SSD Getting Slower with Time

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi guys,

People here seem able to help with all manner of bits and pieces, so I’ll throw this out there and maybe someone will have an opinion or be able to suggest something.

I still have to keep an old XP computer going. Naturally even this old thing was super fast booting etc when it was new 100 years ago, but over time, like the rest of us, it got slower.

Eventually a chap on here helped me to clone the thing and reinstall the clone image onto an SSD drive.

The SSD ran amazingly fast at first, but over time even that has slowed right down.

Is there anything I can do to give the XP machine back its old speed with the SSD drive? Or do they, like the old regular drives, just get slower over time?

Any suggestions gratefully received

[Nikolas (Nik)]

It's more clutter on windows, maybe time to clean out any bloatware you have accumulated on XP (Note XP is so old I forget how to clean it out)

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Nikolas,

Thanks for the suggestion buddy.

Yeah, me too lol, but I can look it up easily enough I guess.

[RB (Andrew)]

From what I remember, I used to empty the Trash folder then Defrag.
There was a great third party defrag utility that I used.
Can’t remember its name but it would reposition all the files or something so there’s less seek times.(?)
I could be wrong but that’s what I remember.

[sharkbite]

Originally Posted by RB

From what I remember, I used to empty the Trash folder then Defrag.
There was a great third party defrag utility that I used.
Can’t remember its name but it would reposition all the files or something so there’s less seek times.(?)
I could be wrong but that’s what I remember.

yeah don't do this. Defragging is not necessary on an SSD - that only helps with platter hard drives...on an SSD one memory location is just as fast as any other...
SSD's also have a limited lifespan, and defragging can actually shorten it by unnecessary reads/writes.

my XP machines would all turn into a donkey after about 12 months - i kept my all my files on a separate disk and rebuilt the system (c:\) from scratch every xmas holidays.

Cleaning out bloatware does help, but some traces are left behind in the registry, so if you are continually installing/uninstalling apps this can clutter it up.
Also dont put anything on the desktop - shortcuts are fine, but if you store files themselves on the desktop it really bogs the system. (forget exactly why)

these problems largely went away with win7,10,11....

In order truly diagnose whats going on though - i suggest you run perfmon and see if its actually the disk thats the problem - if the disk light is on all the time, thats a good indicator, but there could be something else holding 'er up...

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by sharkbite

yeah don't do this. Defragging is not necessary on an SSD - that only helps with platter hard drives...on an SSD one memory location is just as fast as any other...
SSD's also have a limited lifespan, and defragging can actually shorten it by unnecessary reads/writes.

Ahh, clad you corrected me, thank you.
Yes, my system had HDDs.

[bojan]

How about virtual XP machine?

I am using it for some apps that do not run any more on 64-bit processors.
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...-setup-37.html

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Bloat ware as mentioned usually a fresh install will cure that with any Windows OS.
Another thing to keep in mind is the SSD's will eventually slow down and fail, only X amount of write cycles. They are good to load something that isn't being written to frequently and write cycles are generally listed in the specs.

[PCH (Paul)]

Hey guys,

Andrew, Bojan, Leo & Sharkbite,

Thanks for all the info and tips guys.

This PC doesn’t get used that much, so I tend to think the SSD is probably not at the end of its life yet.

I’ve spent a couple of hours this morning tweaking some of the optimization routines that came with the SSD when I first installed it and I’m thinking it seems a bit faster on booting now, - although my mind might be playing tricks I’ve rebooted so many times.

Anyways, when I have time I might go down Bojan’s virtual XP path. The thing is, I’m not that techy minded these days like I was in the past - so I might be leaping out of a still functioning frying pan and into a potentially non functioning fire - which would be a disaster!

There’s something to be said for leaving stuff alone hey

Anyways, thanks for your helpful suggestions guys, - much appreciated

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Anyways, when I have time I might go down Bojan’s virtual XP path. The thing is, I’m not that techy minded these days like I was in the past

I got distinctions across the board studying IT in 2007-2008 and can't remember stuff all of it now.
I don't remember if I ate breakfast today.

[leon]

Yea Andrew would know he uses old stuff like me.

Leon

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by leon

Yea Andrew would know he uses old stuff like me.

Leon

I sure do Leon, Win 7 all the way, never do updates and still use HDDs.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Originally Posted by RB

I sure do Leon, Win 7 all the way, never do updates and still use HDDs.

Windows went downhill fast after 7 and became very invasive.
I have 10 on a laptop and I have to constantly ask my son how do I shut the thing down. I run nothing past 7 on my desktop PC (both of them) and old fashioned hard drives.

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Leo.G

Windows went downhill fast after 7 and became very invasive.
I have 10 on a laptop and I have to constantly ask my son how do I shut the thing down. I run nothing past 7 on my desktop PC (both of them) and old fashioned hard drives.

Yep, I agree Leo.
And by staying on Win 7, I can always rely on our resident Windows guru, Leon, for any troubleshooting advice I may need.

[skysurfer]

When the SSD is new, then this is surely not an SSD issue, but a Windows issue. Windows is getting slower over time, unless you do a fresh reinstall.


For that reason I have been using macOS for years and for the apps which do require Windows (usually work related customer VPNs) I use a Win11 VM.

[Phantax (Joel)]

Make the move over to Linux! Plenty of beginner friendly distributions!