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Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide For SSDs & HDDs PDF
Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide For SSDs & HDDs PDF
Please do not PM me for help with the guide or any questions about
SSDs/HDDs and Windows!
Please post your questions in this thread or make a new thread!
I will no longer be replying to PMs about this information!
If you have any problem or question on the guide, windows, storage, firmware, drivers, whatever please
do not hesitate to ask in this thread!
System Requirements:
• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit).
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit).
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.
• Internet access (fees may apply).
• Depending on resolution, video playback may require additional memory and advanced graphics
hardware.
• Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for
optimal performance.
• For some Windows Media Center functionality a TV tuner and additional hardware may be required.
• Windows Touch and Tablet PCs require specific hardware.
• HomeGroup requires a network and PCs running Windows 7.
• DVD/CD authoring requires a compatible optical drive.
• BitLocker requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2.
• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive.
• Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM and an additional 15 GB of available hard
disk space.
• Music and sound require audio output.
Windows 7 Professional N SP1-U ISO: (Note: N editions come without media components)
English 32-bit
English 64-bit
OR
Video Tut:
• How to make a bootable Windows 7 USB for the UEFI motherboard and GPT format
install:Warning: Spoiler! (Click to hide)
1. Your USB drive must be bootable and be formatted with a FAT32 file system. The UEFI is
unable to identify a USB drive formatted with NTFS as a UEFI boot device.
How to make a bootable Windows 7 USB installer with CMD:
1. Open and run CMD as Administrator.
2. Type Diskpart, press Enter.
3. Type List Disk, press Enter.
4. Type Select Disk # (where # is the number your USB drive shows up as), press
Enter.
5. Type Clean, press Enter.
6. Type Create Partition Primary, press Enter.
7. Type Active, press Enter.
8. Type Format Quick FS=FAT32, press Enter.
9. Type Assign, press Enter.
10. Type Exit, press Enter.
11. Copy everything from the Windows 7 installation DVD onto the USB key (a simple
drag and drop will do; if you have an .iso extract or mount first).
2. Your USB drive must also contain the directory and file: "*:\efi\boot\bootx64.efi" (* is the
drive letter of your USB key that holds the Windows 7 installation files). This is the ".efi"
installation boot loader extension. If you do not have this directory or file on your USB drive
this is how you create it:
1. First, create a new directory called boot inside the "efi" folder on the USB.
2. You will then need to copy all of the files from the "*:\efi\microsoft\boot" directory
into the directory you just created ("*:\efi\boot").
3. Next, use 7-Zip to open the archive located at: "*:\sources\install.wim."
4. Inside the archive, find the file located in folder
"1\Windows\boot\efi\bootmgfw.efi."
5. Copy this file to "*:\EFI\Boot\" location you created earlier. (Not in the 7-zip) (This
file is also available from any current windows 7 installation. It is located in the
"C:\Windows\Boot\EFI" folder.)
6. After copying the file to the "*:\efi\boot" directory, rename the file in
"*:\EFI\Boot\bootmgfw.efi" to "bootx64.efi". You should now have an EFI boot loader
folder for Windows called *:\efi\boot\" with all of the files copied from the
"*:\efi\microsoft\boot" folder and the newly named "bootx64.efi."
7. Your install media (DVD/USB) must be inserted into your PC prior to powering it up.
This will allow your UEFI to register your device (DVD/USB drive) as a UEFI boot enabled
device.
System Preparation!
Be sure to not only go over my checklist but to make your own and see if you need to do anything else or
not. Feel free to share any changes you make.
The Checklist:
1. Read your motherboard manual! This saves you the hassle of asking which SATA port is which and
much more; almost everything is in there!
2. If your hardware is overclocked please revert to stock clocks for installation to prevent data
corruption.
3. Enable AHCI SATA mode in the UEFI/BIOS. Use RAID mode if you are going to use a RAID array or
Intel SRT aka. SSD caching. Guide here: (link)
4. Check to see if ACPI 2.0 or newer is in the UEFI/BIOS and enable it if it is there, if not then don't
worry about it.
