10 minutes, 1 single time, and all the Win 8/8.1 Metro UI junk is gone, no "apps", you have a regular desktop and start meny again, everything.

 

Yeah I did the same thing with Win8

People don't realize that Win8+ is much better for SSD drives for example:

In Win7, the defrag program actually defrags the SSD. That's bad for it.

EDIT *And since the defrag program in Win7 is set to automatic, if people don't know to disable it, their SSDs are getting defragged on a weekly basis! Very bad for the life of the SSD*

In Win8+, the defrag program can identify SSD drives and runs Trim instead of defragging.

That's just one little example. Win8+ is far superior to Win7 in so many ways.... And Win10 even better

 

It doesn't hurt to read the privacy statements if you are testing the Win 10 technical preview:

Nothing unexpected in there but I wouldn't feel private anymore if I knew they "collect typed characters", in other words use a keylogger. No bashing, just a heads up if you usually don't read this stuff because it's a long text.

 

Yes good point crz.

Doesn't bother me, but some might find that troubling.

 

Defragment your Solid State Disk will NOT harm it in any way.

It is just that this process is not needed, it will not improve disk performance and that defragmentation causes lots of write processes which means that the drive will reach its write limits sooner.

If you only did it a few times it does not matter and even if you did it for years every week it still would still not use all the blocks in a SSD.

Defragmentation cannot improve SSD performance that would be the main thing to take away


By far the best thing you can do to your SSD is to zero-write it.

Over time SSDs start to slow up, not everyone will notice it, they slow up because of all the block writes.

When you zero write a SSD you put it back to factory performance.

A block written SSD will even score .5 lower or even more in experience rating with a fresh install, that is how much it can affect it.

The bigger your SSD the better, it means block write is spread around more and it will take longer for
you to notice it start to slow in any speedtests.


To zero write a SSD is very simple and takes a minute.

Requirements

Bootable flashdrive or CD/DVD
Parted Magic

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/parted_magic.html


The idea then is to use TrueImages or similar to restore your OS , mines takes 3 minutes after a zero-write.

Just keep watch on your SSD esp if they are old or high usage, you will notice them slowing up in baseline benchtests...... ............time for a zero-write.



You know I not crazy I know what the **** I talking about. lol ( rolleyes)

PARTED MAGIC is the ONLY software can zero-write a SSD.

 

I have a relatively modest laptop which shipped with Win8. When I first got it it was like lightning - fantastic. I only use it for web browsing / facebook etc... Yet the accumulation of Win 8 updates and 8.1 has made it run like treacle. I'm deeply disappointed and hugely reluctant to go to 8.1 when my new i7 5xxx rig arrives around Christmas. I know the laptop is running a lowly 4-core AMD CPU, but it ran really well out of the box. Updates have changed its performance / responsiveness considerable. I wish I could have the faith to go to Win8.X for my new rig.

 

No. It shortens the life. The average user doesn't know to disable the defrag program in Win7. So automatically, on a weekly basis, it defrags your SSD.

The Win8+ defrag program automatically detects what kind of hard drive you have and chooses TRIM for SSDs and regular defrag for mechanical drives.

Just one example of how Win8+ is better than your beloved Win7

 

Yes I already said it shortens the life that is not Harm, just don't want people to get the wrong idea.

Say you did defrag your SSD every week without being aware ?
Every block gets written a fair number of times ( 20 or more ) but even still multiply that by 52 weeks and again by 5 years and it is not a huge amount.

H o w T o S e c u r e E r a s e C o r s a i r S S D's ( and others ) W i t h P a r t e d M a g i c
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2vwsynm0kou7na2/How To Parted Magic.pdf?dl=0

If you decide to zero write, post first ! hehehe

If you try to zero wipe your SSD with erase tool from above PDF most likely it will say it is asleep.


