A note from Intel...

[SSDelightful]

Hey all,
Scott here from Intel corporation. I work for the NAND solutions group. Love the website and wanted to make sure you guys are getting the support you need for Intel SSDs and that you're aware of what we're doing on the social media front.

Off Anandtech advertising deleted.

Perknose
Forum Director

Let me know if you guys have any questions.


OH, and one more thing. We've got some cool online activity coming up. I'll be looking for some intelligent and helpful SSD internet helpers in the coming weeks. More soon!

-Scott, Intel Corporation

 

[JSt0rm]

can i has trim in osx?

 

[Idontcare]

can i has trim on my areca?

 

[SSDelightful]

can i has trim in osx?

That's not entirely up to Intel...

 

[aamsel]

Any planned date on a release of firmware for the X25-M 160GB that will support
TRIM for 2 or more drives in a RAID array on INTEL chipsets?

 

[Old Hippie]

I run RAID0 and can't use TRIM.

When I install W7 after cleaning my drives with Secure Erase, I create and leave unformatted, a 20% partition.

The idea is to allow more spare area for the drive's use in hopes that it will replace the TRIM function and allow read/write speeds to remain high.

In my case this has not worked and my read speeds have decreased by 50% in 6-7 weeks.

Does the drive's controller see this extra area as avaliable for use, is there another way to increase the spare area, or is it a case of "It just doesn't matter"?

Thanks and Welcome to the board!

 

[sub.mesa]

Hey all,
Scott here from Intel corporation. I work for the NAND solutions group.

Good, perhaps you are able to answer a question of mine!

We know Intel sells nice SSDs, and Intel knows TRIM is a hot feature here. Intel also knows people buy multiple SSDs and hook them up with RAID. We also know that TRIM does not work on Intel's RAID drivers with the SSDs being part of an array.

This i do not understand. If i were an Intel manager, i would have released TRIM-capable driver package - including full TRIM-on-RAID support - together with the release of TRIM-capable firmware. This way, Intel could benefit alot from increased sales of its SSD products since running them in a RAID does not cause the loss of TRIM capability on the array.

Considering TRIM-on-RAID works on other OS like Linux and FreeBSD (still limited support; granted) and the relative simplicity of passing TRIM (only need to take special care for split/combined I/O), i cannot understand why Intel waits so long with this highly anticipated feature in Intel RAID drivers.

Could you shed some light on this?

 

[FishAk]

Could you shed some light on this?

+1

Just to amplify this point: Intel is missing a lot of sales as well as cred by not being the first SSD supplier to pass TRIM in RAID with Windows.

 

[Old Hippie]

Any planned date on a release of firmware for the X25-M 160GB that will support
TRIM for 2 or more drives in a RAID array on INTEL chipsets?

I run RAID0 and can't use TRIM.......
Thanks and Welcome to the board!

Good, perhaps you are able to answer a question of mine!......
Could you shed some light on this?

I knew there'd be trouble!

 

[Burner27]

Good, perhaps you are able to answer a question of mine!

We know Intel sells nice SSDs, and Intel knows TRIM is a hot feature here. Intel also knows people buy multiple SSDs and hook them up with RAID. We also know that TRIM does not work on Intel's RAID drivers with the SSDs being part of an array.

This i do not understand. If i were an Intel manager, i would have released TRIM-capable driver package - including full TRIM-on-RAID support - together with the release of TRIM-capable firmware. This way, Intel could benefit alot from increased sales of its SSD products since running them in a RAID does not cause the loss of TRIM capability on the array.

Considering TRIM-on-RAID works on other OS like Linux and FreeBSD (still limited support; granted) and the relative simplicity of passing TRIM (only need to take special care for split/combined I/O), i cannot understand why Intel waits so long with this highly anticipated feature in Intel RAID drivers.

Could you shed some light on this?

Well said!!!!!! And Intels answer............Waits with baited breath...........

 

[SSDelightful]

Holy cow,
You guys are pretty much going to ask all the tough questions, huh? What I can say is that the absence of this support is not due to ignorance - the "Intel managers" aren't simply unaware that this is a talked about feature. Another point worth bringing up is that support for this feature is (as far as I know!) universally absent. It's not Intel specific. Hopefully you guys can infer from there.

That said, Intel continues to explore ways to improve all aspects of our products

-Scott, Intel Corporation

 

[MJinZ]

Good, perhaps you are able to answer a question of mine!

We know Intel sells nice SSDs, and Intel knows TRIM is a hot feature here. Intel also knows people buy multiple SSDs and hook them up with RAID. We also know that TRIM does not work on Intel's RAID drivers with the SSDs being part of an array.

