SSD Kingston KC400 and Hyperx Savage firmware. Corporate SSD DC400 from Kingston for Data Centers Program for Checking SSD Drive Kingston
Requirements of corporate users to data storage and data processing systems differ significantly from a simple end user. For a corporate user, not so much the speed of recording and reading data is important, how much reliability of storage and permanent 24-hour access to them for the entire operating time. That is why companies are developing separate products for this, which often exceed prices on, it would seem similar, models, but intended for the consumer market. Therefore, Kingston began to release a special SSD series of SSD drives designed to work in data processing centers, which was optimized primarily for loads with intensive reading data.
Easy installation, weight and dimensions still do not ensure that SSD can be used in corporate environments. Losses from incorrect selection can often be reduced to zero all the benefits of savings, since the SSD cheap drives operating in Datacenter may be preretected due to the excess number of recording operations, and their recording speed is significantly reduced during the expected service life. All this, ultimately, leads to significant costs as a result of premature replacement.
Modern SSD drives are able to provide the highest reading and recording speed, both for consecutive and random queries, which is required in corporate environments, which provides access to databases at the same time for a large number of customers without a significant reduction in operation speed. In the case of personal use of an SSD drive end user, the difference between the minimum and maximum response time of the drive can be significantly larger. Therefore, Corporate SSD drives are optimized not only for peak performance during the first few seconds of access, but also using a large excess area, they also guarantee and increased average stable performance for a long time, which guarantees the consistency of the entire corporate array of drives used in the processing centers Information even during periods of peak loads.
NAND flash memory, which is used in SSD drives, are inherent in some restrictions: the two most important are the deadline for the service life and the likelihood of natural errors. Therefore, in the production process, each crystal of the future SSD drive is tested and characterized by the initial frequency of erroneous bits (BER or RBER). This indicator determines the frequency of natural errors without any interference of the program error correction. But there are such errors that cannot be corrected by any means. Therefore, the coefficient of defective bit errors (Uber) was introduced as "a data distortion indicator equal to the number of data errors to read bits after applying a specific error correction method." In accordance with the JEDEC International Committee, the Uber indicator for SSD corporate level It is expected no worse than the appearance of 1 of the unstore-heated bit error with a frequency of 1 bit error on every bit of 10 quadrillion bits (~ 1.11 petabytes), but for a client level, this indicator is reduced 10 times. In other words, SSD drives designed to work in severe conditions of information processing centers are required to be ten times more reliable than for a home user. To do this, Kingston uses parity checking technologies and creating an excess number of control points and their cyclic check.
In addition, to enhance reliability, Kingston includes additional electronics in corporate SSD drives with a power outage and failure recognition logic, as well as to control the input power and providing temporary power to this case to perform any internal or external recording commands. .
Another major parameter that distinguishes corporate SSD drives from used for the end user is service life. Its duration is not so critical for the home computer due to the fact that at the estimated time of its operation for 8 hours a day, modern solid-state drives will serve much longer than the PC itself as a whole. But here for operation in conditions of data centers, which, without any break, work for 24 hours a day, this parameter is critical, as it significantly affects the cost of the entire system. But we know that all types of NAND flash memory used in SSD drives, over time, lose the ability of reliable data storage over time and, in the end, reach the state at which their use is impossible. To neutralize the loss and extension of the service life, a set of measures is used, but the most important all the same remains constant monitoring of data integrity and the transfer of potentially "dead" bits into an excess area of \u200b\u200bmemory, which is not initially accessible to the user. In addition, companies are used for devices with a large load of memory chips based on E-MLC technology, and in some cases and SLC, although the last solution sharply increases the cost of storing data with a noticeable decrease in the total capacity of the device. Naturally, extended S.A.R.T technologies are used, which are followed by free and occupied cells. In the usual, client devices, these technologies are also applied, but in more simplified form. In other words, the main methods of struggle for an increase in service life are: Reliable and advanced information testing technologies for errors and the backup capacity of the drive, which is not available to the user nor the operating system and which can be used as a temporary record buffer to increase productivity, but mainly Designed to replace defective cells during the expected service life of SSD.
The new Kingston DC400 SSD storage series has the best, compared to user models, characteristics and are designed for a longer service life in more difficult conditions. However, it is worth noting that Kingston DC400 belongs to the initial class of corporate SSD and therefore are first intended to work in reading mode, not record. One of the important features of new models is the ability to task the backup area (OverProvision). According to the data from the Kingston website, in corporate SSD is reserved up to 28% of the storage capacity, while in the DC400 series models, only 7% is reserved, as in the case of consumer SSD. If necessary, using the Kingston Manager branded application, the user can change the capacity of the backup area, thereby increasing the service life of the SSD and to some extent to increase the speed indicators.
