x25-m g2 geting slower...again -RESOLVED

[idata]

I originally installed Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on my x-25-M g2 80gb before the 02HA firmware / toolbox came out and gradually started noticing severe slow downs in performance. Specifically, I have a deeply nested folder structure that I access often and clicking on each folder would take up to 3 seconds or more to open. Getting to a folder 7 levels down could take as much as 30 seconds, very frustrating since I do this all day long for work.

I sucessfully flashed the firmware to 02HA, then blew away my Windows installation and reinstalled from scratch (reformat). I manually run the Optimizer every day and the SMART attributes all show 'Ready to Use'. The Fast and Full diagnostic scans run sucessfully and show 'Ready to Use' also, but I'm now experiencing the exact same slowdown that I had before the firmware / TRIM update. The optimizer doesn't appear to be doing anything at all.

My machine is a Toshiba Satellite Pro A210 and doesn't appear to have AHCI capabilities in the BIOS, so I assume it is running IDE at Sata 1 speeds.

I have the following questions:

1. Is there any way to test that the Optimizer is doing anything?
2. Could the slow down be caused by something else? I have indexing (windows search) enabled, Superfetch disabled, Readyboost disabled, and write caching / turn off buffer flushing checked on the x25-m. I've seen differing opinions on the Internet regarding ssd optimization, any tips would be appreciated.

[idata]

Hi abirdie4me,

The only way for you to prove that your drive is degrading is to benchmark. Continuous benchmarking is one way of driving your SSD to the grave. Your slowdowns could be caused by multiplicity of things. I don't use windows anymore, but one thing i HATED with a passion about Vista and the Window 7 beta i used was that there was CONSTANT DISK ACTIVITY. There are tons of log files being updated. All you have to do to verify what i am saying is go to the performance toolbar and pull up the selection that shows the disk activity, cpu, etc. When you look at the disk activity, look at all the files that are constantly updated frequently. Microsoft needs to better job at minimizing this.

I can tell you if you have indexing enabled on the SSD, it is a no-no. I believe you should have write-caching turned on.

Maybe some other might provide you some windows7 tips. Maybe the moderators should create a sticky post that list win7 optimizations for Intel drives. Without mentioning Intel's competitors, if you go to their forums, their moderators did this and I believe this would help immensely in helping Intel consumers maximize their SSD's potential.

[idata]

Thanks for the reply dbm. I'm beginning to think this has nothing to do with the ssd and more to do with something interfering with explorer.exe. I downloaded Total Commander as a test and all folders and files open lightening quick through that. I also found that if I navigate through the folder navigation pane (left side) in windows explorer everything opens fast.

[idata]

The problem was Kaspersky 2010...I finally made my way to their forums and found many people having similar issues. I disabled Kaspersky self-defense and then re-enabled it, and my computer is smoking fast once again.

Intel is back in my good graces once again!