If you're an early adopter of solid-state drive technology, odds are you're interested in squeezing every last drop of performance out of your system otherwise you probably wouldn't have spent $300 on 80GB of storage (or considerably more than that a few months ago).

There's a wealth of information to be had about SSD tweaking and with a bit of research you'll find various adjustments for Windows that can help you make the most of your drive. The thing is, to fine tune Windows, you'll waste a lot of time navigating menus and that's where SSD Tweak Utility steps in.

A user on the OCZ forums created a utility that gives you centralized access to all the popular SSD configuration points within Windows. The SSD Tweak Utility lets you fiddle with the following:

  • Windows Indexing Service
  • System Restore
  • Windows Defrag
  • Use Large System Cache
  • Ntfs Memory Usage
  • Disable 8.3 Filenames
  • Disable Date Stamping
  • Disable Boot Tracing
  • Windows Prefetcher
  • Windows Vista Superfetch
  • Windows Services

The software is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 (both 32 and 64-bit). It's also worth mentioning that the program only makes adjustments to Windows at the OS level, so it should work with any SSD brand or model. I tested it using a second-gen Intel X25-M on Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate x64 as well as Windows XP x86 without a problem.

The SSD Tweak Utility recommends which settings to disable for optimal SSD performance, and if you're a little unsure there is an auto-tweak feature that offers a brief walkthrough. This should come as a great addition to a tip we ran in December about reclaiming storage space with a few simple steps within Windows.

Are you running a SSD on your desktop or laptop now? What brand and model did you choose, and how do you like it against your old standard HDD? Share your comments here.

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