Kingston DC400 SSD drive, like most of the company's products, comes in a plastic blister. On his front side, except for the branded sign and instructions on the device series, only the capacity of the drive is indicated and the fact that warranty period is 5 years.
On the back side, everything also looks modestly. The main thing is that it is present - this is a sticker where the product number is specified and where it is manufactured. But the user will see important words about guarantees only if it becomes a drive and extends it from the packaging. No installation instructions are attached, as SSD is focused on the corporate market segment and it is assumed in advance that it will be able to establish it who understands it well.
This drive has the most common form factor - 2.5 inches and a thickness of about 7 mm, that is, it allows you to install this SSD to any modern devices, right up to ultrabooks.
The main characteristics of the Kingston DC400 480 GB model, according to the manufacturer:
- connection Interface - SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps), backward compatibility with SATA 2.0 (3 Gb / s);
- sequential read / write speed: 555/535 MB / s;
- maximum read / write speed of random blocks size 4 KB: 99000/90000 IOPS;
- the speed of reading / writing blocks of 4KB with permanent loads: 85000/11000 IOPS;
- service Quality (Delay) - Read / Write: Hot Connection Function;
- static and dynamic leveling of wear;
- corporate SMART level tools: reliability tracking, collection of information on the intensity of use, assessment of service life, equally leveling, temperature monitoring;
- service life: 257 TB (assessed as a total number of written bytes, without significant performance loss);
- power consumption: with simple / secondary / max. When reading / Max. when recording (W): 1.56 / 1.6 / 1.8 / 4.86;
- working temperature from: 0 to 70 ° C;
- average time for refusal: 2 million hours;
- size 69.9 × 100 × 7 mm;
- weight model - 92.34
Kingston SSD Manager.
To update the SSD firmware, Kingston offers a free Kingston SSD Manager utility, which can be downloaded from the official site. Using it, the user can view the SMART data, SSD status, its temperature and various events associated with the operation of the drive (connection / disconnection, identification numbers and other).
However, the most the main feature This program is the ability to change the backup area of \u200b\u200bthe drive. It is important to understand that these actions can be carried out only without the presence of formatted partitions on the disk. In addition, after changing the volume of the backup area, you should restart OS for the correct use of new settings. It should be noted that the minimum backup area in the amount of 7% always remains, while the user works with the remaining SSD volume.
Testing
To test an SSD drive, we used the stand configuration stand:
- processor - Intel Core i7-4770K;
- motherboard - Intel DZ87KLT-75K;
- chipset system board - Intel Z87 Express;
- memory amount - 16 GB (two Modules GEIL DDR3-1600 8 GB);
- memory mode - two-channel;
- system disk - Intel SSD 520 Series (240 GB);
- operating system - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bits.
Additionally, an Intel RST driver was installed, and the test SSD drive was connected to the SATA port 6 Gb / s, which was implemented through the controller integrated into the chipset. Another SATA port connected an Intel SSD 520 Series SSD-drive, which was installed operating system and all necessary for testing the application. For all SATA ports, AHCI operating mode was set.
For testing, we used the IOMETER utility version 2008.06.18, which is a very powerful tool for analyzing the performance of drives (both HDD and SSD) and is actually a sectoral standard for measuring the performance of drives.
In order not to tie the test results to a specific file system, testing an SSD drive using the iOMter utility we performed without creating a logical partition on it.
When testing, the dependence of the speed of performing serial and random read operations, as well as a serial and random recording from the size of the data block is investigated.
In addition, the dependence of the performance of the drive in random read operations and recording for blocks of 4 KB was analyzed. Block size in 4 KB for random read and recording operations is selected because it is typical for the Windows operating system and in random reading and record operations most often encounter blocks of exactly this size. In this regard, the block size of 4 Kbytes for accidental readers and recording when measuring IOPS is a kind of de facto standard.
SSD drives We also tested for the presence of aging effect, that is, they found out how the performance of the drive changes in the random recording operations.
To determine the speed of consistent reading, random reading and sequential record, the data blocks of the following dimensions were used: 512 bytes, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 KB, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 MB. In these tests in the iOMETER settings, the number of simultaneous I / O requests (# of Outstanding I / OS) was set to 4, which is typically for user applications. Analysis of the dependence of the drive in the operations of random read and recording from the depth of the task queue was carried out using 4 Kbyte blocks, and the number of simultaneous I / O queries was set to 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256. We note that the results of this test are especially important if the drive is used in the server, the RAID array or the NAS system. In addition, to estimate the speed of reading and writing to which the user can count in real operating conditions, the Flashtest 4.0 utility was applied, developed in our laboratory. It uses the features calls from the WinAPI library and makes data copying in the same way as standard windows tools 7 and 8, including displaying on the Standard window screen with progress indicator.
