OCZ, Indilinx Firmware Makes SSDs Faster
This new SSD firmware collects garbage. What does your HDD do for you?
Most SSDs are wicked fast and an appreciable upgrade to any system. The thing about SSDs – at least up to this point – is that performance of SSDs can degrade over time due to the way that data is written to NAND memory.
For drives that support it, Windows 7 is able to issue the TRIM command, which aims to cut down on performance degradation from multiple file write and and rewrite operations. Not only does TRIM improve performance, but it also is able to reduce drive wear and prolong life. Of course, this requires intervention by the OS. Now OCZ and Indilinx have come up with a performance-preserving solution that operates straight off the hardware thanks to a new firmware.
A beta firmware for the OCZ Vertex line (version 1585) featured something called "background garbage collection." What the SSD does it that it services and reorganizes itself (collecting garbage) during idle time to help return the drive to its original fresh-out-of-the-box performance levels.
Early tests of this firmware, courtesy of PC Perspective and Hot Hardware, show that just a few minutes of idle is able to noticeably improve performance. After an hour of idle, the OCZ Vertex was restored to performance levels comparable to the new drive.
The beta firmware was far from final, as it did contain bugs that hindered file copy speed, but OCZ and Indilinx are already working on a new version that also supports ATA8 ACS2 TRIM.
SSDs are looking sweeter than ever. Now all we need is a new firmware that will do something about the price tags.
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gwolfman Any news on full TRIM support? This sounds like a hardware-based wiper instead of the software one made available.Reply -
simplyderp What's this difference between this and the TRIM utility that has been available for months on OCZ forums and takes less than 10 seconds to complete?Reply -
simplyderp What's this difference between this and the TRIM utility that has been available for months on OCZ forums and takes less than 10 seconds to complete?Reply -
lifelesspoet Price and capacity are the most obvious issues with ssd's, however I would buy one today despite the GB/$ if the technology didn't seem so unrefined. Every week I hear of new advancements in ssd tech. Data rot, read/write cycles, write perfomance, performance degration are the biggest issues to me.Reply
I still think they make decent alternatives when used for boot drives and low power computers. -
People need to stop complaining about SSD prices. It has to do with NAND production cost.Reply
Upgrading your 7200rpm C: drive to an SSD is probably the most cost effective hardware upgrade for a lot of people right now. -
duckmanx88 welp the only bad thing i ever heard about SSD's was their degrading performance but soon that'll go away it seems. and I can see why people are upset about the price/GB but one SSD's are hardly mainstream yet and 2) getting a smaller 64GB would be fine for a lot of people and all other media files could just be place on another internal/external hard drive.Reply -
Mr_Man A dozen Linux coders probably just lost their pet project. Oh well, firmware fixes are almost always better than OS workarounds.Reply