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I have an MSI Windpad, which has good hardware but terrible performance issues with Windows 7 & 8 (upgraded to 8 to see if performance got any better - nope!). I'm sure the problem must be with Windows, as running Linux Mint or Ubuntu on it suffers from none of the same slow downs. What is the difference, and is there anything I can do to increase performance on Windows up to the same levels of Linux?

Examples of performance differences:

  • opening an ebook takes 10-15sec on Win, 1-2sec on Linux
  • listing directory contents in Explorer for 200 files takes 60-90sec, Nautilus/Nemo 4-5sec (both in small icon list mode)
  • right click on a file in Explorer takes 5-15sec on Win, immediate in Nautilus/Nemo

Environment details:

  • Block/cluster size is standard (4kb) for both Win/Linux.
  • TRIM is used.
  • No filesystem encryption.
  • No compression.
  • No RAID.
  • Win has MS Security Essentials(7)/Defender(8). However, there is no significant performance difference with these disabled.
  • Win drivers are latest from manufacturer.
  • Actually replaced SSD with more space and faster specs, which made absolutely no subjective difference in Windows performance.
  • Only non-MS software installed in Win is Google Chrome, Adobe Reader, ComicRack, Skype and LibreOffice.
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1 Answers1

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A few things that can impact performance with SSDs (or even HDDs sometimes) include:

  • Block size (Windows calls it cluster size)
  • Whether extents are enabled in the filesystem
  • Whether TRIM is used
  • Whether an encryption layer is used
  • Whether a compression layer is used
  • What kind of RAID (software, hardware, fake) is in use
  • Virus scanners
  • Simultaneously reading and writing to the same physical area of the memory
  • Filesystem access patterns of programs using the filesystem (lots of small files versus a few large files, for example; also whether data is read by seeking/jumping around in the file a lot or if it's just read from start to finish)
  • Drivers -- sometimes generic, unoptimized drivers on Windows, especially for the motherboard or SATA controller, can be enormously slower than the latest hardware-specific drivers from the manufacturer
  • Filesystem design: sometimes one filesystem is just better than another, and since Linux is a hotbed of filesystem research while NTFS has been relatively stagnant, this would not surprise me :)
  • Age of the SSD, which is pretty much a non-factor here since you know that it performs well on Linux.

With so many factors it's hard to know what the culprit is. If I were to guess out of the above, I'd say it's:

  • 10% likely due to superior filesystem design on Linux (assuming you're using ext4)
  • 50% likely due to a very inefficient virus scanner that may use a file access pattern that tortures (exploits a worse case scenario) the performance of the SSD
  • 50% likely due to a generic/outdated driver
  • Not very likely to be the other things

But without other information or "what have you tried?" steps, it's hard to be more specific than this.

allquixotic
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