A well-known CrystalDiskMark 5.1.0 utility was used as a synthetic test, which is often used to measure the performance of various drives.
Test results
As the basis of the test of the "aging" of the SSD drive, a special preset was taken, which worked for 10 hours. Naturally, as all modern SSD drives, this model has this unpleasant property, that is, the rate of random recording as the drive is filling . The speed of the record decreased by about 5 times, but it can be seen that the controller has advanced regeneration algorithms. If you compare its results with the usual consumer SSD, then the recording speed even in such a difficult situation in this model is significantly higher. This suggests that Kingston DC400 as no other is more suitable for working in data centers.
The graph presents three dependences of the data rate from the size of the block in the main operations: sequential read, serial recording and random reading. Sequential operations, both reading and recordings of this model are very good. In the peak, they make up more than 530 MB / C, which corresponds to the declared values. But in random read operations, saturation occurs not so quickly, but peak speeds are also achieved with the maximum block size.
On the random record schedule you can see differences in speeds between "new" and artificially "aged" states of the drive. It is clearly noticeable to the degradation of the random recording rate when filling the buffer on the "new" storage device. However, the reduction of speed is not as strong as it happens in some budget consumer SSDs. The recording speed in a constant stress test is suitable for 60 Mbps with a maximum block size, which is a good indicator for SSD drives. The real average data transfer rate with random records of blocks from 512 bytes to 1 MB is represented by a "aged" schedule of the drive, which is built on the basis of the results obtained after the "aging process" process.
The real test for transmitting data Flashtest 4.0 shows that the recording speed of Kingston DC400 meets the results obtained in the iOMETER benchmark. In addition, it can be seen that compared to the usual SSD, the new model is significantly ahead of it in the recording speed.
Crystalmark synthetic tests demonstrate higher results, which, however, is not surprising.
conclusions
Kingston, having released a new series of SSD drives for corporate use, made a significant application for the fact that the information and technical services of corporations seriously think about the planned transition to solid-state storage devices of their data. Yes, and simple users who keep at home, on home computers, large volumes critically important information I will be interested in a new device and if funds will allow them, transfer their databases to a modern and reliable carrier from Kingston. The new Kingston DC400 model provides excellent performance for its class. The SSD of this line is designed for loads with preferential reading, but if necessary, can withstand a short-term label on the record. According to our data, an increase in the backup area up to 30% of the SSD capacity, allows you to increase the speed of the recording, so such an opportunity will most likely be in demand in the corporate sector. At the time of writing the article, the price of this SSD drive is still unknown.
SSD optimization.
SSD Mini Tweaker. - Small free program to set up a Windows system under SSD drive. The main goal of the program is to minimize the circulation of the system to the drive, thereby increasing its work.
And so what does the program do? By running the "CZD mini tweak", only one window appears, with a choice of certain actions.
Basic Tools Optimization SSD Disc
- Enable trim - A command for cleaning not used data blocks, it allows you to reduce wear of unused memory cells.
- Disable Superfetch - Service that makes caching the files that are most commonly used. It can be turned off, since the access time in solid drives is striving for zero.
- Disable Prefetcher. - Acceleration of the system loading, and also reduces application start time. For solid drive drives, absolutely unnecessary function, disconnect. Disable the component also free up system memory.
- Leave the kernel of the system in memory - The default kernel is reset to the Swap file, which increases the number of appeals to the drive. Disable this feature to keep the system kernel in random access memory. The inclusion requires the presence of more than 2 GB of RAM in the system.
- Increase the sizes of the file system cache - The function minimizes the appeal to the file subsystem, but requires the availability of RAM at least 2 GB.
- Remove the limit with NTFS in terms of use of memory - Also requires memory presence of at least 2 GB, makes it easier to launch several applications simultaneously.
- Disable defriptage of system files when loading - If for HDD defragmentation allowed to speed up the operation of the file system, then for SSD drives, defragmentation is not only useless, but also harmful. Turn off.
- Disable Layout.ini file creation - Layout.ini file information uses a regular defragmentator, and since we know that we do not need deframentation on SSD disks ... we turn off.
- Disable name creation in MS-DOS format - Disconnect why we need to create names in the format "8,3", the stone age, and in the same way in NTFS it slows down the listing of files and folders.
- Disable the system windows indexing - The system installed on the solid-cut drive has robbed needs this service, turn off.
- Disable hibernation mode - Disable this mode, deletes the hiberfil.sys file equal to the size of RAM. With current sizes and prices for sSD drives A pair of gigabytes will not be superfluous.
- Disable system protection function - Reduces the number of system appeals to the drive when creating test points. Turn off.
- Disable defragmentation service - We passed, turn off. All memory cells in the SSD system has the same access speed.
