In addition to disabling the pagefile system, I disabled a
couple more things:


Disable Background auto-layout:

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Op
timalLayout Value Name: EnableAutoLayout Type: REG_DWORD Value:
0


Disable Prefetch

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters Name:
EnablePrefetcher Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0


The above made perfect sense.


But I am not too sure I want to do this one:


Disable update of filesystem's "last access timestamps"

"Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Name: NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1


All of the above are from this article:

https://ckirbach.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/how-to-optimise- windows-xp-for-ssd-solid-state-disk-operation/

Thoughts.. anyone?


--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote

| Thoughts.. anyone?
|

He talks about valuable info but doesn't explain his
reasoning with those settings. I don't understand them
well enough to judge. But I do disable indexing and
generally disable unnecessary services. When I check the
number of writes on my system it's miniscule compared
to the projected life of the drive. I also don't scrimp
on drives. They're not very expensive. I don't need a
big one. So I mantain 2 500 GB drives on each machine
and mirror the data. About $50 to replace. I generally do
that before they get too old. I haven't had any problems
with SSD.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:12:00 -0500, august abolins wrote:

In addition to disabling the pagefile system, I disabled a
couple more things:

Disable Background auto-layout:

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Op
timalLayout Value Name: EnableAutoLayout Type: REG_DWORD Value:
0

Disable Prefetch

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters Name:
EnablePrefetcher Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0

The above made perfect sense.

But I am not too sure I want to do this one:

Disable update of filesystem's "last access timestamps"

"Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Name: NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1

All of the above are from this article:

https://ckirbach.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/how-to-optimise- windows-xp-for-ssd-solid-state-disk-operation/

Thoughts.. anyone?

File system's last access time updates generally occurs more frequently than both defrag-on-idle and prefetch (on program execution). Adding to that, the system also writes event logs and registry from time to time which mostly
based on events. Write cache won't help much, since the location of the
written data will likely be scattered throughout the disk. It'll simply
delay the disk write operations.

It's recommended to use a tool to temporarily monitor applications which are used daily. Just to find out how frequent they perform disk operations which are not cached. Both read and write.

FYI, anti-virus is a heavy disk accessor, since when an executable file is loaded, the system simply maps the file into memory. While the system do
have to read the file's header part, it doesn't actually need read the other parts of the file until a code needs to be executed, or a data needs to be read. IOTW, the system doesn't have to read the whole executable file when
it's being loaded. But not for anti virus, where it must scan all data in
files which are being loaded, be it executables or not. While data is cached into memory and the cache capacity will auto resize itself as needed,
there's still a limit of how much it can grow. Not to mention that, it will shrink if applications allocate more memory when there's no free memory
space left. The cache won't guarantee that all files' data are kept in the cache.

And FYI, these don't apply to just XP. They apply to all OSes.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Newyana2!

He talks about valuable info but doesn't explain his
reasoning with those settings. I don't understand them
well enough to judge.

I think it's all about avoiding "writes".

But I do disable indexing and
generally disable unnecessary services.

I still have a pile of services running. But indexing sounds
like a good candidate to turn off.

When I check the
number of writes on my system it's miniscule compared
to the projected life of the drive.

How do you use to "check the number of writes"?

I also don't scrimp on drives. They're not very expensive. I
don't need a big one. So I mantain 2 500 GB drives on each
machine and mirror the data. About $50 to replace. I
generally do that before they get too old. I haven't had any
problems with SSD.

Well.. this 1TB drive is my first. Now, I need I need a 2TB or
larger HDD/SSD just to do image backups.

--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/25/2023 8:15 AM, JJ wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:12:00 -0500, august abolins wrote:

In addition to disabling the pagefile system, I disabled a
couple more things:

Disable Background auto-layout:

Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Op
timalLayout Value Name: EnableAutoLayout Type: REG_DWORD Value:
0

Disable Prefetch

Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters Name:
EnablePrefetcher Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0

The above made perfect sense.

But I am not too sure I want to do this one:

Disable update of filesystem's "last access timestamps"

"Key Name:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Name: NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate Type: REG_DWORD Value: 1

All of the above are from this article:

https://ckirbach.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/how-to-optimise-
windows-xp-for-ssd-solid-state-disk-operation/

Thoughts.. anyone?

File system's last access time updates generally occurs more frequently than both defrag-on-idle and prefetch (on program execution). Adding to that, the system also writes event logs and registry from time to time which mostly based on events. Write cache won't help much, since the location of the written data will likely be scattered throughout the disk. It'll simply
delay the disk write operations.

It's recommended to use a tool to temporarily monitor applications which are used daily. Just to find out how frequent they perform disk operations which are not cached. Both read and write.