This i do not understand. If i were an Intel manager, i would have released TRIM-capable driver package - including full TRIM-on-RAID support - together with the release of TRIM-capable firmware. This way, Intel could benefit alot from increased sales of its SSD products since running them in a RAID does not cause the loss of TRIM capability on the array.

Considering TRIM-on-RAID works on other OS like Linux and FreeBSD (still limited support; granted) and the relative simplicity of passing TRIM (only need to take special care for split/combined I/O), i cannot understand why Intel waits so long with this highly anticipated feature in Intel RAID drivers.

Could you shed some light on this?

I can. That scenario represents 0.01% of all buyers. Not only do you have to have the money to afford a RAID Intel drive setup, but to actually desire one is about as rare as a bonobo in Alaska. Thus, Intel is not spending the resources to implement this.

/X25-M owner here that would eventually want to run a higher capacity drive but has no desire to RAID because massive sequential read and write is basically useless.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Holy cow,
You guys are pretty much going to ask all the tough questions, huh? What I can say is that the absence of this support is not due to ignorance - the "Intel managers" aren't simply unaware that this is a talked about feature. Another point worth bringing up is that support for this feature is (as far as I know!) universally absent. It's not Intel specific. Hopefully you guys can infer from there.

That said, Intel continues to explore ways to improve all aspects of our products

-Scott, Intel Corporation

Haha... Maybe the access to manufacturers facilitated by forums and social media isn't always a good thing, huh?

Regardless, I bought one of your re-badged 40gb SSDs when it was first released and am planning on upgrading to one of your 80gb SSDs when the G3s come out and knock their prices down. Thanks for bringing these to the market. They've brought the most noticeable improvement to my computing since I went from a single to a dual core system.

 

[CurseTheSky]

160GB G2 and 80GB G2 here. Love them both, though the 80GB does feel significantly slower in real world usage.

Any time frame / rough pricing estimates on the next-gen Intel SSDs? I'd like to upgrade the 80GB to something faster, and right now Sandforce is looking like the way to go. I'd prefer to stay with Intel if the price / performance / size ratio makes it worthwhile.

 

[mutz]

The idea is to allow more spare area for the drive's use in hopes that it will replace the TRIM function and allow read/write speeds to remain high.

In my case this has not worked and my read speeds have decreased by 50% in 6-7 weeks.

you got your answer through the other thread..

/post

lol, hmm, you did got yourself into mess SSDelightful,
maybe the RAID TRIM support is something worth while bring up to the managers..

another thing is,
can you answer whether the G1's could've used TRIM or rather it was controller incompatible?
this question really places a mark on intel's approach towards the costumers and maybe it's worth opening up this subject up to clear some suspicious or at least explaining the approach or what is/has happened behind the scenes..

the thing is usually you don't get actual answers regarding these issues or the others but rather some PR "blub" such as "The company is doing the best it can to support it's costumers and will do so in years to come.."
so..?

 

[tweakboy]

Very nice 600GB I wonder how much it will cost, probably have to donate my liver. Im cool now in couple years Ill go ssd fellas. Patience is the virtue of life. thank you my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Armen Abcarians

 

[mutz]

p.s -

What I can say is that the absence of this support is not due to ignorance - the "Intel managers" aren't simply unaware that this is a talked about feature.

what is "this isn't coming out of ignorance, the managers aren't simply unaware that this is talked about feature..

so, are they aware? or are they unaware?
and if they're unaware, then this can be called ignorance in the general sense.. no?

very confusing answer you got there,
apart from that, these are mostly the answers you get, (kind of wandering if you had noticed it's double meaning),
yet probably, you won't be able to answer the earlier questions, and MOST probably not even the one referring the G1 thing...

so basically, you cannot answer any real question rather, then "my SSD got bad can i RMA it?"
or any fanboy stuff like "will the new drives will be faster then the sandforce ones" etc.

i wonder whether you could answer what you could answer and what you cannot answer or this kind of treating customers like clueless kids and disclosing any meaningful data is going to go on...

it probably would... (no offense..).

 

[mutz]

p.s -

What I can say is that the absence of this support is not due to ignorance - the "Intel managers" aren't simply unaware that this is a talked about feature.

what is "this isn't coming out of ignorance, the managers aren't simply unaware that this is talked about feature..

so, are they aware? or are they unaware?
and if they're unaware, then this can be called ignorance in the general sense.. no?

very confusing answer you got there,
apart from that, these are mostly the answers you get, (kind of wandering if you had noticed it's double meaning),
yet probably, you won't be able to answer the earlier questions, and MOST probably not even the one referring the G1 thing...

so basically, you cannot answer any real question rather, then "my SSD got bad can i RMA it?"
or any fanboy stuff like "will the new drives will be faster then the sandforce ones" etc.

i wonder whether you could answer what you could answer and what you cannot answer or this kind of treating customers like clueless kids and disclosing any meaningful data is going to go on...

it probably would... (no offense..).