- Do not clean the paging file - If the swap file you still hold on the drive, then it is better to turn it off its cleaning when rebooting, it will reduce the number of appeals to it.
The archive has two versions of the program, for 32 and 64 bit systems.
Kingston pleases its innovations regularly. Let's remember anything from the last, for example, an excellent Hyperx Cloud headset, but what's the release of one of the fastest SSDs - Predator. Finally, even the Hyperx Savage flash drive is interesting to high speeds, for the disclosure of which you need to have not only the USB port 3.0, but also SSD. In short, this manufacturer for the last year introduced enough new products to please their user. Most devices from those that were presented were related to productive segments, but this time we will look at the budget product - new SSD Kingston UV300, overview of which will be carried out in this material.
Kingston UV300 - Theory and Positioning
So, Kingston UV300 is a new budget line of the manufacturer, which now occupies the youngest line among all models of solid-state drives. It is worth noting that it is nevertheless not far from the legendary V300 series, which conquered users with its combinations of price and efficiency. To start, let's compare general characteristics drives for the consumer segment.
In total there are six lines, three of which are conditionally budgetary, and all of them in one or another have numeric indices 300-310. The average productive segment is represented by the Hyperx Fury line, well, the senior Savage. The predator model is located in the form of HHHL expansion card and giving enormous speeds. What can boast a new UV300?
For budget drives V300, Kingston used memory with MLC cells, and although the memory itself could differ very strongly (which also imposed a performanceprint), wheels at least had high reliability. The TLC class memory is used to date, exclusively in the models of the younger series. Because, a priori, TLC memory has a smaller rewriting resource, and sometimes the speed of work. However, it is not necessary to panicly afraid of this, there is SanDisk Ultra II, there is an OCZ TRION 100 and other discs (from old models can be reminded Samsung 840), which live and work for the benefit of the user. Discs with this class of memory cells Objective reality, while modern controllers do everything to make their resource, in fact, not distinguish between any other budget class disks (given the standard user loads). It is also worth noting that the series has a guarantee of 3 years. Now it's time to turn to the price of the solution.
As we see, the UV300 discs are among the cheapest among many other models. Of course, if so reasoning and the usual V300 series is not much more expensive. But we remember the lottery with different memory, and it is worth considering the features of the Sandforce 2281 controller, which is not working as quickly with incompressible data. And finally, we note that the new series only appeared on the market and therefore many sellers put a high price tag to her, which spoils the "average" value from this schedule.
Appearance and features Kingston UV300 120 GB
We test the drive with a capacity of 120 GB, that is, the youngest representative of the line. He fell into the tests in an antistatic package, but in retail, of course, will be sold in the package. External inspection shows that the disc is fully made in the traditional style Kingston, ranging from the type of body and ending with the label.
Appearance Kingston UV300 120 GB
The novelty SSD is made in the 2.5 housing with 7mm thickness. Comes in variants from 120 GB and up to 480 GB, the stated characteristics reach up to 550 MB / from reading and up to 510 MB / from the record. For this modification (120 GB), the indicators are up to 350 MB / from the record. Speed \u200b\u200bvalues \u200b\u200bfor random access and small blocks will be limited to 64,000 reading IOPS and only 12,000 IOPS recording. Therefore, we do not expect any special acne in the tests.
As for the filling, the disk is represented by the Toshiba 19 Nm TLC memory, as well as microcham buffer memory and, finally, the Phison PS3110-S10 controller. This interesting controller is found in the disks of the most different focus, from budget solutions to enough expensive series. In general, this balanced solution should demonstrate good results, but of course, it is necessary to watch it in business.
By Kingston SSD Manager
From the official website of the company you can also download branded utilityComing with the name "Kingston SSD Manager" and by tradition, we will consider this program.
As such, the main menu has no utility, there are several different tabsThe first of which is called "Firmware". Accordingly, it shows the name of the drive, serial number, the firmware version, and when it is presented it is offered to download it from a remote server. In the left program window, all connected Kingston discs are displayed, at the bottom of the list of indicators. For example, the temperature SSD, the conditional mapping of "life indicators" and another.
On the SMART tab, the user gets access to monitoring indicators.
The following tab demonstrates active data protection systems, and also allows you to perform Secure Erase, useful in some situations with an option fully cleaner drive.
Finally, the last tab demonstrates, in fact, a certain log of the program. The overall functionality is not good, but some useful options are still there. At the very least, the user can always track the disk status and update the firmware.
Overview Kingston UV300 120 GB - Tests
Kingston UV300 - CrystaldiskMark
The first test in Crystaldiskmark shows that, in fact, everything is in order with the disk speeds. Despite the fact that it is only 120 GB model, we see the speed of a linear recording in 380 MB \\ C, as well as over 540 MB \\ with a sequential reading. In column 4k, the disk received a little less than 30 MB / s, which is also quite acceptable for a small budget model.