FYI, anti-virus is a heavy disk accessor, since when an executable file is loaded, the system simply maps the file into memory. While the system do
have to read the file's header part, it doesn't actually need read the other parts of the file until a code needs to be executed, or a data needs to be read. IOTW, the system doesn't have to read the whole executable file when it's being loaded. But not for anti virus, where it must scan all data in files which are being loaded, be it executables or not. While data is cached into memory and the cache capacity will auto resize itself as needed,
there's still a limit of how much it can grow. Not to mention that, it will shrink if applications allocate more memory when there's no free memory
space left. The cache won't guarantee that all files' data are kept in the cache.

And FYI, these don't apply to just XP. They apply to all OSes.

Most likely, NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate would be disabled on
Win10 or Win11 machines as well, by Microsoft. On winXP, you do that
yourself.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote
|
| How do you use to "check the number of writes"?
|

I have Samsung Magician, but recent versions of that
don't work in XP. So I got CrystalDiskInfo.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Newyana2!

** On Wednesday 25.01.23 - 19:57, Newyana2 wrote to :

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote
|
| How do you use to "check the number of writes"?
|

I have Samsung Magician, but recent versions of that
don't work in XP. So I got CrystalDiskInfo.

I have CDI too. Which specific Attribute do you monitor for
number of writes? I don't see anything that resembles that.
--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote

| I have CDI too. Which specific Attribute do you monitor for
| number of writes? I don't see anything that resembles that.

Right in the main window: Total Host Writes

I don't really worry about it and don't often look at it. My
writes are currently under 1 TB. I calculated it once and according
to the experts, the Midwest US may be an ocean again
before I exhaust the write capacity. So I just watch for any
write problems that might indicate failure, and I don't push it.
At about $50 each, I think of disks like car tires. You don't wait
until one blows out. If it's getting old I just replace it.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Newyana2!

| I have CDI too. Which specific Attribute do you monitor for
| number of writes? I don't see anything that resembles that.

Right in the main window: Total Host Writes

Mine doesn't have that:

https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/b5b7ed760329

--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 1/26/2023 8:35 AM, august abolins wrote:

Hello Newyana2!

| I have CDI too. Which specific Attribute do you monitor for
| number of writes? I don't see anything that resembles that.

Right in the main window: Total Host Writes

Mine doesn't have that:

https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/b5b7ed760329

--
../|ug

CrystalDiskInfo 8.4.2 shows

F6 Total Host Sector Writes <=== Raw data is sectors
F7 Host Program Page Count
F8 Background Program Page Count

Your F6 shows Vendor Specific and 376A7BCB
or 929,725,387 sectors or 464,862,693 KB
or 453,967 MB or 443GB.

Where your Health Status in the upper left says "Good"
it should say "Good 99%" or the like. Your drive is
360 TBW so you've used approximately 1/720 of life
(0.1%).

Since you just cloned it, day to day writes will
be a lower/different number than the cloning incident.
If there were a "projected lifespan", it should grow
with time.

If you edit raw videos (200GB) on it 12 hours a day, yes, that'll
make a dent. But just web surfing (cache set to use RAM and
not disk), it'll last a hell of a long time.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote

| https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/b5b7ed760329
|
Is that supposed to be an image? I don't see anything. The
source code shows an ungodly number of linked script files and
one image link that gives me access denied.

For future reference, postimages.org lets you upload
images for viewing with no BS and no funny business.
Here's my CDI window, v. 8:

https://i.postimg.cc/xj331K7w/CDI.gif

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Newyana2!

| https://paste.opensuse.org/pastes/b5b7ed760329
|
Is that supposed to be an image? I don't see anything. The
source code shows an ungodly number of linked script files and
one image link that gives me access denied.

Works fine for me, and there is no extraneous scripting going
one. It's a very clean display.

To ALL: Anyone else here having problems with the opensuse
resource?

For future reference, postimages.org lets you upload
images for viewing with no BS and no funny business.

I'll keep that in my toolbox. Thx. Meanwhile that one *does*
populate my MyPal screen with ads. :( And it pushes another
ad in its place when I close the one that likes to slide up
from the bottom. I'm on mobile internet here, so unmonitored
activity like that can chew up data if I don't close the page.

Here's my CDI window, v. 8:

https://i.postimg.cc/xj331K7w/CDI.gif

Excellent. 4900+ power on counts.. so does that mean you 500GB
SSD is over 10yrs old? (assuming you power up once per day).

--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Paul!

CrystalDiskInfo 8.4.2 shows

Thx. I eventually realized that my version of CDI was pretty
old, and probably predated SSDs! Version 8.17.14 shows the
info that I seek.