1. Cancel the zero write/erase tool ..... say NO and close Erase Tool with the X in corner

Leave Parted Magic open

2. With your PC running remove the SSD power lead for 3 seconds or so then re-connect power.

3. Rerun Erase Tool this time say YES. .........Should complete in a few seconds.

4. Now do the format and windows install.



NOTE: Make sure you practice removing and replacing your SSD's power lead a few times with the PC turned OFF first......please lol



Summary: If you want to do bleeding edge testing with new OS on a worn SSD zero-write should be your first stop.

 

I won't argue.

Not everyone has a Ivybridge or better or a SSD supports 100% trim either, a few don't even have W7/W8.

Either way if you switch OSes , restore images , etc. I would still zero-write the SSD.

Trim resets every unused block to "ready write state".

Zero-Write resets every block to "ready write state"

Format does zilch.

 

I bought windows 1.0 in 1986, remember floppy disks and kilobytes?

Windows 1.0 requires a minimum of 256 kilobytes (KB), two double-sided floppy disk drives, a hard disk and 512 KB memory is recommended for running multiple programs or when using DOS 3.0 or higher.

Rather than typing MS‑DOS commands, you just move a mouse to point and click your way through screens, or “windows.” Bill Gates says, “It is unique software designed for the serious PC user.”

 

@buddhatree

Windows 7 is fully SSD aware and has been since day one. It will not select SSDs for defrag. It will not defrag SSDs.

In my system I have 1 SSD as boot, 4 enterprise drives (spinners) in RAID 10, one on-line spare on the Intel ICH10 chipset. The other two controllers are used for optical drives (system has a PLX bridge chip). In the screen shot below, notice the health status and power-on hours of the SSD.

View attachment 14473

In this shot, note that the C: drive has NEVER been defragged.

View attachment 14474

Finally, you can clearly see that the SSD CANNOT be selected for defragging.

View attachment 14475

Windows 7 auto disables superfetch and other features that are not applicable when SSDs are present.

 

OK I stand corrected. It does not defrag the SSD. But that means the built-in program is useless. Because it does not run the TRIM command. It does nothing when it detects an SSD? Now that's funny

Win7 only turns off superfectch if it detects an SSD with a score 6.5 or higher on the Windows Experience Index.

Win7 really needs a 3rd party program for SSDs. It does not disable all the Windows features automatically. You need Samsung Magician or some other similar program.

I installed it on my father's computer a month ago. Samsung Magician had to turn at least a half doezen features SSDs do not use, like indexing.

 

You may be confusing features specific to the controller used in the SSD to those of the OS.

1) TRIM is enabled in Windows 7 automatically. Note that TRIM requires support by the drive firmware. It is also supported by Intel RST whether in RAID or not. No 3rd party tools are needed. This can be verified with the command:

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

TRIM is not passed through older 88SE9128 Marvell disk controllers. This has nothing to do with Windows 7 however.

2) Wear leveling is done in firmware on the SSD. No 3rd party tools are needed.

3) Windows 7 will offset and align SSD partitions properly. No 3rd party tools are needed.

4) Indexing - there is not complete agreement as to whether this should be disabled when an SSD is a boot drive. Potentially, system checkpoint errors could be passed on to the controller. Most knowledgeable people do not allow indexing of entire drives whether SSD or spinner. This is not enabled by default in Windows 7.

5) Superfetch is turned off automatically by Windows 7 if an SSD is detected. I've never seen, nor heard of, anything other than this. No 3rd party tools are needed.

6) Windows 7 automatically disables ClearPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache when SSDs are installed as a boot drive.

7) The caching policies that one implements for an SSD are SSD controller dependent. Again, nothing to do Windows 7. You can do this inside Windows or use a 3rd party tool shipped with the SSD.

8) Windows 7 does one thing I do not prefer. It usually enables hibernation by default. Hibernation is not a useful feature for an SSD boot disk. Disable with the command:

powercfg -h off

By the way, if an SSD exists that scores 6.5 or lower in WEI, then you have problems other than superfetch (possibly running in IDE as opposed to ACHI/RAID mode for example). All in all, Windows 7 is equally as capable as Win 8.x and 10 when it comes to SSDs.