It can be seen how the disc can be healthy in working with recording tasks, as the schedule is constantly jumping, the speed is growing, then falls, in the "middle of the hospital" issuing the very meanings that we could see earlier. As for reading, remind, the main indicator of SSD speeds, then everything is fine and the schedule is perfectly even.
Efficiency Kingston UV300 120 GB
IOPS Kingston UV300 120 GB Results
As for random speeds in small blocks, everything complies with specifications. You can see it all with your own eyes, we got up to 86,000 IOPS in reading, which, in general, even slightly higher than budget disks. At the same time, just up to 22,000 IOPS records characteristic of low-speed disks. Nevertheless, the developer did not declare more in its specifications, but rather less, so there is no discrepancy with expectations and reality.
Many discs tested in PC Mark 8 with a capacity of 120 GB have had much higher positioning, in particular we are talking About the same SSD Apacer or various Plextor series. Nevertheless, the device showed 144 MB \\ s.
Running speed game
System start speed is slightly lower than on a number of more eminent SSD, but then the difference is laid in just a few seconds. Thus, the disk turned out to be fast enough to launch applications, OS and programs.
Ryse Son Of Rome Loading Time
Download time Diablo 3
Game tests have shown that the disc has also coped perfectly with the games, attaching, so good reading indicators and showing that it is quite suitable for various user tasks.
conclusions
In this material we tested a fairly interesting Kingston UV300 budget disk, with a capacity of 120 GB. The device is quite inexpensive, but it offers enough effectiveness to perform any user tasks, such as launching applications, games and a steadily fast response to Windows. The use of TLC cells did not affect the decline of performance, and the warranty at 3 years says that SSD is reliable enough. Slightly suffer from recording speeds, but again, they are much higher than the hard drive indicators.
The new solid-state drive Kingston UV300 receives the Cost Effective award, since it can really recommend all users who expect to save and get decent effectiveness. At the same time, the device will cope with most tasks on excellent, unless you expect more of it that the developer itself declares.
We thank Kingston for the SSD test.
On December 15, 2016, a new firmware for SSD Kingston KC400 and Kingston Hyperx Savage unexpectedly came out. New firmware version - SAFM001B.. Suddenly - to a greater extent for SSD Hyperx Savage, as this drive has appeared on sale in the spring of 2015 (more than one and a half years ago) and since then there was not a single firmware in public access, although in the new part of this SSD firmware updated one or twice.
This firmware is suitable for SSD Kingston KC400 and for SSD Hyperx Savage, because they have a very similar inner iron: they have the same controller (phison PS3110-S10), only flash memory and some more minor differences are slightly different.
Firmware is suitable for all models from the Kingston KC400 series - 128, 256, 512 GB, 1 TB and all models From the SSD Hyperx Savage series - 120, 240, 480, 960 GB.
Should I download a new firmware and update it? It is definitely worth it, because in the new firmware one pretty serious problem in SSD work on some computers has been fixed and the performance has improved a little.
This is the official firmware available on the Kingston website. There - on the Kingston website there is English-language instructions for updating the firmware and a note (also in English) that new in this firmware. In addition, on the Kingston website, the instructions and a note are crushed by different documents. Therefore, I decided to combine all this here on one page and translate information into Russian from the instructions and notes "What's new". Well, a few words will also add from myself.
In this article, I will tell you how to easily flash your SSD drive if you have any of the KC400 or Hyperx Savage models.
Go.
What's new in the firmware?
From the official Release Notes (Release Notes) follows this:Firmware Rev. SAFM001B (12/15/16)
- Resolved Corner Case Behavior That Forces Drive Into Rom Mode After An Abnormal Initialization Causing It to Register AS 2MB
- Modified Identify Word 47/59 for 3rd-Party Software Compatibility
- Reduced Aggregation Of Trim Resulting in Improved Performance and Responsiveness
- Solved the problem at which SSD was switched to the ROM mode and was determined by the volume of 2 MB after incorrect initialization
- Changed word Definition 47/59 for third-party compatibility
- The TRIM aggregation is reduced, which makes it possible to increase productivity and responsiveness.
In the new firmware this problem seems to be corrected.
On the second item - I did not quite understand what kind of fixes and why he was. But, if done - it means, has some role for SSD operation.
According to the third point - everything is quite simple: improved the operation of the Trim function, as a result, the "garbage" memory cells should better be cleaned. It should have a positive effect on the performance and responsiveness of SSD.
Preparation for the firmware.
