Do not put your PC in sleep mode
Hibernation is a better option if you need to put your PC on hold
Sleep mode is a silent killer of SSDs. When your PC goes into sleep mode, it writes all current RAM data to a file that is stored on the SSD. The more often you do this, the larger that file can become. Of course, writing files is one of the biggest drains on the lifespan of an SSD, so try to avoid unnecessary writing as much as possible. To disable hibernation, open your Command Prompt by entering the search bar in your taskbar and typing “cmd” to open it. Once there, type the command powercfg.exe /hibernate. You may need administrator rights to do this.
Please note that ‘Sleep’ and ‘Hibernate’ are not the same. Sleep mode stores your computer’s state in RAM, not the SSD. So if you have put your PC into sleep mode, don’t worry. Your SSD charges only happen in sleep mode.
Disable SysMain
The renamed SuperFetch is more trouble than it’s worth
SysMain, once known as SuperFetch, speeds up app load times by preloading the ones you use most often. So if you typically open an app every day, that app will be preloaded by SysMain. It sounds nice, but in practice it is not that useful. SSDs are already fast enough, and preloading an app usually only saves you a few seconds, at the cost of unnecessary writes. It’s not a huge impact, but it’s still unnecessary work for your SSD.
The easiest way to disable SysMain is to press the Windows key + R and type services.msc. Scroll through the services until you find SysMain and double-click it. Click ‘Stop’ and change the startup type to ‘Disabled’.
Disable or change Search Indexer
It’s a useful tool that may do more than necessary
Windows Search Indexer is a service that indexes your files for Windows Search, the default search engine built into Windows and responsible for everything from the Start menu to your folders and libraries. This is generally quite useful, and I wouldn’t recommend disabling the search indexer completely, even though it will cause a lot of writes for your SSD. The better option is to simply adjust what exactly Windows indexes, to reduce unnecessary writes.
As before, you’ll want to go to your Services. You can do that using the method mentioned above, or simply type “services” into your search bar on the taskbar. Search your services until you find “Windows Search.” If you right-click on it, you can select ‘Stop’ to disable the process completely, although I don’t recommend this. It won’t destroy your computer or anything, but this is actually a useful feature that you might want to adjust.
To do that, search for “Indexing Options” in the search bar of your taskbar. From here you can change which drives and folders are indexed on your PC. There’s also an option in the Advanced settings that causes your PC to only index file names instead of everything within a drive, which can also be useful. You can find out more about how to do that here.
Disable page file
This can kill your SSD if you don’t have much RAM
If your PC needs more RAM for a page file than is actually available, it will use part of your SSD as RAM storage instead. This obviously involves many writes to your disk, which shortens its lifespan. To disable this, use the Windows key + R to open the Run window and then type sysdm.cpl. This will open the System Properties window. Click on the “Advanced” tab. Then, under the section labeled “Performance,” click Settings.
From here, click on the “Advanced” tab and go to the “Virtual Memory” section. In the newly opened window, uncheck “Automatically manage page file size for all drives” if it is active. You can then select your SSD. Go to where it says “No paging file,” check that box, then click “Set.”
Make sure Windows Write Caching is enabled
One simple click can give your SSD a much longer lifespan
This background feature is often enabled by default, but not always. Write caching allows your PC to write certain information to a cache and then allocate it to the SSD later in a single batch, rather than writing every little piece of data at once. It is very beneficial for the lifespan of your SSD, so make sure it is active. Doing this is easy. First, open your Device Manager. Find your SSD, right-click on it and then select ‘Properties’.
From there, click on the ‘Policies’ tab and make sure that ‘Enable write caching on the device’ is active. That’s all you have to do.
Change your schedule for Windows Defender Antivirus
You don’t have to do this every day if you don’t want to
Windows Defender antivirus is the default form of protection for Windows, and it is very good. In general, you want to let it do its job. That said, antivirus scans, whether from Windows Defender or a third party, do put some strain on your SSD when it is scanned. I don’t recommend turning off your antivirus program completely, but you can adjust how often security scans occur, which may extend the life of your SSD. Doing this is a lengthy process, so be patient.
First, use your search bar to open Task Scheduler. In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows, scroll down and select the Windows Defender folder. This will open new information in the center pane, which shows scheduled antivirus scans. Select one of the tasks, then look at the far right pane and select “Properties.” In this new window, go to the “Triggers” tab, select “New” and then set the schedule for how often you want antivirus scans to occur.
These are just a few things you can do to extend the life of your SSD. But no matter how long it lasts, performance is another matter entirely, and there are plenty of things you can do to improve an SSD’s performance after making sure it lasts as long as possible.
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