5. Check and see if there is an update to the firmware of your SSD/HDD and update if necessary.
Storage drivers, firmware, and utilities here: (link)
6. Disconnect all the drives but the one you are installing to. You will reconnect them in step 5 of
"System Setup after Installation." This is to prevent the installer from installing the Windows 7
boot partition on another drive in the system and so you don't accidentally format or delete data on
the wrong drive.
7. If you are using a SSD use the native Intel or AMD SATA 3Gb/s or SATA 6Gb/s ports, I advise that
you do NOT use the Marvell or other 3rd party SATA ports for your SSD/HDD.
Here however, I am going to show you how to install on either MBR (Master Boot Record) formatted
or GPT (GUID Partition Table) formatted disks. By default Windows will use MBR, but for UEFI
motherboards you can use GPT. You can decide to use either if you have an UEFI motherboard. If you
have a BIOS use MBR.
Important! You should not use GPT format unless you need to. The MBR format is what most people
should use. You should only use GPT if you want to boot Windows off a 2.2TB+ partition or if you want to
test it out. People are having issues with the GPT format because they don't know how to troubleshoot
and since I can not have their PC in front of me I can't troubleshoot for them either. So I highly
recommend that if you do not need to use the GPT format or if you don't know what you are doing and
don't have a real reason to use GPT then you should use the MBR set up.
If you guys ever get an issue with a system image restoration with GPT this may help. (link)
Configure a drive using a BIOS/UEFI motherboard and MBR format:-> (Click to hide)
Well, here you can choose to keep the Microsoft system Reserve partition or not.
On a fresh (custom) installation of Windows 7, where Windows 7 is installed onto a new hard disk with
unallocated disk space (no partition or volume been defined yet), or when user attempts to create a new
partition out of empty drive, the Windows 7 installer will create an additional partition with the size of
100MB, and mark as System Reserved.
The 100MB volume is labeled as System Reserved with NTFS file system, and System, Active, Primary
partition attribute with no drive letter in Disk Management. The 100MB system partition is used primarily
as BitLocker partition for BitLocker encryption. Additionally, it also holds the Windows Recovery
Environment (WinRE) and boot files with boot manager for booting up the computer for troubleshooting
when there is no Windows 7 installation DVD disc on hand.
The Windows 7 created 100MB partition is not the main boot partition or boot drive, but serve only as a
backup.
For Windows 7 users who do not intend to use BitLocker, the 100MB partition can be removed
subsequently and easily (link). However, users can stop and prevent the 100MB partition from been
created in the first place during installation.
Configure drive using an UEFI motherboard and GPT format:Info on GPT (Click to hide)
This guide is for utilizing a Microsoft Operating System (Apple OS and Linux distros, may require different
steps).
A UEFI (GPT) boot drive can only be configured from a blank "unallocated" drive. The drive must initially
contain no partitions or formatting. When configuring the blank drive as a boot drive, (GPT Boot), it is
necessary to configure your drive utilizing 3 partitions. Your motherboard should be an UEFI enabled
motherboard. Although a BIOS can be configured (through hacks) to boot GPT drives, that configuration is
beyond the scope of this guide. When configuring a GPT boot drive, only x64 (64-bit) OSes support this
feature. x86 (32-bit) Windows installations do not support GPT boot devices. If the steps are performed
properly, Windows installation media from Vista SP1 and above are GPT "aware" when launched from a
device marked as "UEFI" in the boot device list. Earlier versions of Windows, can have attached storage
formatted as GPT, but these volumes cannot be booted from.
ESP - 100MB - This is the UEFI System partition. It is the First partition that is placed on the drive. This
partition contains the EFI boot loader, hardware abstraction layer (HAL), drivers, and other pre-OS utilities
utilized Pre-Boot by the UEFI during its boot or system check processes. Windows requires that this
partition be formatted as FAT32.
MSR - 128MB - This partition is the Microsoft Reserved Partition. It is a required partition for any GPT
formatted drive under Windows. This partition will initially be empty after you install Windows, but will be
used later by the OS when performing certain disk tasks. GPT disks do not allow for hidden sectors (as
was the case with MBR). This space is reserved for software operations that formerly used hidden sectors.