First of all - check exactly what version of the firmware is now on your SSD. It is possible that your SSD Kingston KC400 or SSD Hyperx Savage will be from a new batch and the SAFM001B firmware will be sewn into it by default, in which case you do not need to flash again if your SSD works fine.Check the firmware version in different ways:
- on the SSD box there is a sticker in which the firmware version is indicated. Look for the inscription of this type - SSD FW;
- on the back of the SSD itself there is also a sticker in which the firmware version is indicated;
- the firmware version can be found through various disk diagnostics programs - Kingston SSD Manager., Crystaldiskinfo.etc.
| How to check the firmware version in Crystaldiskinfo. |
In my case, the firmware version - Safm00.r.This firmware was on my SSD Hyperx Savage initially and it is much older thanSAFM001B. So you need to update it.
Below is a list of known for me on this moment Firmware for SSD Hyperx Savage in the approximate order of their appearance:
1.
Safm00.r. - Was in the very first parties, which came out in the spring of 2015.
2.
Safm00.u. - appeared in the parties that came out at the end of 2015 - early 2016.
3.
Safm00.y - appeared in the parties that came out about January-February 2016.
4.
SAFM001B.- came out on December 15, 2016, about this firmware there is a speech in this article.
5. SafM02.h.- present in new audits SSD, this firmware is newer than SAFM001B.
What is needed for firmware? Computer or laptop with SATA 2 or SATA interface 3. If your PC / laptop supports SATA 2 only, make sure that the AHCI mode is available in BIOS, since not all motherboards with SATA 2 support AHCI mode.
Also, you will need any USB flash drive to 2 GB or more, or a DVD and a working DVD-drive in your computer. You can flash from a DVD disk, but I recommend to flash using a USB flash drive, since this option is more reliable and faster.
Important!
- Before starting the firmware, it is recommended to do backup Important data with SSD, in order to avoid data loss in case of unsuccessful firmware!
- Your SATA controller must be configured under the AHCI mode in the BIOS.
- When updating the built-in software (firmware), your SSD must be connected to the native (built-in in motherboard) Computer SATA / Laptop! Do not use SATA adapters / adapters of third-party manufacturers.
- If you plan to flash on the computer, it is recommended to use the UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to avoid a sudden turning off the electricity during the firmware.
- If you plan to flash on a laptop, make sure that the laptop battery is charged and the power adapter is connected to the laptop to avoid sudden turning off the electricity during the firmware.
Embedded software and updates of the built-in software are provided at the discretion of Kingston for certain Kingston products. Built-in software and updates of the embedded software are provided by "as is" and are used by the user to their risk, without providing any guarantees, applications or assurances from Kingston.
Kingston refuses all such guarantees of any kind, explicit, implied or established by law regarding embedded software and firmware updates including, including guarantees or quality conditions, performance, lack of violations of rights or guarantees, guarantees of commodity quality or compliance Appointment.
Kingston does not guarantee constant, uninterrupted and continuous availability, security, accuracy, completeness, or error-free software and firmware updates, including, including accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links or other elements contained in the built-in Software.
When downloading any embedded software and / or software updates, no licenses are provided for any rights to intellectual property, explicit or implied, which occur due to the conventional actions of the patent holder or in other ways, with the exception of the above.
When you download this software, the user agrees with the aforementioned conditions.
We flash SSD.
1. Download ISO image with KC400 / SHSS firmware on this link. The file weighs 773 MB.2.
Record this ISO image on a DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive in this way. There are many different programs To record images on CD / DVD and create loading flash drives.
To create a bootable flash drive Kingston recommends using a free program RUFUS: https://rufus.akeo.ie/
3. Load from your boot flash drive or DVD and select "Live - Boot The Live System" by pressing the Enter key. The mini-OS on the Linux database will be loaded.
4.
Follow the tips on the screen to update the target SSD firmware.
There you just need to enter a disk number that is intended to flash (usually number 1, if one is installed one supported for the SSD firmware) and press the ENTER key.
5.
Update the firmware. When the firmware is successfully updated, you will see on the screen:
a. The SSD Firmware Has Been Updated On Drive
b. Power Cycle IS Required to See and use the NEW CODE.
6. Disconnect the computer / laptop. It is desirable to turn off the button in the lower left corner (analogue of the Start button) by selecting there System - Power OFF.
7. Turn on the computer / laptop and start using it as usual.
Here such a boot screen should have if you correctly recorded an image on a USB flash drive or a DVD.
 |
| Boot screen, you need to select the first item. |
In this small window, you need to enter a number of supported for the SSD firmware and press ENTER.
 |
| Select the drive number for the firmware. |
I have already selected your SSD, "Flight" is normal. Feels like - SSD began to work a little on shunter. Also, I saw a few reviews on the forums and in groups that several people were stitched to this firmware, do not complain.
On this, everything, good firmware, thanks for your attention!
