JMicron & TRIM Questions

[plasma-visuals]

So I just got an SSD and its awesome.
I was told to use AS SSD to test it, and it said I needed to change to AHCI instead of IDE which I did.
That changed it from BAD however I've now been told that unless I re-install windows that TRIM wont be activated.
Is this true? Will I need to format while its set in AHCI for this to work?
I've read some stuff on TRIM but I can't really see what the difference is.

The other question is, my motherboard comes with JMicron JMB36X Drivers.
Do I still need these? I think there RAID drivers but i'm not entirely sure.
Its just super annoying when I boot it comes up with JMicron No Media Found and I was kinda hoping I could disable it, but i'm not sure.

Help much needed!

 

[Pinhedd]

TRIM is a very handy tool that allows the OS to inform the SSD that a logical block has been logically freed up in the file system (when a file is modified, relocated, deleted, etc...) and thus no longer contains useful data. This allows the SSD to mark the logical block as garbage and it will be erased next time the garbage collection routine is run. Without TRIM, the SSD will not be able to tell what blocks contain useful data and which do not; this will result in some nasty behaviour which includes reduced lifespan and reduced write performance.

If you install Windows with the storage controller in IDE mode you will cause a BSOD on boot by switching it to AHCI mode. The reason is that the wrong drivers will be loaded. There is a registry hack workaround for this but I've never tried it. I would recommend a complete reinstall as SSDs will only function properly in AHCI mode.

Most motherboards include an add-in storage controller in addition to the storage controller that is part of the Intel or AMD chipset. These add-in storage controllers are usually provided by JMicron, ASMedia, Marvell, Promise, LSI, etc... and are connected to the PCIe lanes provided by the PCH/Southbridge. These should only be used as a last resort. Do not run an SSD on anything but a chipset storage controller unless you absolutely have to; consult your motherboard manual to see which is which.

If you don't have anything connected to the add-in storage controller's ports that you want to boot from you can usually disable the OPROM for that device in the system setup. Optionally, you can disable the device completely. However, they will sometimes also control the eSATA ports on the back of the motherboard so keep that in mind.

 

[plasma-visuals]

Well I was able to change the AHCI without having to re-install and I also found a command line code that sees if TRIM is running, which it is. So looks like I wont have to bother. But thank you for the explanation.

That sounds good, I'm going to disable and uninstall the JMicron stuff then as its not being used at all.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Pinhedd]

Well I was able to change the AHCI without having to re-install and I also found a command line code that sees if TRIM is running, which it is. So looks like I wont have to bother. But thank you for the explanation.

That sounds good, I'm going to disable and uninstall the JMicron stuff then as its not being used at all.

Thanks for the advice!

Great. Sounds like you already had it connected to the right storage controller. A lot of manufacturers don't make it immediately obvious that several of the SATA ports go to different controllers