Intel G2 SSD + XP - Which updates and tools to use?

[full_on]

I have a HP DV9000 with an Intel G2 SSD as primary drive running Win XP SP2 after making all Microsoft updates and installing the all I programs I use. It is partitioned as 55 GB to XP and 25 GB to Slackware linux.

Performance is *** (just after boot):
http://www.fullonline.org/benchmarks/as-ssd-benchINTELSSDSA2M080_9.1.2010.png


Could not find anything similar to AHCI in my bios setup. How do I know if I have AHCI enabled or not?

This is the only part of the BIOS in which SATA is mentioned.
http://www.fullonline.org/benchmarks/bios_sata_HP-DV9233.jpg

Also if I enable SATA Native Support then XP won't boot at all (had turn it off to install XP).


Questions to experts:

1 - Which numbers a decent XP system should present in this benchmark? Why are my results so bad? What that "31 K - BAD" means?

2 - Should I align or update the firmware or use TRIM? How do I know if I'm using AHCI?

3 - What tools should I use to improve performance, and in which order?

4 - I will have to re-install the XP or the linux in the other partition? (Do I have to create disk images?)


Thanks.
Respect!

 

[full_on]

No one uses XP and SSD?

 

[vvhocare5]

A couple of comments - I am not running XP with my SSD's but I have at various times (just not now).

Use a benchmark tool presented in these forums to test drives - adding a new tool and asking why its not the same doesnt get us anywhere.
Trim support was added into Windows 7, but Intels SSD toolbox will work under XP. There are a lot of caveats around Trim in Windows 7 so Google for details.

You should have AHCI or SATA selected - if not, it could be your BIOS/system are too old to make full use of them. That will be a huge limiter.
Also, what version of SATA does this system support? Sata 1 limits you to around 150Mbytes/sec

You should use the SSD Toolbox to realign the SSD pages - nothing else you have will do that. Intel suggests once a week.

Tools to improve performance - not much on an SSD. Defrags do not add value, turn off Searching and Indexing, it only slows things down.

 

[full_on]

More benchmarks:
http://www.fullonline.org/benchmarks/ATTO_Disk_Benchmark_11-01-2010.jpg

http://www.fullonline.org/benchmarks/HD_Tach_11-01-2010_1.jpg


All of them tell the same: read @ 120 MB/sec and write @ 75 MB/sec.