61nearly1.5GBonourPC(seescreenshot
belowleft).
TodisabletheHibernatefeature,delete
the‘hiberfil.sys’fileandhopefullyspeed
upyourSSD,typepowercfg/honinto
CommandPromptthenpressEnter.
Youwon’treceiveconfirmationthat
Hibernateisdisabled,butyoucancheck
bytypingpowercfg/aandpressingEnter.ChangethebootorderofyourPC
IfyourcomputercamewithanSSD
installed,itshouldbeconfiguredtoboot
fromthatdrivebeforeanyotherdrives,so
thatWindowsstartsinseconds.Butif
you’veaddedanSSDyourself,makesure
it’s setasthefirstbootdeviceoryour
start-upwillbemuchslower.
Tochangethebootorder,you’llneedto
accessyourPC’sUEFIorBIOS.Open
Settings,click‘Update&Security’,then
Recovery(inWindows 1 1,chooseSystem,
thenRecovery)andclickthe‘Restart
now’buttoninthe‘Advancedstart-up’
section.OnceyourPCreboots,choose
Troubleshoot,then‘Advancedoptions’,selectUEFIFirmwareSettingsandclick
Restart.OntheUEFIorBIOSscreenthat
opens,chooseBootOptions(orsimilar)
andselecttheoptioncalledBootOrder
(seescreenshotaboveleft),Boot
SequenceorBootPriority.Usethe
specifiedkeysonyourkeyboardorthe
on-screenmenutoconfiguretheboot
ordersoyourSSDappearsfirst(aswe’ve
donewithourSamsungmodelinour
screenshot).Saveandexit,restartyour
PCagainandyourSSDwillstart
Windowssignificantlyfasterthanbefore.GiveyourSSDmaximumpower
AnotherreasonyourSSDmaybeslowis
thatWindowsisn’tallocatingitenough
power.Ifyourlaptopisn’tpluggedinto
themains,thisisasensibleprecaution,
butathomeyoucantweakyourpower
settingstogivethedrivemaximum
powerandspeed.
InWindows 1 0, gotoSettings,then
System,select‘Power&sleep’andchoose
‘Additionalpowersettings’. Click‘Create
apowerplan’andselect‘Highperformance’(seescreenshotabove)toallowyourSSD
torunatfullcapacity.Click‘Next’and
specifywhetherthenewsettingsapply
onlywhenyourcomputerispluggedin,
oronbatterytoo,thenclickCreate.In
Windows11,choose‘Power&battery’on
theSystemscreenthenselectthe‘High
performance’powermode.UpdateyourSSD’sfirmware
Justlikeotherhardwareinandconnected
toyourPC,it’sessentialtokeepyour
SSD’sfirmwareuptodate.Notonlydoes
thisfixbugsidentifiedbythemanufacturer,
butitimprovesthedrive’s performance
andensuresit’sfullycompatiblewiththe
currentversionofyouroperatingsystem.
SSDupdates areusually appliedthrough
WindowsUpdate, butyou can checkfor
andinstall them manual ly.
In Windows10or11, pressWindows
key+Rtolaunch theRun commandbox,
type devmgmt.msc thenpres sEnter.
When Device Manageropens,click the
arrow next to ‘Diskdrives’ to open that
entry andright-clickyourSSD.Select
‘Update driver’(seescree nshot above),
thenclick‘Search automaticallyfor
drivers’.Windows will fin dand install
anynew updatesavailable foryourSSD,
to ensur eitk eepsrunning smoothly.If
youalready have the‘best drivers’
installed, ch eckthe manufacturer’s
websitetosee if newfirmware is available
foryourSSD –for example, visitwww.
snipca.com/40444forSamsungSSDs.Defragmentingyourharddrivereorders
itscontentssothat dataisarrangedinto
neat‘contiguous’sections,butyoudon’t
needtodothiswithasolid-state drive.
BecauseanSSD usesflash memory
ratherthanmechanicalparts,itcan
readscatteredblocksofdatajustas
quickly as itcanreadadjacent blocks, so
there’snospeedbenefittomoving data
around.DefragginganSSDcanactually
shortenitslifespan,becauseitcauses
unnecessarywearandtear.
Thankfully, thebestdefragmenting
tools,includingthe one builtinto
Windows,willidentifyanSSDandwon’t
defragit. Instead,theyletyou‘optimise’
thedrive,which usestheTrimcommand(seefirsttip)tofreeupspacefromblocks
thatcontaindeleteddata.TheWindows
toolworksautomatically,butyoucan
runitmanually bytyping defragintothe
search boxandselecting‘Defragment
andOptimiseDrives’.ChooseyourSSD
andclick Optimise(see screenshot).Issue 623 •19January–1February 2022ShouldyoudefragmentyourSSD?
We’vesetourSamsungSSDasthefirstbootdevicetoensurethe
fastestpossiblestart-up
Tweakyourcomputer’spowerplantoboostyourSSD’sspeedwhen
you’repluggedinUpdatingthefirmwareforyourSSDcan
preventandresolveperformanceproblems