You will not format this partition.
Data Partition - This is the remainder of your drive that will contain the OS, User Data, programs, etc.
• Although not currently applicable to SSDs, GPT disks can exceed the 2.2TB bootable limit of a MBR
partitioned drive. MBR drives are limited to four partition table entries, unless a secondary
"extended" partition structure is created.
• Data critical to platform operation is located in partitions, and not in un-partitioned or "hidden"
sectors which in certain instances, can lead to system instability. Data contained in hidden sectors
that result in system problems are difficult to debug.
• GPT disks use primary and backup partition tables for redundancy and 32-bit cyclic redundancy
check (CRC32) fields for improved partition data structure integrity.
• A UEFI boot is more secure, and less vulnerable to pre-boot malware.
• A system utilizing a UEFI boot, will boot and recover from sleep faster than the same machine
using MBR.
• UEFI is the future, and as different implementations of UEFI mature, UEFI will be used for much
more than just booting a computer.
Click here to see guide! (Click to hide)
Here you can either let Windows partition the drive for you automatically or you can do it manually.
Furthermore, I advise making a system image at this point and after complete system set up (link). But
you don't need to. It is just easier for me than reinstalling later.
Here is what I do out of this guide for my set up when I first install: (Click to hide)
Optimizations and Changes:
• Disabled Hibernation
• Page file set to 512MB
• Shutdown for the first time
• Install Motherboard Drivers
• Install newest SATA and chipset drivers
• Run Windows Update
• Change power options
• Run Windows Experience Index Assessment
• Install virus protection and apps
• Move user folder locations to Secondary HDD
• Disabled UAC
Drivers:
• Intel Network
• Intel Chipset
• Intel IGPU
• Intel RST
• Nvidia GFX
• ASUS Xonar Sound
• ASMedia USB
Installed Programs:
• Seagate DiscWizard
• Malwarebytes
• 7-zip
• Adobe Flash
Then this allows me to make a baseline system image I can always go back to and not have to worry
about things. Once image is complete I install all my other programs and set everything up the way I like
and make another system image. Some other optimizations and things are done at later times when I feel
to.
As you can see, this is just a guide with a bunch of tips and tricks, nothing is mandatory or needs to be
followed to a "T" here.
Oh, and here is a list of programs that I usually have installed and use on my PC: (link)
System Setup after Installation:-> (Click to hide)
Be sure to see if the steps apply for either SSDs only or applies to both SSDs/HDDs.
For example...
You install the OS onto a HDD, only do the steps marked SSD/HDD.
You install the system on a SSD then do the steps marked SSD/HDD and SSD only.
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
Video Tut:
• Disable UAC:
Stops the annoying popups that ask "Are you sure you want to do something?"
1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type UAC and press Enter.
2. Move slider to "Never notify."
3. Click the "OK" button.
4. Click "Yes."
5. Restart.
• Turn off Unused Windows 7 Features:
This can help regain some space and free up resources by uninstalling unneeded features you never
use.
1. Click Start.
2. Click the "Control Panel" option.
3. Go to "Programs."
4. Go to "Programs and Features."
5. Click "Turn Windows features on or off" from the left pane.
6. Now uncheck all the features that you don't use in Windows 8.
7. Click the "OK" button.
8. Restart the system for the changes to take effect.
Video Tut:
• Enable write back caching and turnoff windows write-caching buffer flushing on C:\
drive:
Intel users read this: What's The Deal With Write-Cache Buffer Flushing? The performance
improvement is not universal (some drives do not seem to like it for whatever reason), but it does
usually apply to both SSDs and HDDs. HDDs are just at higher risk for data loss as they tend to be
slower at writing their cache information to the drive and require more power when in operation,
thus are less likely to finish writing everything to disk when there is a power failure. Many SSDs
have enough power stored in their capacitors for the half second or so it takes to flush the buffer,
most rotating platter drives do not. There is still some element of risk on most SSDs, but some
(especially enterprise models) have a supercap specifically meant to power the drive long enough for
a complete flush. Most consumer level drives do not have such a feature. In the end its about the
level of risk you are willing to accept. Turning off buffer flushing on an HDD is moderately risky. On a
normal SSD it's low risk (much faster random wirtes get data off the cache onto the NAND fast). On
an enterprise SSD it's virtually no risk (supercapacitor gives these drives even more time to write
data).
