Corsair Nova Series 2 60 GB slow multitasking

[pandronic]

This being said, I AM STILL CURIOUS IF DISABLING PREFETCH AND SUPERFETCH SOLVED ANYBODY'S ISSUES, THE WAT IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED ABOVE. St3r30x2, would you please comment on this?

 

I've tried it and it doesn't do anything.

 

Unfortunately, my mobo doesn't have AHCI support, but others in this thread have reported the multitasking issue also on boards that support AHCI.

 

I'll have to try the Secure Erase and reinstall thing although the drive was brand new when I got it, and thus empty. Could someone recommend a tool for this?

[guaycuru]

I just bought a Corsair Nova Series 2 60GB and I'm having the same issues. Has ANYONE found ANY solution for this very annoying and frustrating problem?

[Mocchan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3ZXmE4ktr8&feature=youtu.be

Here's a video I did of my Nova 2, it's a bit long so I'm sorry for that. If anything I said confused you, please tell me, haha. It was pretty late and I was very tired.

 

***For those who don't want to watch/can't watch***

This is my second Nova 2 60GB SSD I've gotten in 6 months, first was in December 28th of 2011 (Died in February for some reason) and I RMA'd and got a second one in March. The first SSD showed all the symptoms mentioned on this forum, hangs, lags, freezes, and not to mention horrible read/write performance as an OS drive. However, it worked PERFECTLY as a SLAVE drive. It didn't lag or hang at all, and it did great for its purpose - store games and load them quickly.

 

Now this second Nova 2 60GB SSD I got has been showing none of those symptoms. It's been working great for about a month now with no issues. I admit, it's a bit on the slow side, but it's definitely an improvement over my HDD. I can open files faster, there aren't any of those lags that you get with a hard drive, open and use any program right as the computer starts up, etc.

 

Basically to sum up it up, take a chance with an RMA, maybe you'll get lucky like I did. I do not know why this SSD is performing well, and don't know if it's going to be a consistent result for everyone...basically 1 in a 100 chance I would say.

 

Good luck to all and I wish you good luck.

[gmcg]

While gmcg provided some good info there, blaming Windows for the poor SSD performance on the (relatively) older mother boards (which almost everyone on this thread has) is not the issue.

 

Parsec, if the new versions of Windows would be advertised as incompatible with 4 YO top level (at that time) hardware (motherboards, CPUs, memory), I would 100% agree with you. I have tried to install fresh copy of Windows 8 Pro on Corsair Nova 2 and got such bad results, that it is easy to understand people's troubles.

 

Should we blame Corsair instead of Windows for the issue, or Phiser with it's PS3105 controller, or whoever else?

 

Please note that the files are taken for Foxconn Blackops x48 motherboard with AHCI mode on, QX9650 CPU in non-overclocked mode, 8Gb of Crucial memory, just one HDD Corsair Nova 2 installed, Windows Pro 8 fresh installation.

 

I wonder why any Linux OS works fine with Corsair Nova 2 if it's firmware has a problem?

[Toasted]

Have you tried secure erasing the SSD with Parted magic?

[gmcg]

Have you tried secure erasing the SSD with Parted magic?

Do you believe it will help like this solution? http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-msata-half-slim-and-2.5-inch-sata-ssd-firmware-update.html

[Toasted]

That is only a firmware update.

 

A secure erase will permanently delete all data on the drive and will also restore the drive's performance.

[gmcg]

That is only a firmware update.

Which doesn't work on my Nova 2 anyway ...

 

A secure erase will permanently delete all data on the drive and will also restore the drive's performance.

It doesn't work if one has update's installations, for example like Windows XP Pro 32 Retail -> Windows Viata 64 Ultimate Update -> Windows 8 Pro Update

One can not install new Windows versions without having the older one ... and the older one fills the SSD with useless information. I used the original latest version of DBAN to clean the SSD (Parted Magic uses DBAN for erasing), therefore it is not the issue.

[Technobeard]

It doesn't work if one has update's installations, for example like Windows XP Pro 32 Retail -> Windows Viata 64 Ultimate Update -> Windows 8 Pro Update

One can not install new Windows versions without having the older one ... and the older one fills the SSD with useless information.

1. Windows XP isn't SSD aware so it doesn't offset partitions correctly for an SSD. That alone can cause slowdowns.

2. Technically you can't go from a 32 bit to a 64 bit OS. There are ways, but they all basically wipe out the drive, so it's not a literal upgrade per se.

3. You don't need to go from XP to Vista to 8. I know it's just an example, but Vista isn't needed.

4. You can install an upgrade without the prior OS. There have been various ways over the years to do it. Some required you to just put in the old OS CD for the new installer to recognize, others have been a bit trickier.

 

Short answer: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.htm

 

That guide will allow you to download the windows 8 upgrade installer from Microsoft, and then run a clean install using the upgrade.

 

 

Now when you installed Windows 8 Pro, was it an upgrade like you described above, or was that just an example and you installed the full version (or a clean install like I just mentioned) ?

 

Also, did you upgrade your BIOS and SATA drivers from the motherboard manufacturer?

[gmcg]

1. Windows XP isn't SSD aware so it doesn't offset partitions correctly for an SSD. That alone can cause slowdowns.

2. Technically you can't go from a 32 bit to a 64 bit OS. There are ways, but they all basically wipe out the drive, so it's not a literal upgrade per se.

3. You don't need to go from XP to Vista to 8. I know it's just an example, but Vista isn't needed.

4. You can install an upgrade without the prior OS. There have been various ways over the years to do it. Some required you to just put in the old OS CD for the new installer to recognize, others have been a bit trickier.