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The appearance of solid states hard disks Or abbreviated SSD, definitely, can be considered a breakthrough in the development of technologies for creating devices for recording and storing digital information. The first SSD enrolled on the market, with the exception of the high speed of access to arbitrary information blocks, was largely inferior to traditional HDDs. Not only, their volumes without exaggeration could be called more than modest, they also had a low fault tolerance and cost considerable money.
What c ssd is wrong?
High speed, silent and small energy consumption of solid storage devices served as good drivers for their development. Modern SSD drives are lightweight, very fast and quite reliable in terms of mechanics of the device used in tablets, ultrabooks and other compact devices. Significantly decreased and the price of SSD. But still you can not be called perfect. All SSD have a significant drawback - a limited number of overwriting cycles.
Most SSD flash memory has a MLC type and allows you to record data from about 3 to 10 thousand times, whereas conventional USB exhaust its resource for 1000 and less overwrite cycles. There are such SSDs, for example, with SLC memory type, which can withstand several hundred thousand rewriting cycles. There are a lot of nuances, so there is nothing surprising that this feature of SSD drives and causes a lot of questions in ordinary users regarding their operation, and most importantly - extension of their service life. Does the SSD optimization in Windows 7/10 need or is it just just another myth created by the manufacturers themselves and commercial software developers?
Basic preparation
Yes, you can leave on a PC with SSD everything as it is and may be right, but if you really care about your disk and want him to serve as longer as possible, it is worth thinking about it. To begin with, you bought a computer with an integrated SSD or only the disc itself you want to replace the HDD, transferring Windows to it. In the first case, you can limit the system setting. If you install SSD yourself, be sure to check whether BIOS mode Connections AHCI for SATA controller.
There are two points here: after turning on AHCI and windows transfer On the SSD system may not boot, as it will not be appropriate drivers. Therefore, either install the drivers upwards or perform reinstalling Windows from scratch. Second. In the BIOS of old PCs may not be aHCI mode. In this case, the BIOS will have to update. Now as for the firmware of the SSD controller. Owners of solid-state disks are often asked whether the drive will work faster if you install last version firmware. Yes, it will, but if you decide to update it and in general, if there is a need for this, it is better to ask for help in the service service.
System settings. Disable defragmentation
For HDD, defragmentation is a useful thing, but the SSD drives, on the contrary, can damage, so Windows usually automatically turns it off. However, it is worth checking if it is really disabled. Run the team dfrgui. The disk optimization utility and click "Change Parameters".
Make sure the checkbox "perform on the schedule" is removed. If she stands there, be sure to remove it.
Turning on trim
TRIM mechanism makes an SSD-drive optimization, cleaning the memory cell from unnecessary data when removing them from the disk. The use of TRIM provides uniform disk cell wear and increases the speed of its operation. To check whether the Trim is active in your system, run in the administrator running on behalf of the administrator command line Team fSUTIL BEHAVIOR QUERY DISABLEDELETENOTIFY.
If the value of the returned parameter Disabledeletenotify It will be 0, it means everything is in order and the trim function is enabled if 1 is disabled and the command should be enabled. fSUTIL BEHAVIOR SET DISABLEDELETENTITIFY 0.
Applicable SSD setting only to Windows 7/10, while Vista and XP do not support it. Options Two: Either install a newer system, or look for an SSD disk with hardware Trim. Also note that some old models of solid-state drives do not at all support Trim, however, the likelihood that they are still implemented in digital technology stores are very small.
In the process in the hiberfil.sys file on system disk A significant amount of data compared with the amount of RAM can be written. It should also be reduced by the number of recording cycles to extend the SSD service, so hibernation is desirable to disable. Minus such a SSD setting is that you will no longer save open files and programs when the computer is turned off. To disable hibernation, perform the command in the command running with admin privileges. powerCfg -h off..
Restart your computer and make sure that the hidden system file hiberfil.sys is removed from the C disc.
Disable search and indexing files
What else can you do to properly configure the SSD disk for Windows 7/10? The answer is to disable the indexing of the disk content, because SSD is so fast enough. Open the disk properties and remove the "Allow index the contents of the files ...".
But what kind of thing. If in addition to SSD you have an HDD, then disable indexing on it, you are unlikely to want. What will happen from this? By default, the index file is located on the C disk and write data from the disk D will still be on the solid state disk.
If you do not want to turn off the indexing on the user volume, you will need to transfer the indexing file from the system SSD disk to the user HDD. Open the command control / Name Microsoft.IndExingOptions Indexing parameters.
Now click "Advanced" and specify your index location by first creating a folder on the user disk.
If only SSD is on your PC, you can completely disable indexing and search by opening the Services.msc command to snap off the service management and stopping the Windows Search service.