 

[Blain]

"Scott" from Intel Corporation...

Are you authorized to officially speak for the Intel Cororation on behalf of their SSD product line?

If so, please disclose your full name and title at Intel.

 

[SSDelightful]

"Scott" from Intel Corporation...

Are you authorized to officially speak for the Intel Cororation on behalf of their SSD product line?

If so, please disclose your full name and title at Intel.

haha, I hope so. This is me:
http://blogs.intel.com/technology/authors#scott_dwyer

 

[SSDelightful]

p.s -

what is "this isn't coming out of ignorance, the managers aren't simply unaware that this is talked about feature..

so, are they aware? or are they unaware?
and if they're unaware, then this can be called ignorance in the general sense.. no?

very confusing answer you got there,
apart from that, these are mostly the answers you get, (kind of wandering if you had noticed it's double meaning),
yet probably, you won't be able to answer the earlier questions, and MOST probably not even the one referring the G1 thing...

so basically, you cannot answer any real question rather, then "my SSD got bad can i RMA it?"
or any fanboy stuff like "will the new drives will be faster then the sandforce ones" etc.

i wonder whether you could answer what you could answer and what you cannot answer or this kind of treating customers like clueless kids and disclosing any meaningful data is going to go on...

it probably would... (no offense..).

I'm here to answer technical questions and make sure you guys are aware of the technical topics we're blogging about.

 

[mutz]

yup, as usual, tricky answers to strait questions...
there's always a tie to hide behind..

 

[theAnimal]

what is "this isn't coming out of ignorance, the managers aren't simply unaware that this is talked about feature..

so, are they aware? or are they unaware?
and if they're unaware, then this can be called ignorance in the general sense.. no?

very confusing answer you got there

I had no trouble understanding Scott's answer: He said they are aware that people want this feature and implied they are still working on implementing it.

 

[Evadman]

Hey cool, someone from intel. hi intel. By the way, I was a first adopter of your SSD, and bought one of (probably) the first consumer SSD's (Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1) from intel for $500 in 2008. The first one was taken apart and missing screws when I got it (most likely not Intel's issue) and the 2nd one hung constantly on my E521, and everything just took forever to load. Same issue on several of my other machines including a D620 and some custom built ones. It was obviously a POS. It got so bad that I threw it in a USB external case so I wouldn't have to deal with it often.

On the advice of Anand (The Boss here) I was going to try flashing the SSD to the new firmware, but I was unable to get a drive image off the SSD. It had failed completely, in a way that Intel (and pretty much every SSD manufacturer) states is almost impossible. It failed on a read instead of a write. I never even bothered trying to do a firmware update because the drive was unrecognized in everything I tried it in.

The drive has been sitting on a shelf waiting for a friend to come visit for about 2 years. You see, he has a Barrett M82A1, and I think this $500 drive wouldn't be complete without a $5 bullet shot though it. That is about what it is worth. He was recalled to active duty, so I am waiting for him to get back before I put a bullet though this POS. Expect pics.

Of course, I posted all this in a forum that is invisible to you, since I assumed I had a 1 off issue and I didn't want to post something negative without a larger sample size. But since you joined here, and apparently care about social media, I'll post it here. I would hate for you to be bored.

 

[mutz]

He said they are aware that people want this feature

o.k, that's better said,
the issue, is this company doesn't seem to care for the customers, you buy hardware and it gets the money and that's where it ends.
it does replace faulty HW in order to keep it's reputation, keep it's credibility, but does it come out of care?
when you view what has happened with the G1's you get no answer!
and who are they to supply you with an HW product, not support it and resell it (rebranded) through the next year with this feature the G1's was missing?
now, there's no word about it, so it seems, everything goes as usual,
and it is corrupted.
now if they wouldv'e even attend this issue, it one thing, but just going over it as if they can, that's ugly.

On the advice of Anand (The Boss here) I was going to try flashing the SSD to the new firmware, but I was unable to get a drive image off the SSD. It had failed completely, in a way that Intel (and pretty much every SSD manufacturer) states is almost impossible. It failed on a read instead of a write. I never even bothered trying to do a firmware update because the drive was unrecognized in everything I tried it in.

there were 2 X25-E's with the same syndrome at a guy from XS,
2 drives went a week after the other, unrecognized, though they should have got RMA'd.