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Intel drivers now pass TRIM command to Windows

G

gmjimmy

Member
Hello everyone
I don't completely understand all of this and am struggling with the new info. I recently got some info regarding my Intel X25-M 80gb. SSD. I've been using the Windows AHCI driver because It was suggested by some on this site and others that it was better. The Intel driver apparently didn't pass the trim command to the OS. I now have some new info (new to me anyway) that says Intel's new driver corrects all of this? Could someone please give me an opinion on which driver I should use.

See links
http://www.intel.com//support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-022304.htm
http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/18653
http://communities.intel.com/thread/11920?start=0&tstart=0
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-031491.htm

Thanks
Jim
 
That driver is for RAID.

It would be ridiculous to think that the Intel AHCI driver didn't pass the TRIM command to Windows.
 
Not ridiculous at all.

The Generation 2 did not pass TRIM originally and the Generation 1 drives still do not (and likely never will).

OP, do you know if your drives are G1 or G2? If they are G1, they will not support TRIM.

If they are G2, you have to check that you have the latest firmware (and do not know what that revision is for the G2 drves) that supports TRIM.

Spektre
 
He's talking about the Windows AHCI driver vs. the Intel AHCI driver, the one that comes in the Intel Chipset infinst911.exe

Not the drives themselves
 
Compddd said:
He's talking about the Windows AHCI driver vs. the Intel AHCI driver, the one that comes in the Intel Chipset infinst911.exe

Not the drives themselves
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm not sure (especially the part Intel driver doesn't pass TRIM to Windows - it's exactly the other way around - the earlier drivers just didn't send the command to the drive), but not too long ago the Intel drivers really didn't support TRIM, so it's not ridiculous at all.. or it still is and didn't get any better just because it took them so long (yeah probably the second one) 😉
 
Compddd said:
It would be ridiculous to think that the Intel AHCI driver didn't pass the TRIM command to Windows.
Click to expand...
Not really. Neither the Intel nor the AMD AHCI driver did pass TRIM originally. Only the MS (W7) AHCI driver did it. The feature-updated Intel driver has been out for couple weeks now.

But IIRC, no driver passes TRIM to drives that are part of a RAID array (unless the driver in OP is newer than the first TRIM-passing Intel driver).
 
Spektre99 said:
Not ridiculous at all.

The Generation 2 did not pass TRIM originally and the Generation 1 drives still do not (and likely never will).

OP, do you know if your drives are G1 or G2? If they are G1, they will not support TRIM.

If they are G2, you have to check that you have the latest firmware (and do not know what that revision is for the G2 drves) that supports TRIM.

Spektre
Click to expand...


I have the G2 with the latest firmware 02HD and I'm not using a RAID array. Just one SSD for my OS and a few programs thanks.

Compddd

"It would be ridiculous to think that the Intel AHCI driver didn't pass the TRIM command to Windows."
Well it didn't and why would I be ridiculous?
 
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Ok, so I suppose I misunderstood what I read a couple weeks ago. Intel's new driver will pass on TRIM commands on Intel chipset motherboards if you use an Intel G2 SSD? And, more importantly, do the new Intel drivers offer better performance?
 
MagickMan said:
I don't know. I've heard some say that they do and others say that they don't. It's confusing.
Click to expand...

pretty sure it already worked in AHCI

the new news is finally certain intel chipsets(ICH10R?) can pass it to RAID now

but I could be wrong, its happened before.

I know OCZ's have support trim in AHCI for months
 
MagickMan said:
Ok, so I suppose I misunderstood what I read a couple weeks ago. Intel's new driver will pass on TRIM commands on Intel chipset motherboards if you use an Intel G2 SSD? And, more importantly, do the new Intel drivers offer better performance?
Click to expand...

The new drivers are supposed to be a little better for speed.

Zargon
Apparently the new drivers don't pass the Trim command in RAID.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/CS-031491.htm

I'm using the MS AHCI drivers at the moment and not sure if I want to switch to the new RST V.9.6.0.10.1014?
Jim
 
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Actually reading the links in the OP ...
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 9.6 supports TRIM in AHCI mode and in RAID mode for drives that are not part of a RAID volume.

A defect was filed to correct the information in the Help file that states that TRIM is supported on RAID volumes.
Click to expand...
... makes it clear.

Intel's 9.6.0.1014 seems to be the first with TRIM of any kind, and its date is 2010-03-19. Not "months".
 
hclarkjr said:
ok, let me see if i got it right. i am going to buy this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167023 to run as my boot drive and am getting 1 to run by itself. all i need then is the latest chipset driver and i am set?
Click to expand...

Just check the firmware to make sure its 02HD and its a G2 (second generation drive)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363

and the new Intel drivers and yer good to go. Also make sure you set the bios to AHCI and disable defrag in the OS. You'll like the speed.
 
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Also note Intel and some of the newer drives (maybe Sandforce?) are architectured to deliver higher performance at higher queue lengths - in other words, NCQ. Benchmarks such as HD Tach, HD Tune Pro, etc are simply not that applicable to these drives because they bench effectively at a queue depth of 1. Instead use AS SSD or better yet write up a IOMeter script that approximates your desired workload.

The only people besides this site that I trust for SSD benchmarks is PCPer, with diagrams like these: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=750&type=expert&pid=8
 
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gmjimmy said:
I have the G2 with the latest firmware 02HD and I'm not using a RAID array. Just one SSD for my OS and a few programs thanks.

Compddd

"It would be ridiculous to think that the Intel AHCI driver didn't pass the TRIM command to Windows."
Well it didn't and why would I be ridiculous?
Click to expand...

The link in your original post is to the Intel raid driver. The Intel AHCI driver has supported TRIM for months.
 
Compddd said:
The link in your original post is to the Intel raid driver. The Intel AHCI driver has supported TRIM for months.
Click to expand...
Why does Google produce several "Intel's AHCI driver got TRIM" hits after 19th of March, 2010? If the support was there months before, that would be no news.
 
How did you confirm TRIM was working MagickMan?

Looks like you guys were right, I installed the new Intel RVST driver. Sorry for spreading misinformation.


I do have a question though, in the Intel Rapid Storage Tech manager application, it says the physical sector size on my SSD is 512 bytes? I thought SSDs were supposed to be setup into physical 4k blocks?
 
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