Nowadays, many users migrate Windows OS to SSD to improve computer running speed. However, some users reported that their SSDs freeze up frequently. How to fix? This article will show you how to fix SSD freeze-up issue with top 4 methods.
Nowadays, solid-state drives (SSDs) have become the preferred option for most PC users as many users migrate their Windows OS to SSD for a pursuit of high-speed performance. Although the SSD speed is fast enough, sometimes it is inevitable that you will encounter SSD freeze-up problem. This type of issue can be quite troublesome as there are so many causes.
Windows 10 freeze SSD could be caused by connecting wrong SATA port, ACHI mode not enabled, 4K not aligned and so on. If you find that SSD freezes for a few seconds on your computer sometimes, then you may try the following methods to see if this can be solved.
4 Solutions Help You Quickly Resolve SSD freezing Windows 10
Solution 1.Check If the SSD Is Connected to the SATA 3 Port
Windows 10 SSD freeze may be caused by connecting the SSD to the wrong SATA port. SATA 3 has transfer cap of 6 Gbps and SATA 2 has transfer cap of 3 Gbps. SATA 3 devices can be used with SATA 2 port. But when you connect a HDD or SSD from SATA 3 to SATA 2, the read-write speed will reduce and your SSD won't work up to its potential, which may lead to the annoying SSD freezing up.
So you need to make sure that your SSD is connected to the SATA 3.0 interface of the motherboard (except M.2 SSD). If the previous generation of SATA 2.0 interface is still connected, the performance of SSD will be severely limited. You may replug your SSD into the SATA3 port to see if that works.
Solution 2. Enable the ACHI Mode
AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) is a new mode for memory devices, in which a computer can use all SATA advantages such as higher speed of data exchange with SSD and HDD as well as hot swapping of hard disks. When you enable AHCI mode, the speed of access to files in memory devices will be increased and overall performance of your computer could be improved.
The current mainstream motherboards basically enable the ACHI mode by default. However, for a few motherboards, as well as the previous old motherboard, the default IDE option should be manually changed to ACHI option through BIOS settings, otherwise it will affect the speed of SSD.
To enable AHCI, you'll have to enter the BIOS of your computer and enable it somewhere within its settings. It's most recommended that you enable this feature before installing the operating system, but in this case, your SSD freeze may be caused by AHCI mode not enabled, which indicates that you may not enable ACHI mode before installing the operating system to your SSD.
Indeed, it is quite possible that AHCI mode is already enabled in your PC. You might wonder: how do I know which mode the computer's controller is using? No need to worry. Here I will offer you a method to help you find out.
Step 1. Right-click Window Start menu and choose Device Manager.
Step 2. Open the section IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
Step3. If there is a device containing AHCI in its name as you can see in the following picture, it means that AHCI mode is used in this computer.
If you do forget to enable AHCI mode for SATA on a computer where Windows is already installed, then it could be a reason for Windows 10 SSD freeze. In this case, you may follow the steps as below to enable ACHI and Windows will work normally. But you would better backup important files and data in case of any unexpected mistakes causing data loss during these operations. Now follow me to learn how to enable ACHI mode for SATA when Windows is already installed.
Step 1. Right-click Windows Start menu and choose Run. Then type in the command regedit to Registry Editor.
Step 2. Open the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ iaStorV
Step 3. Double-click on Start element and set its value to 0 (zero).
Step 4. Open the section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ iaStorAV\ StartOverride and set the zero value for the element 0.
Step 5. Open section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ storahci. Then double-click the Start element and set the value to 0 (zero).
Step 6. In the subsection, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ storahci\ StartOverride set the zero value for the element 0. You may see nothing if you has enabled ACHI. But if AHCI has not been enabled yet, you will see it.
Step 7. Close Registry Editor.
Step 8. Restart the computer and enter UEFI or BIOS. In UEFI or BIOS, find SATA settings to select the mode for memory devices. Switch them to AHCI, save settings and restart the computer. For the first time after the restart, it is recommended to boot Windows in safe mode.
After the restart, Windows will start installation of SATA drivers, and when it is over, it will ask you for another restart. Do it, and AHCI mode in Windows will be enabled.
