What SSD software is nessary? Two different SSD manufactures.

[skaz]

I'm pretty new with hands on experience with SSD. I got my first one a couple months back. A Samsung 830 64GB.

I hooked up my SSD to my Marvel sata3 connector, and my two WD HDD to my intel sata2 connectors. Made sure AHCI was enabled, installed correct drivers for controller, installed Samsung SSD magician, tweaked windows 7 for SSD use (most was automatic with samsung software), and verified TRIM was active. Love it.

Now, I have an intel 320 160GB SSD on its way to soon be installed in my system. I'm going to be taking out one of the WD HDD and using the intel 160GB as main storage for games while keeping the Samsung SSD as my main for OS and main programs. Also as a side note I will probably be swapping the Samsung 830 over to the intel sata2 controller for testing purposes.

Now I'm still new to actually using this hardware. So with that in mind, both companies (Intel and Samsung) recommend you install their software in order to use the SSD. Samsung's is the SSD magician software and Intel's is SSD Toolbox. I really don't like having unnecessary programs running in the background so I thought I'd check with more knowledgeable people on the matter. To sum up my question - - -

- - - Do I need to have both Magician and Toolbox installed to use these drives to their fullest potential? If not, what ones if any should I have installed?

Thank you all for any information you can give me on the matter.

 

[RealBeast]

Yes, you need both, but they are small programs that only run when you want. They are also proprietary and only run with their own drives to manually trim, update firmware, etc.

 

[skaz]

Yes, you need both, but they are small programs that only run when you want. They are also proprietary and only run with their own drives to manually trim, update firmware, etc.

Can TRIM be initiated and executed by windows 7 only? If for example I did not have samsung magician installed would windows 7 TRIM still function correctly with the Samsung SSD?

 

[geofelt]

A sata SDD looks exactly like any other sata hard drive.
No other software needs to be installed normally.
Windows-7 will determine that the hard drive it sees is a ssd by how fast it is.
The trim command will be passed on to the drive along with the necessary i/o operations by windows 7.

The ssd toolbox offered by intel will be able to update firmware, access s.m.a.r.t data and run diagnostics and utilities.
I presume samsung utilities are similar.

The software does not need to be installed at all for normal operation.

If you are running an operating system that is not ssd/trim aware, then some of those utilities can be run to free up nand blocks and maintain performance on a regular basis.

 

[geofelt]

Can TRIM be initiated and executed by windows 7 only? If for example I did not have samsung magician installed would windows 7 TRIM still function correctly with the Samsung SSD?

Yes, the samsung ssd would use trim with windows-7.

 

[skaz]

Thanks Geofelt.

 

[skaz]

Best answer selected by skaz.