Warning about SSD drives and windows 7

[sirkillalot]

HEADS UP

Microsoft was going to be launching the Windows 7 operating system this Fall and a new feature called TRIM would be enabled by default. The majority of SSDs that have been sold up to this point will never be able to support TRIM as the controller won't support it or the drive has firmware that can't be user upgradable

Except for the X25-M G2 2nd generation
Does anyone esle know what other ssd drives are ok with win7 ???

 

[Scott2009]

They're all OK with Win7 as far as I'm aware, you're just after a specific feature aren't you ?

 

[sirkillalot]

yes well its the older ssd that may have a problem but the new ones should be fine.

In Windows 7, Microsoft promises a substantial increase in read and write speed of SSDs. Windows 7 will partition the SSDs more efficiently to lessen the redundant read-write cycles. Also, when Windows 7 detects an SSD, it will automatically disable defragmentation, since ***defragmenting*** can reduce the lifespan of Solid State Drives. Read times are usually boosted when drives are defragmented, but since flash memory already has a high read rate and slow write rate, defragment is unideal for SSDs.

 

[sminlal]

They're all OK with Win7 as far as I'm aware, you're just after a specific feature aren't you ?

They'll all work with Win7, but a drive that supports TRIM will respond to Win7's directions to free unused portions of the drive. For example, if you delete a file, Win7 will send a TRIM command to the drive to identify the freed sectors as no longer being required. This allows the drive to re-use those areas of the flash media as new sectors, which can boost performance and reduce internal fragmentation.

 

[RetiredChief]

I believe the patriot Torqz and the OCZ vortex both support the trim cmd, I'm sure some of the other newer ones also. Ones based on the Samsung controller I think are waiting for a firmware update - So thoes are still up in the air.

 

[4745454b]

I don't follow SSDs that well, but I thought they all supported TRIM. Wasn't the issue that we needed a version of windows that used it? If I'm wrong, I'd try to find the controllers that work with TRIM and post that list. I would imagine that most drives use the same controller.

 

[Twoboxer]

This topic doesn't exactl;y lend itself to 1 sentence answers and guesses. The guy who has reported the most on it so far is shown here in his third article on the topic:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=13

That link is to the middle of a lonnnng article. That page says the only Windows that supports Trim is Win7. Even if your drive supports Trim, the OS will never issue it. However, Indilinx controllers have a workaround, as explained in the article.

 

[4745454b]

Exactly twoboxer. I've been loosely following these articles, and if win7 is the only windows OS that issues TRIM, then we don't know which controllers out there will "obey" it. All of them might nor none, we need the software to also make it work.

 

[sminlal]

I don't follow SSDs that well, but I thought they all supported TRIM.

Most of the recent drives support it, but older drives do not.

 

[Twoboxer]

Well, Anand's article gets a bit more specific. Some quotes:

Samsung drives do not have Trim support. Trim support is scheduled for later this year. But Samsung drives do not have any way for users to update the firmware. So, no Trim.

Samsung makes:

- The OCZ Summit and the Corsair P256 both use the Samsung RBB platform.
-Samsung makes the drives offered by Apple in its entire MacBook/MacBook Pro lineup.
- Samsung makes the drives you get if you order a Lenovo X300.
- In fact, if you're buying any major OEM system with an SSD in it, Samsung makes that drive.

"Don't ever opt for the SSD upgrade from any of these OEMs if you've got the option of buying your own Indilinx or Intel drive and swapping it in there."

"There’s no wiper tool and there’s currently no method to deploy end-user flashable firmware updates. Even with TRIM coming down the road, the Samsung drives just don’t make sense."

There's more info on this page of the same report linked earlier.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=19

I guess that's how the rumor got started that most SSDs do not support Trim.

 

[mikey5802]

I believe the patriot Torqz and the OCZ vortex both support the trim cmd, I'm sure some of the other newer ones also. Ones based on the Samsung controller I think are waiting for a firmware update - So thoes are still up in the air.

The Patriot TorqX M28 series has a Samsung controller and is not supported by the Win 7 Trim function. See the feedback on this series of drives on Newegg.

 

[RetiredChief]

Mikey, knew that, should have specified. The Non M28 (Which I bought) is OK. Newegg keeps putting it on sale, or MIR.

 

[cmcmenomey]

OCZ Vertex and Vertex EX are the first drives built to support trim.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Simply put, S's will experience mucho slowdownsl over time as they will 1st have to remove old files before writing new. TRIM is a feature akin to defragging in that it works when the drive is otherwise idle and cleans up stuff , erasing those files in the background. There are 3 situations, to my understanding, that you can be in:

SSD will never support TRIM
SSD will accept firmware update to support TRIM but you will lose all the data on the drive as a result
SSD already supports TRIM

As with anything else just arriving on the scene, we are talking TRIM 1.0 No doubt there will be TRIM 2.0 and I'm thinking firmware updates are likely to be required again.