Disable system protection
Controversial moment. Disconnecting the creation of systemic shadow copies, you will reduce the number of recording cycles on one side, on the other - increase the risk of obtaining a non-working system in the event of some unforeseen failure. Using snapping - one of the most efficient and simple ways to return Windows into the working condition, for this reason we would not recommend turning off this function, especially since points are often created and there are not so many points.
It does not recommend turning off the system protection for its SSD Intel, the same opinion is adhered to Microsoft. However, you decide. If you use other backup tools, for example, Acronis True Image, system protection can be turned off. To do this, go to the properties of the system, on the System Protection tab, select the SSD disk and click "Set up". Next, in the recovery parameters, activate the "Disable System Protection" radio button, move the slider to zero and click the Delete button.
Disable or no paging file?
An even more ambiguous solution is to disable the paging file. Someone advises to transfer it to HDD, someone completely disable, but not everything is so simple. The paging file is necessary to optimize the speed of the system and programs requiring significant RAM resources. Turning off the paging can really reduce the load on the disk, but the resulting effect will be very insignificant. In addition, this disconnection can significantly reduce the performance of the computer.
Special meaning in transferring paging file to hard HDD No, since it is many times slower than SSD, and the continuous appeal to it will slow down its work. Disable, and even better reduce the paging file is permissible only in one case - if you have more than 10 GB of RAM on your computer, and at the same time you do not use resource-intensive applications. And so, of course, it is better to leave everything by default. You can perform all manipulations with the paging file in the speed of the speeds called in the "Run" command systemPropertiesPerformance. (Next additionally - change).
Prefetch and Superfetch
In theory, it is also better to leave the default. The function does not affect the durability of solid-state disks, as it does not produce any entries. Moreover, when installing Windows on the SSD, the system automatically disables it. Would you like to make sure that it is disabled? Go to the Registry Editor at the address HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CURRENTCONTROLSET / CONTROL / SESSION MANAGER / MEMORY MANAGEMENT / PREFETCHPARAMETERS and look at the value of the parameter EnablesUPERFETCH. It must be set to 0. It is also possible to disable it through the service management snap.
As for the prefetch, it is so insignificant that it is so insignificant that it can be ignored. However, you can disable it, nothing terrible will happen. To do this, in the same registry key, set as the value of the parameter EnablePrefetcher. 0.
The same can be said about shutdown additional feature Prefetch ReadyBoot, logging in the process of downloading applications. The amount of entries produced by it in the folder C: / Windows / Prefetch / ReadyBoot be negligible, but if you want to disable and them, set in 0 Start parameter in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / SYSTEM / CURRENTCONTROLSET / CONTROL / WMI / AUTOLOGGER / READYBOOT.
SSD disk optimization programs
Almost everything that has been shown on the examples above, you can do with special utilities. How to configure SSD under Windows 7/10 using third-party programs? Very simple. Most of them have an intuitive interface represented by a set of options that can be enabled or disabled. SSD optimizers are a lot, but we will dwell only on the most popular.
SSD Mini Tweaker.
The most convenient portable program for optimizing solid-state drives. The utility is supported by working with the functions of defragmentation, hibernation and protection of the system, Trim, Superfetch and Prefetcher, control of the paging file and layout.ini, indexing, the file system cache and some other settings.
The SSD Mini Tweaker interface is represented by a list with a list available for controlling functions. After applying new settings, you may need to restart the PC.
Conditional free utility to optimize and set up the performance of the SSD disk. Russian language in Tweak-SSD no, but there is a convenient step-by-step master offering optimal settings. The capabilities of this program include shutdown of file indexing, program compatibility assistant, hibernation, paging file, defragmentation, the last file access time record, work with Trim, increasing the file system cache, remove the NTFS limit to use the memory, as well as the kernel removal in memory instead of unloading parts of modules to disk.
SSD Fresh Plus.
Another SSD optimizer. Unlike analogues, supports work with S.M.R.R.T. Using ABELSSOFT SSD Fresh Plus, you can disable defragmentation, using abbreviated names for folders and files, time tags, windows Journal, preliminary sampling services.
In total, the utility supports nine different settingsOptimizing SSD operation. Additional features of the program include viewing detailed information About disk. It applies to paid and free editors.
Conclusion
On this, perhaps, everything. There are also other recommendations for optimizing SSD, but they are mostly either doubtful or harmful. In particular, it is not recommended to disable the caching of the records for the SSD disk and the USN log file nTFS systems. Do not be transferred with SSD programs and temporary folders temp, browser cache, etc., because then what is the meaning in buying an SSD disk? We need to accelerate the work of programs, we move them on the HDD, you will only slow down the system.
And finally, here's a good advice. Do not bother especially with SSD optimization. To work out the resource of even the budget solid-state disk of 128 GB, you will need at least a dozen years, unless you do not write and delete daily terabytes of data. And during this time, not only the model of the disk, but also the computer itself.