1. Open the Start Menu, in the search line, type Disk Management and press Enter.
2. Right click C:\ drive.
3. Click "Properties."
4. Go to the "Hardware" tab.
5. Select your drive.
6. Click Properties."
7. Go to the "Policies" tab.
8. The "Enable write caching" box should be checked by default, if not tick the check mark.
9. Tick the check mark for "turnoff windows write-caching buffer flushing."
10. Click the "OK" button.
11. Once you do this reopen the policies tab and uncheck both boxes and then apply then open
it again and recheck both boxes. Sometimes there is a glitch where it doesn't work the first
time and you don't know it isn't working.
Video Tut:
Next:
4. Open the Start Menu, type regedit, press Enter
5. Go to
Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management\PrefetchParameters
6. Double-click on "EnablePrefetcher" and enter "0" (default value is "3")
7. Double-click on "EnableSuperfetch" and enter "0" (default value is "3")
Video Tut:
• Disk Cleanup:
This is the integrated Disk Cleanup in Windows 7. I often use this after using CCleaner just in case
CCleaner misses anything. Does a good job and I recommend you use it too.
1. Open the Start Menu, type Disk Cleanup, press Enter
2. Select your drive you want to "clean"
3. Check any of the boxes you wish (I check them all)
4. Click OK
5. Click "Delete Files"
• Disk Defragment for HDDs
Haven't really had a need to use anything other than the built in disk defragmenter in Windows. It
works good for me and since it is integrated I don't need to waste space on getting any 3rd party
software.
1. Open the Start Menu, type Disk Defragmenter, press Enter
2. Select your drive you want to defragment
3. Click "Defragment Disk"
Note: Do not defragment your SSD, it does absolutely nothing beneficial for it.
Here is a .bat that will do it automatically when you run it: Empty windows update download
cache.zip 1k .zip file
• Revo Uninstaller:
Best Uninstaller app I have used so far, does a great job at keeping my uninstalls clean and such.
• Space Sniffer:
Cool app that lets you see what is taking up your space on your system and manage it.
Extras!
Here is just a bunch of guides and other useful information for you guys, I'll keep adding things when I
can. If you have anything that you would like to add fee free to leave a suggestion.
To enable TRIM:
1. Open the Start Menu, type CMD
2. Right click the icon and Run as Administrator
3. Type fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
Video Tut:
How to: Move system Reserve partition from secondary drive to the C: drive:Warning:
Spoiler! (Click to hide)
1. Download EasyBCD. It is free for non-commercial use, just click the "Download free for limited,
non-commercial use" link.
2. After downloading, start EasyBCD. Select the Tool from the "toolbox" for "BCD Deployment."
3. Make sure that your SSD is selected in the upper box (the partition on the SSD).
4. Click the Radio button for "Install the Vista/Win7 bootloader to the MBR"
5. Click "Write MBR". (This will make a copy of your current BCD onto your SSD.)
6. Before exiting, click the "View settings" tool, and make sure the Entry shows drive C:\ as the
default windows 7 entry. If it does, you're done.
7. Shut windows down, reboot, and then in disk management youcan delete the 100mb partition from
your HDD, and then extend the other partition on the drive to use the space.
or
http://www.intowindows.com/change-default-installation-directory-in-windows-7-vista/
Get rid of RAID set up splash screen when set to RAID mode:Warning: Spoiler! (Click to hide)
Go to the boot tab in your UEFI. > Option Rom Messages > Set to Keep current. It will no longer show you
the press crtl + i screen at boot.
