Still have no idea what to do when SSD freezes up on your Windows 10 PC? To help you out, this tutorial will illustrate why that happens in detail and provide the best ways to fix it.
A while back I picked up an SAMSUNG SSD to speed up my laptop, although it worked great 99% of the time, I ran into an issue where the system would completely freeze for about 1 minute now and then every 3 or 4 days. Does anyone have any ideas why SAMSUNG SSD freezing Windows 10 happens and how to fix it?
SSD, short for solid-state drive, is a kind of storage device which uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, usually using flash memory. Compared with HDD (hard disk drive), SSD has many benefits including higher speed, less power consumption, and better gaming experience. So, nowadays, more and more people choose to install or migrate their OS to an SSD disk to enhance the performance of their PC.
However, some complain that their SSDs freeze up now and then in Windows 10, 8, 7. Why does this happen? In the following content, I listed 4 factors that may lead to a frozen SSD on Windows.
The SSD is connected to a wrong SATA port: There are 3 types of SATA ports for SSD and different ports have different data transfer ability. If you connect the disk to a wrong SATA port, then, it may not be able to perform in the best state.
AHCI mode is not enabled: AHCI is the latest mode for a memory device, where a PC is able to make use of all SATA advantages, basically higher speed of data exchange with SSD and HDD, as well as hard disk’s hot swapping. When AHCI mode is activated, the speed of access to files in memory devices will be drastically increased and the overall performance of your PC will be much enhanced.
The SSD is not 4K aligned: “4K alignment” is to align physical disk partition with PC logical partition to ensure reading and writing efficiency of a hard disk. If it is not properly 4K aligned, the SSD has to access twice as many the disk’s physical sections for any file operations and in return, the reading and writing time can be much longer and the SSD can’t perform to its full ability. So, it’s literally necessary to execute 4K alignment for our SSDs.
The SSD is physically damaged: If your SSD disk is physically broken, of course, it won’t perform normally. In this case, you’d better replace it with a new disk and transfer data from the damaged SSD to the new one with third-party disk management software.
Since we’ve learnt why the SSD freezing up error appears, it’s time for us to find corresponding solutions. In this content below, 4 most pragmatic methods are provided to help fix that issue.
SATA ports are exclusively designed for data transfer. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are now 3 kinds of SATA ports, respectively called SATA I, SATA II, SATA III. SSDs, due to their high writing and reading speed, requires to be connected via a SATA III port because this type of port is able to transfer up to 600MB large data every second.
If the SSD is connected to a SATA II port, there is a high possibility that the reading and writing speed is incompatible and various problems and glitches could appear. So, the first thing to do when you encounter the problem “SSD freezes up” is to check whether the SSD is connected to a correct port.
As it’s mentioned above, you can enhance your PC’s performance by enabling AHCI mode. Keep reading and learn how to make it.
1. On windows 10, in the search box on the taskbar, type “regedit” and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Follow the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ iaStorV. Once reaching iaStorV", double click on the “Start” file and change its value data to 0.
3. Follow the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorAV\StartOverride" and open the “0” file to change its value data to 0.
4. Follow the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci", open the “Start” file and change the value data to 0.
5. Follow the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ storahci\ StartOverride", open the “0” file and change its value data to 0.
6. Quit Registry Editor, restart the PC, and go to BIOS. You are recommended booting Windows in safe mode the first time after the restart.
7. In BIOS, locate SATA settings and select the mode for memory devices. Switch them to AHCI mode, save settings and reboot your PC.
When you’ve rebooted your PC, Windows will start installing SATA drivers, and when it’s finished, you will be asked for another restart. Do it, and Windows will enable AHCI mode.
If the SSD hard drive is not properly 4K aligned, then, it won’t perform to its best ability and cause the problem of “SSD freezes up”. Here, I provided a way to check whether the disk is 4k aligned and a way to run 4k alignment.
Check whether the SSD is 4K aligned
1. Press Windows and R key simultaneously to open the “Run” box.
2. In the box, type “msinfo32” and hit “OK” to proceed.
3. Spot “System Summary” on the upper left and double-click on “Components” below.
4. In the dropdown menu, select “Storage” and then, select “Disks”.
Find “Partition Starting Offset” on the right side to see whether the value is divisible by 4096. If so, the disk has been perfectly 4K aligned. Otherwise, you have to align it on your own. To finish this task effortlessly, I recommend AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It can align SSD partitions with 4K within only several clicks. I also tried this tool on my other SSDs and the result turned out to be really satisfying – there were no glitches and bugs. What’s more, other useful features including MBR to GPT OS migration, partition split, and quick partition are also available.
SSD freezes Windows 10? Try the demo of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to resolve this issue!
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and afterward, all disks and partitions on the PC should appear.
Step 2. Select the partition you want to align and right-click on it. Then, follow “Advanced” > “Partition Alignment”.
Step 3. In the popup window, preset partition alignment to “4096 Sector” or set it to the default one. Click “OK” to proceed.
Note: If the partition has already been aligned, a notification “The current partition is already optimized thus there’s no need to align it again” will pop up.
Step 4. Click on “Apply” on the upper left of the interface and then, hit Proceed” to perform the alignment.
When the SSD is damaged physically, it could freeze now and then. Unfortunately, there are no other ways but to replace it with a new SSD. But beforehand, to keep all data on the damaged disk safe and to ensure you needn’t install the OS again, you would better transfer the entire data from the damaged disk to the new disk with the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional’s “Disk Clone Wizard”.
This wizard can clone only used space to another disk via the “Clone Disk Quickly” method, making it possible to clone SSD to smaller SSD. Besides, it can also realize bit by bit clone, no matter whether it is used or not, via the “Sector-by-Sector Clone”.
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.
Step 2. Select “Clone” on the upper toolbar and then, select “Clone Disk”.
Step 3. Select a clone method. Here, “Clone Disk Quickly” is the recommended one for it’s quicker.
Clone Disk Quickly: Clone only used space to another disk and allowed to adjust the size of partitions.
Sector-by-Sector Clone: Clone all sectors to another disk, whether used or not.
Step 4. Select the source disk (the damaged SSD) and hit “Next”.
Step 5. Select the target disk (the new SSD) and hit “Next”. Then, you’ll be informed that all the data on the target disk will be wiped. Click on “Yes” to proceed.
Step 6. Now, you’ll see 3 options respectively “Clone without resizing partitions”, “Fit partitions to entire disk”, and “Edit partitions on this disk”. I recommend you to tick “Clone without resizing partitions” and hit “Next”.
Step 7. After getting back to the main interface, hit “Apply” on the upper left side and click on “Proceed” to start the disk clone.
After the disk clone is completed, you can replace the damaged disk with the new one. Desktop PC hard disks are usually set in the lower front half of a mid-tower enclosure. They are attached using 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 screws. So long as the disk is in place, you just have to plug in the SATA data cable which connects to the motherboard. Then, connect the power cables to your power supply unit. Then, just reboot your PC.
What to do when SSD freezes up? In the above tutorial, you’ve learnt why the SSD freezing issue happened and the top 4 ways to fix it. You can just select one based on your own needs. As for me, after finding my SSD hadn’t been 4K aligned, I decided to resort to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and luckily, it helped me out! Later, I also tried its other features like MBR and GPT conversion and GPT to GPT OS migration. If you wish to use it on Server OS, please switch to Server edition.