Poor Windows Experience Index rating for Intel 520 SSD

[DHard6]

I've got a high end system and for some reason the WEI rating for my Intel 520 SSD is only 4.9.

I know from the research I did before I bought it and also from personal experience it should be higher than that but don't know why it's so low. I had this drive installed in the same system previously with the EXACT same configuration hardware wise with maybe some software added and the WEI rating was 7.7 limited by the CPU. The rating on the 520 was 7.8. The copy I have on the drive now is a cloned copy I made as a backup and I re ran the WEI and the rating is now 4.9 for the 520 SSD. I couldn't understand why it wasn't a perfect score since I have pretty much high end everything and thought I would re run it and get the rating I thought I should have gotten but I was unpleasantly surprised.

Anyone have any ideas what could be the reason for this and how I can improve the performance of my SSD?

System configuration is

Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Asrock Z87 OC Formula/ac,

4770K@4.4GHz,

Corsair H80i CPU Cooler,

32GB Gskill RipjawsX 2133MHz,

EVGA Supernova P2 1000W 80+ Platinum Fully Modular PSU,

3x Gigabyte 7870 OC GPUs,

4x27" BenQ LED, 1x42" Samsung LED TV

[idata]

Hello DH888,

We understand the only change you made to your system was to restore/clone a previously saved image to the same drive. After this, your Windows Experience Index* rating dropped from 7.7 to 4.9.While we don't support WEI* as a benchmark tool directly, there are a few things we can do to help you check and make sure that your SSD is still performing as it should. In order to better assist you, we would like to have some more information:- What is the storage capacity of your Intel® SSD 520 Series?- Did you secure erase the drive before restoring the cloned image, or was it simply formatted and then overwritten?- What software did you use for this cloning/backup process?- Do you use thehttps://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26387/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Toolbox Intel® SSD Toolbox? Would it be possible to provide us with the SMART details of the SSD? (http://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/ssdc/hpssd/sb/intel-ssd-toolbox-user-guide.... User Guide: Page 13, Sec. 3.2)- Would it be possible to provide us with the report created by the https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility Intel® System Support Utility?We look forward to hearing back from you.Best regards,Carlos A.

[DHard6]

Thanks for responding Carlos

I didn't actually restore a previously saved image. I used Paragon Migrate OS to SSD to create a complete image of my current installation which is also on a SSD.

The 520s I have are 120GB versions.

I didn't secure erase or even erase the drive first. It had a previous image of my OS on it and when Migrate OS to SSD created the new image it did it however it does it. I'm really not sure what process it uses exactly but it was pretty fast so I'm assuming it did not secure erase. Probably just deleted the existing partition and created a new one. I didn't re run WEI on that drive so it would have just inherited the rating on my current installation which is 7.7. I didn't get around to re testing until now so it's very likely it was also much lower than my current installation.

I wasn't using the toolbox but have downloaded a copy now and will try it. Can you tell me what exactly the toolbox will do for me?

I don't actually have the drive in question in this system right now I'll get back to you with the specifics when I get a chance I'll get the smart details and the report for you.

[idata]

Hello DH888,

The toolbox won't really contribute to the rating, or help with your performance. It's just a very useful tool to monitor the drive's health, run tests, and view/export it's SMART details. It does also have the option to manually optimize the drive, but this is already handled by your operating system as needed.As we stand, we could suggest performing a secure erase on the drive before migrating the OS back into it. But once we get some logs and a better view into your overall setup, we might be able to provide a more accurate suggestion.You can attach the logs to this thread, or if you'd like we can send you a private message for you to send us these files via email. Best regards,Carlos A.

[DHard6]

Let's keep it in the forum that way your solution may help someone in the future. Thanks for the option.