GUIDE:
1. Boot from your installation or repair disc.
2. When you get to the language screen, press Shift+F10.
3. Type diskpart, Enter
4. Type list disk, Enter after diskpart is loaded
5. Type select disk X (where X is your drive with the System reserve partition on it), Enter
6. Type list partition, Enter
7. Type select partition X (where X is your System reserve partition), Enter
8. Type delete partition override, Enter
9. Type list disk, Enter
10. Type select disk X (where X is your OS drive), Enter
11. Type list partition, Enter
12. Type select partition X (where X is your OS partition), Enter
13. Type active, Enter
14. Close the command prompt
We have deleted the partition, and Windows will be unable to boot at this point. Now it is time to write a
new boot loader and BCD to the Windows partition.
Now shut down, unplug any secondary drives, boot up and run start up repair up to 3 times.
In CMD type:
How to have steam on the SSD while having the games on either the SSD or HDD:Warning:
Spoiler! (Click to hide)
1. Delete everything in the Steam folder except for the "steam.exe" and the "steamapps" folder
2. Have the "steam.exe" to a folder made on the C:\ drive (C:\Users\Sean\Steam)
3. Have the "steamapps" folder on the HDD you want to store your games (D:\User\Program
Files\Steam\steamapps)
4. Make a junction from the "steamapps" folder to the SSD folder with the "steam.exe" in it
5. Open the "steam.exe" and it will reconfigure steam
6. Logged in and BAM! All your games are recognized and steam is on the SSD and the games on the
other drive.
7. Now, you can put what ever games you want on the SSD with Steam Mover (or junctions)
8. Create another folder on the C:\ drive and name it (C:\Users\Sean\Steam Games)
9. Run Steam Mover and have it move the game to that location and you are done!
10. Now go play the games you want!
Shortcut commands:
• Win + Tab > Alt + Tab for switching through windows
• Win + P For Multi displays this helps a lot
• Win + E Opens Computer
• Win + D Minimizes everything quickly when needed wink.gif
• Win + F Windows Finder
• Win + L Locks the PC
• Win + Arrow keys Snaps windows
You can disable blank password restrictions by using a policy. To locate and change this policy:
1. Click Start, point to Run, type gpedit.msc, and then click OK to start the Group Policy Editor.
2. Open Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security
Options\Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only.
3. Double-click Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only.
4. Click Disabled, and then click OK.
5. Quit Group Policy Editor.
Disable needing to put in a password to log into Windows and you can set yourself as admin as well:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to hide)
Click on Start and then enter the following command in the search box:
netplwiz
This command will load the Advanced User Accounts Control Panel applet.
In the Users tab, uncheck the box next to Users must enter a user name and password to use this
computer.
Click on the Apply button at the bottom of the User Accounts window.
When the Automatically Log On dialog box appears, enter the user name you wish to automatically login
to Windows 7 with. Then enter your account password in the two fields where it's asked.
From now on, when your PC starts up, Windows 7 will log on automatically.
TON OF LINKS!
-Backup:
http://www.howtogeek.com/108679/the-best-articles-for-backing-up-and-syncing-your-data/
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25046/schedule-synctoy-to-run-automatically-with-task-scheduler-in-
windows-7/
http://www.todo-backup.com/business/free-backup.htm
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
http://www.fbackup.com/
http://backup.comodo.com/
http://www.acebackup.com/
http://clonezilla.org/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/....http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/?&fq[]=trove%3A137
&fq[]=trove%3A787
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155
http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
http://www.cobiansoft.com/
http://www.piriform.com/recuva
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=15155
-UEFI:
http://info-coach.fr/pc/hardware/AsusP8P67/Asus-UEFI.php
https://gitorious.org/tianocore_uefi_duet_builds/pages/Windows_x64_BIOS_to_UEFI
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/booting.html
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/83e12678-271f-4a8d-82b3-
8b213f79582e
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463140.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463525
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799232%28WS.10%29.aspx
http://www.logic.nl/Products/Technology/BIOS-and-EFI.aspx
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#Booting_an_OS_using_UEFI
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1584795
-Windows 7
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff545499%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/29178-WinAIO-Maker-Professional-The-All-in-One-Windows-
Setup-Solution
http://www.windowsvalley.com/create-windows-7-aio-all-in-one-dvd-or-merge-all-editions-of-windows-7-
in-single-dvd/
http://www.rt7lite.com/
http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-7/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-amp-
Utilities-*
http://www.joshcellsoftwares.com/
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Keyboard-shortcuts
http://reboot.pro/15593/
http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/
http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=356046
http://agnipulse.com/2010/02/imdisk-virtual-disk-driver/
http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk?
