How to Optimize Firefox for an SSD

By Tiffany Garden

Soild state computer hard drives perform read operations very quickly, but you may want to minimize the amount of write operations they handle to keep the access speed high. Use the Mozilla Firefox configuration menus to change the browser's download and cache directories so that they aren't stored on the SSD, because this reduces the number of small writes to the drive.

Step 1

Launch Mozilla Firefox. Type About:config in the address box and press Enter. Click the I'll be careful, I promise! button in the pop-up warning box in the center of the screen.

Step 2

Right-click an empty space on this list. Choose New, followed by String.

Step 3

Type browser.cache.disk.parent_directory in the field. Press Enter, and then type the drive letter for a hard drive that isn't your SSD. Press Enter again.

Step 4

Type browser.cache.disk.enable in the search box at the top of this screen. Double-click this entry if it is set to false. Otherwise leave it alone.

Step 5

Click Firefox in the upper left-hand corner. Select Options, click the General / Downloads tab. Click Save files to and choose the Browse button. Select a new download location that isn't on your SSD.

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