Windows 7 will be optimized for SSDs

[TechGate]

Currently, even if SSDs are very efficient, operating systems have a big problem: they use such storage systems based on flash memory as a disk drive. With Windows 7 and the latest version of the ATA standard, it will be different and the system could be optimized for SSD (or rather it will use an SSD correctly). This news tackles issues fairly technical and we advise you, if you're not familiar with the operation of DSS.

In the ATA-8 :
In the ATA-8 (version 7 is the most commonly used), the management of DSS is provided: a storage system may send to its speed and if it is 0, we are dealing with a SSD ( which, remember, has no moving parts). The first thing that is set up is simple: automatic defragmentation is disabled, this function has no effect on the SSD (it is scheduled for devices with access times vary) and may pose problems of life (writes on a SSD is limited). Another interesting point, the SSD can also send the OS the size of its blocks and its pages, which vary, which will allow the system to optimize the file system to avoid unnecessary entries, aligning the clusters on the block sizes of flash memory.

[Miles Runner]

The trim, or how DSS and OS must be understood :
The novelty comes from trimmers, a feature that will allow the OS to support the DSS to optimize itself. By simplifying, SSDs use a current management of wear is called Static Wear Leveling. The controller of the SSD will try, with this technique, to obtain a constant wear of the media, the operation is therefore quite specific. When the system wants to write, DSS will seek the best location for the data: either an empty cell (which was never written) if no empty cell is available, the cell the less worn the DSS. We understand quite easily that the empty cells are rapidly becoming a scarce commodity in classical usage. In the (current) of the cell the less worn the DSS, there are two possibilities: either the controller realized that the cell is often used (with counters writing) and it looks a little worn another cell or he realizes that the cell is rarely used. It is this case which is optimized by the trims: rarely used a cell can contain two types of data, fixed data (the level of a game, for example) or data erased by the operating system (the Traditional file systems do not erase the data physically). DSS and firmware, since it is independent of file system can not know if it's a payload or not, and will perform a write operation: the contents of the cell used will be transferred shortly worn to a cell and the data writing will be placed on the cell slightly worn just released. The trimmers involved on this point: Windows 7, the file system (NTFS) can indicate when a file is deleted with a flag that includes the DSS. If the selected cell contains a really important fact, the usual operation is in place, if the data is erased (for the file system), the SSD will write directly to that cell. In fact, instead of two entries and a cell search, we are left with only one writer. And since writing is the weak point of SSD, the gain can be interesting, especially if the SSD is much used. Note that currently (with the beta version of Windows 7), there is no SSD has a priori compatible with this technology, but it looks promising. Hopefully, some manufacturers offer firmware adapted in the future, but nothing is less certain.

Windows 7 faster than Vista?
Recall that the SSD (Solid State Drives) are units of storage that is as a hard disk, but the feature is to replace the magnetic platters from them by electronic chips. The memory is stored in these chips, which has the main advantage of offering a much higher speed transfer, low power consumption and ultimately higher reliability. However, this technology is still young, it usually displays prices far higher than traditional hard drives with capacities that exceed the 64 GB too seldom noted that among major computer manufacturers, some as Asus (with EeePC) or Apple (with the MacBook Air) have already adopted this technology. And Microsoft, which does not miss the technology at the turn, has begun a series of optimization that its system works best on these devices. Thus, the system can differentiate a SSD drive a classic and adapt the material in question, especially during installation. Until now, the performance of Windows XP and Windows Vista has not really been unanimously when they were used on SSDs. Now Microsoft wants to correct this so, and thus makes necessary improvements to Windows 7.