http://lifehacker.com/5560281/move-your-caches-to-a-ram-disk-to-reduce-wear-on-ssds
http://www.ghacks.net/2010/06/10/use-a-ram-disk-to-reduce-writes-on-solid-state-drives/
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-windows-7-optimization-guide/
http://www.blackviper.com/category/guides/service-configurations/
http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/windows-7/2441-windows-7-ultimate-solid-state-drive-speed-
tweaks.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/05/05/support-and-q-a-for-solid-state-drives-and.aspx
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2069761
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545027
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/go-to-registry-key-menuext-ie/
-Alignment:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jimmymay/archive/2009/05/08/disk-partition-alignment-sector-alignment-
make-the-case-with-this-template.aspx
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/anthonyv/entry/ibm_and_windows_disk_
partition_alignment1?lang=en
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2888
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982018/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2385637/en-us
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/partition-alignment/
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157
http://lifehacker.com/5837769/make-sure-your-partitions-are-correctly-aligned-for-optimal-solid-state-
drive-performance
-SSD:
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/ssd-performance-loss-and-its-solution/
http://static.usenix.org/event/hotstorage10/tech/full_papers/Mohan.pdf
(APPLE TRIM) http://www.mactrast.com/2011/07/how-to-enable-trim-support-for-all-ssds-in-os-x-lion/
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?271063-SSD-Write-Endurance-25nm-Vs-34nm
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/SSD-Tool-free-space-trimmer/td-p/51198
http://www.ssd-life.com/
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/253953-32-useful-articles
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/270102-32-useful-articles-part
http://pastebin.com/N8rY8v0i
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/07/nand_flash_faces_off_synchronous_vs_asynchronous/3
http://club.myce.com/f138/ssd-faq-297856/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?74093-How-to-use-HDDErase
http://www.ssdreview.com/review/compare/samsung-serie-830-128gb-25-inch-
cxm03b1q/asssdbenchmark.html
http://computerhardwareupgrades.blogspot.com/2012/03/quick-look-at-ssds-and-how-to-pick-one.html
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4408/microns-p320h-a-custom-controller-native-pcie-ssd-in-350700gb-
capacities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738
http://www.infoworld.com/print/152263
http://www.storagereview.com/how_upgrade_crucial_ssd_firmware
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?79848-THE-BASIC-GUIDE-amp-FAQ-ABC-
for-OCZ-SSD
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?306-SSD-ABC-Guide
-Software:
http://www.door2windows.com/change-oem-information-and-display-extra-text-in-system-properties/
http://ninite.com/
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/usb-booting/
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
http://www.revouninstaller.com/
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
https://www.virtualbox.org/
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
http://www.hiren.info/downloads/freeware-tools/1
http://majorgeeks.com/Glary_Utilities_d5870.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2039/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.5.5.html
http://www.overclock.net/t/146790/memtest86
http://www.overclock.net/t/711417/magical-jelly-bean-keyfinder
http://www.overclock.net/t/305818/security-process-explorer
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm
http://www.glarysoft.com/
http://www.videolan.org/
http://www.overclock.net/t/525501/switch
http://www.kcsoftwares.com/?sumo
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.7-zip.org/
http://eraser.heidi.ie/
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
http://www.axantum.com/
http://app.jbbres.com/actions/
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
http://windirstat.info/
http://www.hexagora.com/en_dw_davperf.asp
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed
http://tweevo.com/easy-h-264-video-encoder/
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm
http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_pro
https://www.google.com/search?q=uTorrent&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&client=firefox-a
http://rainmeter.net/cms/
http://www.wireshark.org/
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/
http://metasploit.com/
http://www.tenable.com/products/nessus
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php
http://phyxion.net/
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-v2-a-tweak-ui-for-windows-7-vista
http://dcunningham.net/media-tools/encodehd/
http://www.fcleaner.com/
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html
