Are you using Windows 8 on a solid-state drive, but don’t quite understand how to optimize it? This guide will help! In no time at all, you’ll know exactly how to optimize your SSD, so that it will return to peak performance.

BEFORE WE BEGIN

If your SSD is being used by another program, or is formatted to a file system other than NTFS, FAT, or FAT32, it cannot be optimized. In the former, you need to make sure your SSD is not being used.

Note you cannot optimize networked SSDs.

If your drive doesn’t appear in the Optimize Drives window I will talk about in this article, it might be because it has an error. Repair the drive by using chkdsk, then return to Optimize Drives to try again.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE SOLID-STATE DRIVES ON WINDOWS 8

• Open and Explorer window and click on Computer.
• Right click on your SSD listed in Computer and click Properties, then Tools, and look for the Optimize button.
• After clicking on Optimize, a window titled Optimize Drives will pop up. Find the drive you’re going to optimize, and click the Analyze button. Windows will analyze the drive to see if it needs to be optimized.
• When analysis is completed, click the Optimize button (if analysis says that your drive is more than 10% fragmented). Windows will then optimize your SSD.
• Once optimization is finished, close the optimization window.

Done!

CONCLUSION

Because SSDs are new, not everyone understands how to maintain them. Hopefully this guide has helped in that regard. With this new knowledge, you’ve learned exactly how to get peak performance out of your drives!