How to Maximize SSD Transfer Speed

Scenario

“Hi, I recently got a Lexar SL200 500 GB portable SSD with a supposed 550 MB/s read speed and 400 MB/s write speed. I'm not too familiar with computer technics, when I copy a folder from my laptop to the SSD, it started relatively fast at over 100 MB/s then dropped to around 4 MB/s. Does anyone know how to test my SSD read/write speed to take a look at the maximum speed? And if possible, how can I speed up my SSD?”

Run an SSD speed test to check your SSD

SSD capacities are increasing, while costs are decreasing. It's getting increasingly normal to come across a desktop PC with a good large SSD. An SSD that has been correctly installed and configured will deliver even faster speeds, higher reliability, and a longer lifespan.

In fact, in the real environment, the theoretical speed that SSD manufacturers advertised is almost impossible, most users won’t get that speed experience in daily use. The actual transfer speed is affected by numerous factors:

• Allocation unit size
• The disk from/to which you are transferring: Some drives might have a limiting factor.
• The port and interface you are using: The USB port is just not fast enough for your drive.
• The file system you formatted
…

If you really want to optimize your SSD, you need to know the exact status your SSD has as you also need to know the possible maximum speed it can reach.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can help you do a quick test to see what speed your SSD can reach. You can choose which speed you want to test, average or maximum, and set block size, test mode, threads…etc. All details you want to know about the speed of the SSD can be set in the menu. And after the test, you can export the test in 3 ways: clipboard, text, and screenshot.

Here are all details.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click “Test” on the top side and choose “Disk Speed Test”.

Step 2. The default mode is “Simple Mode”. Choose the one drive you want to test and click "Start" to begin the process. But to see more details, we suggest you use Pro Mode.

After clicking “Star”, you can see the procedure of the test, when it’s over, you can click “Export” to check all details.

Why is my SSD transfer speed so slow?

After the test, some users might find that their SSDs are not as fast as the manufacturer said on their website. Except for the PC environment factors, here we list some possible reasons that may make the SSD speed slow:

◤ Space on your SSD is almost run out.
◤ TRIM command is disabled.
◤ SSD is infected with viruses.
◤ BIOS/firmware is outdated.
◤ SATA port or cable is a fault.
…

All of the new SSDs that are replacing traditional platter-based HDDs in daily usage will need to be optimized. Next, let’s see 3 ways to improve SSD performance.

How to improve SSD performance in Windows 10

In this part, we’ll show how to use Windows to optimize the SSD, and how to make a 4k alignment with AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Method 1. Optimize SSD with the Windows tool

Step 1. Search “Defragment and Optimize Drives” in the search box next to the “Start”.

Step 2. Choose a drive and click “Optimize”.

Method 2. Enable TRIM in CMD

TRIM command can help SSD run “Garbage Collection” regularly to clean the junk files.

Step 1. Press “Windows” + “R” and type CMD to open it.

Step 2. Type: “fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify” to check the Trim feature is on or off.

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 : TRIM is already available and working in Windows

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 : TRIM is not available

Step 3. If it’s not available, please type: "fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify" and press “Enter”. Then the Trim feature is enabled.

Method 3. 4k alignment

The purpose of 4K alignment is to allow the hard disk to begin writing from a precise beginning position, reducing the likelihood of data being "divided" on the hard drive, which can significantly enhance performance and extend the disk's life.

To assist SSD users, AOMEI Partition Assistant includes a "Partition Alignment" feature. The procedure is straightforward.

Step 1. Right-click SSD partition, and choose “Advanced” and “Partition Alignment”.

Step 2. In the new window, choose the partition sector to align. We strongly recommend you to use “4096 Sector” (normally we know it as SSD 4K alignment).

Step 3. Click on “Apply” on the upper left of the screen to start the alignment.

Conclusion

Now you know how to maximize SSD transfer speed and optimize its performance. If you need, you can try many other helpful features of AOMEI Partition Assistant such as “Disk Clone Wizard”, “App Mover”, “Convert to GPT”…You can always find help in this versatile tool.