http://www.wegame.com/
http://www.crossloop.com/
http://www.sandboxie.com/
http://www.dvdflick.net/
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
http://www.imgburn.com/
http://staxmedia.sourceforge.net/
http://www.dvdshrink.org/what_en.php
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/RipBot264
http://www.comodo.com/home/download/download.php?prod=anti-malware
http://www.realvnc.com/
http://grandstreamdreams.blogspot.com/2009/08/devio-remote-drive-access-and.html
http://cccp-project.net/
http://nosleephd.codeplex.com/
https://www.google.com/search?q=TRUECRYPT&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&client=firefox-a
http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_password.html
http://www.online-convert.com/
http://findandmount.com/
http://www.gamesave-manager.com/?s=download
http://phyxion.net/item/driver-sweeper.html
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=35
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
http://www.killdisk.com/
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
http://www.pandorarecovery.com/
http://www.oo-software.com/en/products/oodiskrecovery
http://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/
-PC:
http://nosleephd.codeplex.com/releases/view/24052
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/67-windows-7-tips-tricks-and-secrets-
643861?artc_pg=3
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/45?vs=363
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-amp-
Utilities-*
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883109029
http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/
http://www.google.com/search?q=professor+messer&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-
Address&ie=&oe=
http://superuser.com/questions/106917/remote-desktop-without-a-password
http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-7/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?74093-How-to-use-HDDErase
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/downloads/support_in_es.html
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=308
http://mintywhite.com/vista/vcustomization/restore-quick-launch-shortcut-icons-in-windows-vista-how-
to/
http://www.tweakhound.com/windows7/tweaking/13.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-shortcut-icon-arrow-overlay-in-windows-vista/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?72309-How-to-switch-to-RAID-0-without-
reinstalling
http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html
http://home2.paulschou.net/tools/xlate/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463009.aspx
http://techpp.com/2009/11/11/download-windows-7-iso-official-direct-download-links/
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-7-start-button-changer-released
http://www.intowindows.com/configure-windows-7-taskbar-and-start-menu-transparency-level-using-
taskbar-transizer/
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd535816.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/23974/beginner-deauthorize-all-computers-associated-with-your-
itunes-account/
http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7142/access-windows-7-system-settings-the-easy-way/
http://lifehacker.com/5811545/dropbox-linker-makes-dropbox-sharing-effortless-by-automatically-
copying-new-public-links
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090801041040AAyt1mi
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/skype_portable
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php?id=downloads
http://code.kliu.org/misc/winisoutils/
http://forums.techarena.in/guides-tutorials/1172499.htm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236
http://www.howtogeek.com/57442/how-to-backup-and-resurrect-a-dead-or-dying-system-disk-with-
clonezilla/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?72309-How-to-switch-to-RAID-0-without-
reinstalling!
http://nospecifictopic.blogspot.com/2001_04_01_archive.html
http://techpp.com/2009/11/11/download-windows-7-iso-official-direct-download-links/
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-prevent-users-from-installing-programs-in-windows-7
http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/scansystemfiles.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuwjadbtUCY&feature=related
Q&A/Facts:
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to hide)
4K alignment?
By default Windows 7 will align your partition to 1MB, which is fine. You don't need to do anything special.
Default offset is already 4K compatible.
SSDs: It is important that your SSD is 4k aligned because of how SSD's perform their read/write
operations. Typically SSDs have a NAND Erase Block Size of 512kB and their NAND Page Size is 4kB. If
your blocks and pages arent aligned then your will have reduced performance and possibly hurt your
SSD's lifespan. Windows vista and newer aligns to 1024 (1MB) and there is no alignment issue. However,
usually Windows XP will misalign SSDs and the offset will need to be fixed. Thus, by setting the offset to
something that is 4k compatible here are no misaligned blocks or pages.
