Version 4.0 PRO :- Portable vs Installed

[alan-0000]

To minimize re-installing software after a system crash and image restore of C:\ my normal order of preference is :-
a) Portable unzipped to a non-system partition on my Primary HDD ;
b) Installed but asking the installer to use D:\Program Files" instead of its default of "C:\Program Files"
c) Default installation into C:\, which recently became an SSD

I assume I need mode 'c' to full capability of HDSentinel.

Using mode 'a' or 'b' instead of 'c', would HDSEntinel have a lower capability of detecting every data write to the SSD ?

What aspects of HDSentinel would be degrade or non-functional if I chose either 'b' or 'c'.

Incidentally, is this software 32 bit or 64 bit.

Regards
Alan

[hdsentinel]

The "Portable" version does not require installation, as its name suggests, the "Portable" version should be used from a removable drive (eg. pendrive) as it offers hard disk / SSD diagnostics without installation - but does not offer constant monitoring, alerts, etc.
So if you prefer to have your system monitored (eg. to monitor daily writes / S.M.A.R.T. attribute change, etc...) you will need the installed version (not the portable).

So I agree, that you will need to use B or C method, it is your preference to select which drive (folder) to be installed

Not sure if helps, but maybe a tip:
Some users may prefer to install on the SSD but store all settings, statistics and other details on the hard disk.
This is possible by Configuration -> Advanced options -> Change folder to store statistics and settings
So this may be option d) ....

There are no differences in data collection and reporting capabilities when you install Hard Disk Sentinel to any folder.
Just the Portable version may not collect and report as much details because it would require manual launching.

The software is 32 bit application. This way it correctly works on all 32 and 64 bit systems, without problems (starting from Win98/NT4/ME/2000 to all modern OSes like Win7/XP/WHS/Vista/2003/2008 server/Win 8 preview - even in 32 and 64 bit versions).

[alan-0000]

Many thanks.

I will use your option 'd'.

Question,
If I start HDS as a service instead of by Windows, how soon after the end of BIOS will it start monitoring ?

I notice that using the default of starting with Windows after a 5 second delay it only observes about 2 MB of writes in the first minute.
I am sure that the operating system updates thousand of files before it allows me to log in,
so I wonder how much writing is escaping my notice.

Regards
Alan

[hdsentinel]

In general, the lifetime write counters (on S.M.A.R.T. page) are updated by the SSD, so they should update even if Hard Disk Sentinel is not (yet) active. For example, if you use other OS (where HDSentinel is not active) which writes to the SSD, on the next start of HDSentinel it will catch the change of the values.

In contrast, the real-time write values (on the Performance page) are updated only when HDSentinel is active and monitoring (I suspect this value is more interesting in this case), so I agree that some amount of data may not be monitored, which occurs before HDSentinel gets active.

However, the manufacturer of the SSD may recommend different settings to be adjusted (eg. disable swapfile, re-direct temporary internet files and TEMP folder, etc...) exactly to minimise write operations to the device. So if these applied, the OS (almost) reads files only during startup, so the amount of "missed" writes is minimal.

[alan-0000]

Thanks

The problem with my SSD is that the Write counters only update in 64 GB increments and they have never updated for the last two months.

HDSentinel gives me a much better idea of how much effect my tweaks have on wear-out.

So far I have used reparse points to relocate all the browser profiles from C:\Users\etc. to a HDD
and HDSentinel shows me at the end of the day that since relocation HDD writes have increased from a dozen MB per day to 1 GB,
and SSD writes have fallen to 100 MB per day

Regards
Alan

[tetrapackage]

You really can tell that SSD works and runs faster than HDD.