Does it matter WHEN you enable TRIM?

TRIM is a Windows 7 function. By default TRIM is already enabled in Windows 7. It was automatically enabled when you installed Windows 7. You do not need to do anything.  

^+1

^+2...

How to Verify TRIM is enabled:

In the Start menu search box, type "cmd" without the quotes

Right-click the cmd program and select Run as Administrator

In the command line, type "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify", again without the quotes
If DisableDeleteNotify = 0, then TRIM is enabled
If DisableDeleteNotify = 1, then TRIM is disabled.

You should update your FIRMWARE for your SSD.

Before doing so, make a backup of your SSD using Acronis True Image (if you have a Western Digital Drive there's a free version at their website) or the Windows 7 Image backup to a secondary internal or USB hard drive.

Flashing the firmware should not screw up your SSD's data but they recommend backing up just in case (it's a good idea to do it at least once per month regardless).

Other:
RAID doesn't support TRIM. It's also very difficult to flash the firmware. Many people have purchased a second SSD for a RAID0 configuration, but I don't recommend it for most people.

Assuming your Firmware is at the correct version, yes, Trim will automatically be enabled and run. With Trim, there is no need to even run the Intel SSD Toolbox Optimizer  .

===============================================

PS: Not to hijack the thread, but just wondering, I got a laptop and shortly after bought a Intel X25-V SSD 40GB for it without even thinking. I want to put Linux onto it but I'm not sure if Linux supports Trim. I've searched but all the results are from years ago, I'm talking about the latest distros. I'm scared if Linux has no trim support, won't the SSD slow down quickly...

You may not notice trim being used for quite a while after installing the SSD. Don't use disc clean-up, and periodically check the physical space on the drive. After a period of time, depending on use, you will pleasantly note added free space.

Is the drive controller mode set to AHCI or the old default IDE compatibility mode? If the latter, then TRIM will not work. It only works with the controller in AHCI (or RAID, but with no RAID) mode.

There's a registry tweak if you did the install in IDE mode.

TRIM has nothing to do with how much free space is available in the file system. TRIM doesn't delete files. When files are deleted (by the user or in the course of normal system operations) TRIM sends a message to the SSD firmware to tell it that the blocks which were once used by those files are now available for the SSD to use in garbage collection.

^5 +1 what sminlal said.

TRIM is a relatively new Windows 7 function. It is nothing more that a message indicating that a user has deleted some data files that are stored in data blocks on the ssd. Typically the ssd does not use the message to go into garbage collection mode right away. Certain conditions have to met before garbage collection kicks in.

Garbage collection does not need to receive a Windows 7 TRIM message to work. Garbabge collection works quite well without it. A message from Windows 7 just makes it a little easier for the ssd to identify which data blocks are available.

There is a correct order to install drivers. Google "Intel driver install".

1. install windows
2. windows updates
3. win 7 service pack 1
4. get the Rapid Storage Technology (RST) file for your mobo chipset at http://downloadcenter.intel.com"
5. GPU and other drivers come last.

Good Luck

What about MAC? If I enabeled TRIM a week after the OS installation (I did delete data within that week), should I reinstall or TRIM will take care of the previous deleted data?

Regards