For HDDs:
Source
"The sector size increase, described by Advanced Format, occurs at the hard drive media level. Host
systems will continue to request and receive data from the hard Advanced Format 4K Sector drive in 512-
byte sector sizes. However, the translation from 4096-byte sectors in the hard drive to the 512-byte
sectors in the host will be managed in the hard drive. This process is called 512-byte emulation. It’s
important that every drive partition start with an LBA offset that is aligned to the drive’s physical 4K
sector. If partitions are un-aligned, then hard drive performance will be degraded"
Basically with 4K drives you need to make sure your drive is aligned properly for best performance. The
default 1MB offset made my Windows 7 and 4MB (4096KB) is fine. However, if you somehow set it
manually to something that is odd, then you can have decreased performance. Usually cloning or imaging
software can cause issues with this.
More here:
• http://forum.acronis.com/forum/32883
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh848035%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
• http://consumer.media.seagate.com/2010/03/the-digital-den/4k-sector-hard-drive-primer/
• http://consumer.media.seagate.com/2010/03/the-digital-den/4k-sector-hard-drive-primer/
• http://hothardware.com/Reviews/WDs-1TB-Caviar-Green-w-Advanced-Format-Windows-XP-Users-
Pay-Attention/?page=1
See disk sector info in CMD: fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo X: (where X is the drive letter)
A.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xandypx;15569282
The alignment parameter specifies the starting point for a particular partition. this may have been
discussed earlier in this thread, but I'll clarify anyway.
In the case of an SSD, you want to ensure that a logical sector of the Primary DATA partition starts
exactly at the beginning of a physical page of the SSD. Without the alignment, the sector boundaries and
the page boundaries will not match and sectors will span pages. That would require for a Windows write
operation to clear two blocks in lieu of only one, reducing the theoretical write speed by 50%.
The first two partition's relative locations under GPT don't matter. The only requirement is that the ESP
(EFI) is the very first partition, preceding all others. It is also benefitial (although not required) that the
free space (MSR), that you create resides in front of, and next to, your primary GPT data partition.
Since the very first partition is for the UEFI, once the EUFI hands control of the system to the OS, the ESP
partition is no longer used. As I mentioned before, the MSR partition is only used by the OS for certain
disk intensive operations, or dynamic disks etc.., so again the alignment (offset) is not important. It is the
day to day OS operation where the alignment becomes important.
A standard offset of 1024 is used for the EFI partition. This is done to avoid writing to sectors 0 through
33 of the EFI/gpt labeled "Logical Disk", and potentially overwriting the disk label. The second partition
(MSR) starts at 101MB. Don't get confused because the alignment numbers in a typical Widows7
installation are shown as:
Don't think that 101MB is not divisible by 4 and that there must be a problem. If you convert 101MBs into
KBs (multiply by 1024), then the number is divisible by 4 and the partition is aligned.
The same goes for the important primary partition at 232MB. (again multiply by 1024, and divide by 4). A
whole number indicates alignment of the partition blocks, virtual sectors, and the logical disk volume
blocks. This is what you want to acomplish with alignment.
Quote:
Q: Why 4096 alignment vs. 1024?
A:
Quote:
Originally Posted by esocid;15530789
I believe the 4096 thing is with the change in sector size of disks from 512 to 4096. So basically 4096 is
the "new" first sector, rather than 512x2 (1024). If this is HDD or SSD specific, I am not positive.
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-4kb-sector-disks/index.html?ca=dgr-lnxw074KB-
Disksdth-LX
Quote:
Originally Posted by BradleyW;15533065
Ok it's about time we got this sorted.
1. You don't need to run AHCI when using a SSD. By this, I mean you can run HDD's in raid with a SSD on
its own. Whichever drives are not selected as raid will run in AHCI although the bios reports raid mode.
2. 4096 is the correct allocation size for newer storage devices. Why?
A hard drive or SSD is a chunk of free space (Let's talk in digital terms). So this free space needs to be
divided into segments. By setting 1024, 1024 small little chunks can be help within a segment. By setting
4096, you can hold over 3072 more chunks per segment.
For example..
Compressible data: AAACCCFFGBBRR could be compressed to A2C2F1B1R1, where the numbers are used
to decompress the data.
Incompressible data: ABCDEFGHIJKL. Using our example algorithm, there is no way to compress that!