Getting my first SSD - Some questions

[Scouzer]

I'm pretty excited as I just ordered this, although thanks to Newegg Canada shoving UPS down my throat I will be waiting 10 days to get my drive. Anyway, I ordered this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...crucial%2064gb

I have a few questions:

1) How do I know what firmware is already on the drive? Do I need to put it in and start the firmware upgrade business to find out? The upgrade procedure is a PITA so I'd like to avoid that if possible. Oh and side question: Does upgrading firmware delete the data on the drive? Crucial seems to say it MAY delete it, but probably not.

2) Once I have the latest firmware installed, is TRIM totally enabled, or do I need to do anything special such as install drivers in Windows 7?

3) In the future when I format can I just disk image right onto my SSD, none of this write the whole drive to 0's business since I have TRIM?

4) Block Sizes - What is ideal, and more importantly how do I even set this? Can I do this within Windows 7 setup?

5) Does the 20% free space rule still apply to newer drives? I'd really like to ram this thing full, lol.

I know about all the standard tweaks, moving page file to other drive, disable indexing etc.

Thanks guys.

 

[Voo]

Not sure about 1, but the rest:

2) If you're using Win7 or a current Linux Kernel TRIM will be working just fine
3) Yep
4) Win7 already aligns the clusters correctly at 4k boundaries, so you don't have to do anything.. theoretically you could use bigger clusters, because a SSD can only delete larger blocks, but not worth the hassle imho
5) Yep, but it's not as if you can't use the drive if it is fuller.

 

[faxon]

newegg link is giving me a stupid error, but from your comments im assuming you got the crucial variant of an indilinx drive. if it's anything like my supertalent drive, it tells you the firmware version on post when it detects all your drives. most companies like newegg move enough stock that when you order these drives they generally have up to date firwmare. my drive came with 1819 firwmare (the latest) when i got it, and yes, updating the firmware will delete the file tables which track what data is on the drive.

 

[Scouzer]

Thanks for the answers guys. I emailed Crucial support how to check the firmware version, they replied in only a couple hours:


Thank you for contacting Crucial. Depending on what type of system you have, Mac or PC, will determine where you can find out what firmware is currently on your SSD.

On a PC, go into device manager. Double click on the drive. Go to the details tab. Change the drop down to firmware revision.

With regards to a Mac, go into the system profiler and check under hard drive and the firmware version will be listed.

If you have further questions, please visit the Crucial Community at http://www.crucial.com/help. .../contacts.aspx[/URL]. Our hours are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Mountain Time). At Crucial, we are committed to providing high-quality products and reliable service and support.

 

[railman]

Crucial answer not much good as you need to have OS installed to do it. Faxon is correct the firmware version is shown on the post screens but you may have to pause the screens in order to see it.

 

[Scouzer]

Hah, I actually missed faxon's answer in my haste. That's even better!

 

[SolMiester]

newegg link is giving me a stupid error, but from your comments im assuming you got the crucial variant of an indilinx drive. if it's anything like my supertalent drive, it tells you the firmware version on post when it detects all your drives. most companies like newegg move enough stock that when you order these drives they generally have up to date firwmare. my drive came with 1819 firwmare (the latest) when i got it, and yes, updating the firmware will delete the file tables which track what data is on the drive.

The deletion of the file tables must be something to do with crucials firmware update as the a-data i got was updated fine after win 7 install..

 

[RU482]

the best way I have found to check FW version on a drive is to use CrystalDiskInfo. (Google it if you don't know what it is). You can also see how many power cycles and run hours the drive has (they should be near 0 if new!)

You can either plug it in to an existing system's secondary SATA channel, or via a USB to SATA adapter

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

I assumed, incorrectly, that all I need to do was upgrade firmware and install Windows 7 to get Trim to work. What I found was that my Motherboard used an Intel ICH10R chipset, which doesn't support Trim in RAID mode. It's a bit confusing, but I have my data drive set with RAID 5 as my secondary. To see that device I need to be in RAID mode on the motherboard. The SSD is not a RAID device, so the chipset backs down to ACHI mode for all non-RAID devices. The problem is that windows needs to load the RAID (matrix raid) driver to see my raid volume, so that's the same driver that it uses for the SSD in ACHI mode. ...and that mean, I can't get Trim to work natively. I have optimizer running a scheduled task instead. I works for me, but I'm not really happy with the setup. My hope is that Intel will get their sh!t together a write trim support for THEIR drives into THEIR driver.

anyway, you might not have the same issue...but this is what happened to me.

 

[Scouzer]

I got my SSD setup, but I'm a little worried about the slightly used performance:



That seems a bit low for a Idillinix based drive, even a crappy one.

The numbers were a lot better when I first put it in a couple weeks ago. Ideas?

 

[TitusTroy]

as far as the 20% free space rule...does anyone know if it refers to leaving 20% free from the full stated capacity of the drive or just from what is left after Windows recognizes the drive?

meaning if I have a 256GB SSD do I count 20% of 256GB or 20% of 238GB? (238GB is what is shown when I'm installing the OS)

 

[guskline]

Scouzer: Post your computer specs for us to answer. Also I have an Intel 80g G2 ssd and Intel has software tools called an optimizer which they recommend you run once a week. Does Crucial have similar software? if so run it, then test.

 

[Scouzer]

Scouzer: Post your computer specs for us to answer. Also I have an Intel 80g G2 ssd and Intel has software tools called an optimizer which they recommend you run once a week. Does Crucial have similar software? if so run it, then test.

I don't think they have any such software. Specs:

Asus G51J Laptop
i7 720QM (mobile)
NVIDIA 260M GTS
4GB
Windows 7

 

[guskline]

In your laptop BIOS do you have an option for SATA II? If so, make sure it is enabled.

 

[Scouzer]

In your laptop BIOS do you have an option for SATA II? If so, make sure it is enabled.

I don't have an option like that.. neutered laptop BIOS.