--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote

| I'll keep that in my toolbox. Thx. Meanwhile that one *does*
| populate my MyPal screen with ads. :( And it pushes another
| ad in its place when I close the one that likes to slide up
| from the bottom.

Are you sure that's not something else pushing ads? I don't see
any code for that in their source. Though I also don't generally
enable script. They do try to load script from usefulcontentsites.com.
What I see, not needing any script, is the picture I uploaded, on a
gray background, with not much else.

| I'm on mobile internet here, so unmonitored
| activity like that can chew up data if I don't close the page.
|
Why not use HOSTS file and/or NoScript, uBlock Origin,
etc. The bulk of the crap on websites is unsafe and need
not be loaded.

|
| Excellent. 4900+ power on counts.. so does that mean you 500GB
| SSD is over 10yrs old? (assuming you power up once per day).
|
I don't know where it gets that. It's probably about 4 years old.
It must count every time it wakes from sleep. I usually only
turn it off at night, but I put it on sleep whenever I leave it.
That could typically be 5+ times per day.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hello Newyana2!

Are you sure that's not something else pushing ads? I don't
see any code for that in their source. Though I also don't
generally enable script. They do try to load script from
usefulcontentsites.com. What I see, not needing any script,
is the picture I uploaded, on a gray background, with not
much else.

When I invoke nextdns, the site responds very fast and no
scripting. Only your image shows up. So.. nextdns seems to be
the key to success here.

Why not use HOSTS file and/or NoScript, uBlock Origin,
etc. The bulk of the crap on websites is unsafe and need
not be loaded.

The HOSTS file - how?

I tried uBlock in the past but it seemed abit confusing to and
frustrating to constantly make adjustments to the sites that I
really need to use frequently.

Nextdns seems simpler and works without added programming.

| Excellent. 4900+ power on counts..
|
I don't know where it gets that. It's probably about 4
years old. It must count every time it wakes from sleep. I
usually only turn it off at night, but I put it on sleep
whenever I leave it. That could typically be 5+ times per
day.

In any case, SSDs of today are quite long lasting for the
average user, and TRIM is not critical - only nice to have.

This the report of a friend's 250GB SSD. It's over 8 yrs old,
and never saw a TRIM.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 7
5 Reallocate_NAND_Blk_Cnt 0x0033 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always - 2
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 61815
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3229
171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
173 Ave_Block-Erase_Count 0x0032 076 076 000 Old_age Always - 743
174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 415
180 Unused_Reserve_NAND_Blk 0x0033 000 000 000 Pre-fail Always - 4064
183 SATA_Interfac_Downshift 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 1
184 Error_Correction_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 065 039 000 Old_age Always - 35 (Min/Max -11/61)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 18
197 Current_Pending_ECC_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
202 Percent_Lifetime_Remain 0x0031 076 076 000 Pre-fail Offline - 24
206 Write_Error_Rate 0x000e 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
210 Success_RAIN_Recov_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8
246 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0032 100 100 --- Old_age Always - 20593664386
247 Host_Program_Page_Count 0x0032 100 100 --- Old_age Always - 720915684
248 FTL_Program_Page_Count 0x0032 100 100 --- Old_age Always - 2483371038




--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

"august abolins" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote

| The HOSTS file - how?
|
| I tried uBlock in the past but it seemed abit confusing to and
| frustrating to constantly make adjustments to the sites that I
| really need to use frequently.
|
| Nextdns seems simpler and works without added programming.
|

I didn't know about NextDNS. That sounds like a good
solution if you trust them. HOSTS and extensions are
more work to set up.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

This the report of a friend's 250GB SSD. It's over 8 yrs old,
and never saw a TRIM.

[...]

I forgot to post the following with that. It's the structure of
the 250GB SSD.

Disk /dev/sda: 223.57 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128
sectors
Disk model: Crucial_CT240M50
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 8054BDD9-A724-11E3-9B07-DA35D9A244F7

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 2099199 2097152 1G Windows recovery environment /dev/sda2 2099200 2631679 532480 260M EFI System
/dev/sda3 2631680 2893823 262144 128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4 2893824 133249023 130355200 62.2G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5 133249024 133965823 716800 350M Windows recovery environment /dev/sda6 444250112 468860927 24610816 11.7G Windows recovery environment /dev/sda7 133965824 201074687 67108864 32G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda8 201074688 217851903 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda9 217851904 234629119 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda10 234629120 251406335 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda11 251406336 268183551 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda12 268183552 284960767 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda13 284960768 301737983 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda14 301737984 318515199 16777216 8G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda15 318515200 444250111 125734912 60G Linux filesystem

The Linux partions have undergone many installs, reinstalls and
experimentation of various distros over the years.

So.. not bad for a roughly 7-8 yr old SSD, without TRIM.

--
../|ug

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)