My Windows 7 installation is the factory image shipped with the notebook 3 years ago, Service Pack 1 is not installed and no KB’s have been installed so there is a possibility that a KB update (for example an update supporting new SSD features/commands) may be causing the problem, which may explain why the freezing is happening in Win8 which would have all those Win7 KB’s preinstalled.
Might be a long shot but perhaps it may be worth while testing a fresh install of Win7 non-SP1 with Windows Update disabled.