 

Short answer: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/clean-install-windows-8-upgrade.htm

 

That guide will allow you to download the windows 8 upgrade installer from Microsoft, and then run a clean install using the upgrade.

 

 

Now when you installed Windows 8 Pro, was it an upgrade like you described above, or was that just an example and you installed the full version (or a clean install like I just mentioned) ?

 

Also, did you upgrade your BIOS and SATA drivers from the motherboard manufacturer?

 

Thanks for your input, Technobeard. I am answering step by step:

1. Yes, I have the latest BIOS and drivers from Foxconn (manufacturer of my motherboard), and I do not have any issues neither with my numerous HDD drives, not with another SSD drive, Patriot Pyro (re-flashed the firmware in it to the latest version before using it).

 

2. I didn't have any issues with Nova 2 as well in different Linux installations, no matter if they were 32 or 64 bit, using AHCI or IDE controller modes.

 

3. Technically I have upgraded XP Pro 32 to Vista Ultimate 64 numerous times (such as the upgrade was applied to the retail version) on the same PC without any problem using Seagate and Western Digital HDD. I had no problem yet. The old installation has been usually located in Windows.old folder, therefore it was not a clean install.

 

4. I used Vista because my Windows 8 Pro upgrade, even having 32 and 64 version of the software, allows me to upgrade only 32 bit previous version to 32 and 64 bit version to 64. Therefore I can upgrade Windows XP Pro 32 only to 32 bit Windows 8 pro, and this is not what I need. However, Vista Ultimate doesn't have such restrictions, and I can upgrade to 64 and then upgrade to 64 Windows 8 Pro, although the results on Nova 2 are as on the pictures above, so it is not a solution as well.

 

5. I have tried to perform the clean installation of Windows 8 Pro on Nova 2 using Windows 8 90 Day preview disk (just to verify if the clean installation can help), unfortunately the installation doesn't see Nova 2 at all neither in AHCI nor in IDE BIOS modes.

 

6. I have re-installed Windows XP Pro SP3 to verify at which step I am getting the issue. Unfortunately, I didn't use Inter Matrix Storage driver (I do not have a floppy drive), so in AHCI mode I've got the famous BSOD STOP:0x0000007B and had to perform the installation in IDE mode. Surprisingly, the results are much better comparing to Windows 8 Pro 64 in AHCI mode. The pictures are attached.

 

7. I will try your solution (i.e. clean installation of the upgrade), also I am going to integrate Intel Matrix Storage Driver into my installation of Windows XP to see if I will be able to install XP in AHCI mode (using nLite). The results will be reported.

 

I have also attached some results from my old Seagate HDD to compare.

[gmcg]

BTW I still have to use my Vista upgrade to have 64 bit version, due to the following reason:

and then downloads the correct version (32-bit or 64-bit) based on information about your current Windows installation - all important reasons to run this tool from the PC you're going to clean install Windows 8 on.

Therefore using XP I can only get 32 bit version following to your link's recomendations.

[gmcg]

OK, I have performed the process again verifying each step to define the area of the problem. Cleaned SSD by DBAN 2.2.7. Installed fresh version of Windows XP with implemented SP3 and IDE driver. No problems whatsowever, the system works perfectly fine. Results of tests are attached. They all look quite nice.

7GB left unallocated - checking the recommendation.

 

The next step - clean installation of Vindows Vista Ultimate 64 (Microsoft allows to do it officially), thus erasing all data on the SSD, deleting partitions and creating a new one - 50 GB. 7 GB left unallocated.

I apologize to Technobeard for misinformation - Windows.old directory is related to the next step, and swop from 32 bit to 64 bit OS performed without it. It is a clean installation of 64 bit OS, still in IDE mode.

[gmcg]

Performed several tests on the fresh installation of the Vista Ultimate 64 SP1, the same PC, same controller, IDE mode. Everything looks fine (experienced no freezes or slow downs). The test results are attached.

 

The next step - switching to AHCI mode in Vista and BIOS.

[gmcg]

The results of tests are attached. I have enabled AHCI drivers, the system automatically downloaded them, and I enabled AHCI in BIOS, there is no BSOD with drivers enabled and installed.

 

I have attached two results of HD Tune - fresh one, and after some time of using the system. As we can see, here is where slow downs and freezes start.

 

Next step - upgrade to Windows 8 Pro 64, performed it in AHCI mode. I didn't use not-so-official way (clean installation for Windows 8 Pro upgrade) to install the upgrade, recommended by Techobeard, because it is not what Microsoft wants us to do - I have purchased the upgrade version, not a full version, and therefore performed it's installation following the EULA. We are directed to buy the full version if we want to perform the clean installation.

[gmcg]

The installation performed flawlessly, except of the freezes - here is where I have started experience them from the beginning. After some time it became to be impossible to tolerate them - see the last HD Tune result - it reveals such freezes perfectly fine. The first test, performed right after the installation looks more or less OK though not as perfect as in XP or Vista IDE modes. ATTO and CDM tests, averaging the results, do not reveal freezes. HD Tune does ...

 

There is an interesting result for 4K QD32 read result in AHCI tests comparing to IDE tests, I am not sure how to explain it. But it doesn't matter.

 

For me personally my Corsair Nova 2 is unacceptable as a boot drive for Windows 8 Pro upgrade version. Such as there is no new firmware, it makes no sense to RMA it, although I still have about 20 months of active warranty on it. Paid $89.99 for it in Frys - a waste of money (and time). Used about a year in Linux without any problem, it was not very fast though, but no freezes.

[Didu2000]

I have a CSSD-V60GB2. Its size is displayed as 2 MB. How can I restore the original capacity?

[Toasted]

It will probably need to be replaced if its still in warranty.

 

Corsair provides a three year warranty for their solid state drives.