On tidbit regarding SSDs. In the BIOS, I usually disable S3 sleep and use S1 instead as S3 cuts power to the drive and prevents garbage collection (GC) from functioning and recovering dirty NAND.

 

I'm aware TRIM is supported by Win7. The point I was making is that you can't run TRIM from the built-in disk program like you can with Win8+. The Win7 defrag program is rendered useless when an SSD is installed.

Also, Win7 doesn't always configure itself properly for an SSD. If you Google how to setup Win7 for an SSD you'll notice that more often than not, things like Superfetch are NOT disabled.

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/Windows7/Optimize-Windows-7-for-use-with-Solid-State-Drive-page2.html

In guide after guide, it's the same thing: "Turn these things off because SSDs don't need them and Win7 leaves them on" or "Use a 3rd party SSD tool like Samsung Magician to turn these things off"

My own experience with Win7 and Samsung Magician... all the things you say are supposed to be disabled usually are not. SM had to disable them.

 

"The Win7 defrag program is rendered useless when an SSD is installed." - This is a completely false statement. Proof below - this machine with SSD boot drive ...

View attachment 14495

"you'll notice that more often than not, things like Superfetch are NOT disabled." - Wrong again. Very slow/obsolete/misconfigured hardware or certain storage configurations can trip up Windows regardless of version. This is less of a problem with Win 8 simply because it won't install on old hardware (e.g. P4 CPU).

See this how-to article dated May 19, 2014 about superfetch and Windows 8 ...
http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/disable-superfetch-prefetch-windows-8/

Some more ...

1) In the article your link points to, the author states "I'm not a hardware tester, nor is it my intention to become one ...". That should tell you something right there. It is a very old article (old hardware) that was partially updated March 22, 2012.

2) The article references an Anandtech post dated August 30, 2009 and obsolete Gen1 Indilinx SSD controllers that didn't support TRIM. This is 2014 and we are 4 generations of SSD tech beyond that.

3) Garbage collection (GC) and wear-leveling are more important than TRIM with modern SSDs. This is provided through SSD firmware, not Win 7/8/10 and can be affected by power profiles in all 3 Windows versions. There should never be a need to manually invoke TRIM. It should be enabled by default in Win 7/8 when any Gen 2+ SSD is present. If the SSD firmware supports TRIM, then Windows takes care of it without intervention. (Note: GC write amplification issues aren't specific to any version of Windows.)

As for Samsung Magician, this is a rather slick, convenience tool that simplifies setup (i.e. power/hw profiles, hibernation) and is applicable to Win 7/Win 8 and presumably Win 10 when released. I don't see anything that is Windows 7 specific.

IMO, the best features are:

a) Easy access to current versions of secure erase should it be needed (all Win versions).
b) Ensures that write-cache buffer flushing is enabled (data integrity - all Win versions).
View attachment 14496
c) Allows easy over-provisioning (OP) should you forget to do it during Windows 7/8/10 installation - something I do with all consumer-based SSDs.
View attachment 14497
d) Provides installation of proprietary RAPID drivers (functions somewhat like a cache).

RAPID mode is a Samsung engineered filter driver for the Windows 7/8 storage stack. In all probability, this will be adapted for Win 10 - unless MS decides to steal it. Below is a link to a "confidential" Samsung document.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads/Samsung_SSD_Rapid_Mode_Whitepaper.pdf

Again, no 3rd party tools are needed for SSD setup under Windows 7. There is, however, one problem with 7 that may require drivers/tools in the future. It doesn't natively support TRIM for PCI Express SSDs based on NVMe.

 

Well you believe what you want The article posted was just one example of many dozens saying the same thing. No matter what MS says Win7 is supposed to do when it detects an SSD, more often than not it doesn't configure itself properly. My own experience tells me this. Don't know what say other than that.

We're really getting off topic also. Wasn't mean to be a tech argument thread (until DD showed up lol). Just my findings with Win10 and rF2