Solution3. SSD Freezing Fix by Checking 4K Alignment
4K alignment is one of the important factors that impact the read-write speed of an SSD. If SSDs are not aligned at 4K, the speed of the SSDs will be seriously affected, and the extreme switching and fluency experience will not be experienced. This could be a reason causing SSD freeze-up.
When you migrate your Windows OS from a mechanical hard drive to a solid state drive, your partitions may not be correctly aligned. This will lead to SSD freezing, slowing down your computer performance. But don't worry, to make 4K alignment of an SSD is very simple by using an third-party software MiniTool Partition Wizard.
MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one partition management tool that helps you manage disks and partitions in an effortless way. For example, with the assistance of MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can not only align partitions on an SSD, but also format partition, move or resize a partition, convert MBR disk to GPT disk and so on.
Now read the following contents to align your SSD and resolve SSD freezing with MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Step 1. Download MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition and install it on computer. Then, launch it to get its main interface.
Step 2. After selecting the SSD which needs to be aligned, you can see the function Align All Partitions from the action panel. You may click this function to get the following interface:
Step 3. MiniTool Partition Wizard will tell you how many partitions need to be aligned. Click Yesto continue.
Step 4. Click Apply button on the upper left corner to allow changes.
If the partitions on your disk are already aligned, you may see the following pop-up window.
Solution 4. Replace Your Computer with a New SSD
If the above methods do not work for your SSD, there is a possibility that it might be a bad or problematic SSD. Then you may replace the SSD with a new one to see if Windows 10 SSD freeze can be solved. By using MiniTool Partition Wizard's Copy Disk feature, you don't need to reinstall system, and all files and data on the old SSD will be copied to the new SDD, which will save you much time. Now you may follow the steps as follows to copy everything on the problematic disk to a new SSD.
Step 1. Download MiniTool Partition Wizard and install it on your computer to get everything ready. You may click the following button to get the free disk cloning software.
Step 2. Connect the new SSD to computer (via SATA for desktop or USB to SATA adapter cable for laptop) and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition to get the main interface. Then choose Copy Disk.
Step 3. Click Next to continue.
Step 4. Select the system disk and click Next.
Step 5. Select a target disk and click Next to continue. Here, you should choose the new SSD as the target disk.
Step 6. Read the warning and click Yes.
Step 7. Review the changes you are going to make on the SSD. You may also change the copy options by yourself if necessary. And you can also change the partition size by dragging the handle bar. Then click Next to continue.
2. Copy partitions without resize: each partition size will be kept as they are on the source disk. This option works only when the target disk is large enough to hold all partitions on the source drive.
3. Align partitions to 1 MB: when the target disk is an SSD, checking this option helps to enhance SSD performance.
4. Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk: this option will turn the target disk into a GPT disk. If you want to clone MBR disk to GPT disk, you check this option. But what you need to know is that this feature is only available on a paid edition if you want to convert the system disk to GPT disk.
Step 8. In this page, MiniTool Partition Wizard will tell you how to boot from the destination hard drives if you are cloning a system disk. Remember to conp the new disk as the default boot disk after cloning. Then click Finish.
Step 9. In this page, you can preview the changes to be made on the target SSD. As you can see, disk 2 has the same disk layout with disk 1. At last, you need to click Apply to allow the pending operations.
MiniTool Partition Wizard will ask for a reboot if you are copying the system disk or if some programs are still running. Please allow its rebooting. When MiniTool Partition Wizard has finished, you may set computer to boot from the SSD. After changing to a new SSD, SSD freeze-up issue could be possibly solved.
Verdict
Fixing Windows 10 SSD freeze seems to be a little complicated to ordinary people, but it still could be solved by following the above methods. If you have tried all the former methods in this post but they don't work out, the direct way is to change a new SSD.
By using MiniTool Partition Wizard, you may copy everything, including Windows 10, to your new SSD and the Copy Disk feature is absolutely free. It is so convenient, even if it's not the SSD's problem, you just want to change a new SSD, it could help you a lot.
In addition, if you have good solutions on SSD freezing fix, you can leave a message on the following comment zone and we will response as soon as possible. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Irene joined MiniTool in 2018 and has since become a professional in the areas of disk management and Windows tricks. Irene's expertise allows her to assist clients with managing their hard drives, optimizing their Windows operating system, and troubleshooting any technical issues that arise.
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