Samsung 840 Pro, TRIM, BIOS "mode" and "Magician"

[BonzaiDuck]

I just checked back about two pages of thread-listings to refresh myself about an earlier thread I'd posted. The forthcoming advice for that thread was "get the Pro instead of the EVO," which meant MLC is better than TLC, even for reasons users may never encounter in practical operation.

Now, I've received my order from the Egg. And here's the main issue.

The Intel onboard controller for my Z68 board is set to "RAID mode" for everything, to accommodate my ISRT caching/acceleration setup between a Patriot Pyro SSD and a WD 600GB HDD.

The PRO SSD I ordered is "512GB," but that should not be a problem for Acronis Disk Director. IF it is, I could use Acronis to shrink my HDD partition down to -- say -- 480GB, and clone the result.

I had been following the issue of "TRIM" implementation for RAID. It was never clear how this applied to a caching SSD under ISRT -- which requires "RAID mode" (thus set for everything on the controller). I thought I had confirmed that Win 7 is implementing TRIM for the Pyro, but could never really be totally sure. For performance, the Pyro SSD-caching is still as good as it had been over two years.

Running queries on the web, I find forum topics at places like Tom's where people are asking a similar question. The old assumption was that you would actually configure your drive as a twin in a RAID0 or RAID1 setup.

But we're talking about a single SSD here. Now you could ask, "Why don't you implement the Windows 7 "Fix-It" after unhinging SSD-caching -- to convert the HDD to AHCI-mode, requiring reboot to BIOS and changing the entire controller to "AHCI mode?"

Now I understand that either AHCI is a subset of RAID-mode, or RAID-mode is a subset of AHCI. This extra step with the "Fix-it" adds more complications. For instance, what if I want to re-install my Pyro and HDD if I find some troubles, or need to RMA the Samsung?

So far, the indications -- coming from Tom's HW -- are that I will still get Windows-implemented TRIM on a single SSD connected to a controller set to RAID-mode. And this would be good, in the event that I might later want to add two HDDs for either RAID0 or RAID1.

On the other hand, Samsung Magician apparently "misses" some things from a RAID-mode connected SSD. It doesn't become entirely useless, but it reports that "SSD not in AHCI mode."

Perhaps someone could start by telling me what the heck I really need this Magician for? And if there are better insights to what I've gleaned from the web so far, some knowledgeable person could tell me.

I don't need to test this SSD before my Newegg's return-policy month is over. If there's something wrong, I'll RMA to Samsung. So I'm not in a big hurry with this.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Nobody posted an answer to this thread, and I think I understand why.

The main answer I was seeking can be found on the SSD sticky!

That only leaves me with some vague questions or minor uncertainties about "Samsung Magician."

My IRST software "Help->About" shows "Intel Rapid Storage Technology 10.6.1002." I assume this is later than the "9.6.xxx" version referred to in the sticky. Just seems that two years makes the downloaded IRST a bit old, but . . . if it ain't broke, I don' wanna fix it.

The other thing -- I MAY eventually add some sort of RAID of HDDs to the RAID-configured Intel controller. Then again, I may not, but I don't know. I don't want to set everything to AHCI and then find myself painted into a corner. So I'd just as soon leave the controller in BIOS set for RAID-mode, clone my accelerated HDD to the SSD, and hopefully -- "good to go."

Looks like I'm not going to wait a month to do this. On the other hand, the ISRT configuration with my old 64GB Pyro SSD works just fine. I was planning to do another "build" project this year. I could simply hold onto the Samsung 840 Pro as part of a "parts accumulation" process . . .

 

[hhhd1]

You will still get Windows-implemented TRIM on a single SSD connected to a controller set to RAID-mode, aslong as the ssd is not in any RAID array.

That is all that matters IMO.

You could try to run some benchmarks to veeify that it is running with AHCI performance.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You will still get Windows-implemented TRIM on a single SSD connected to a controller set to RAID-mode, aslong as the ssd is not in any RAID array.

That is all that matters IMO.

You could try to run some benchmarks to veeify that it is running with AHCI performance.

That is truly all that matters, although we all have little peripheral "frets" and questions. Certainly, the benchmarks would alleviate some of that. Somewhere -- maybe another OC forum site -- it was clear that you don't "lose" anything by setting the controller to RAID mode, or that AHCI was a subset of what would be provided in that mode.

This is the way I do things, though. I wanted to resolve and plan the whole migration process before I even placed my order for the drive. I've been doing this . . hardware stuff . . for long enough to remember too many times, trying to do to many things at once, not having all the ducks lined up so to speak.

The Sticky makes it clear. There really isn't a lot to worry about on this. If I can clone an HDD with Acronis Disk Director 11 or Tru-Image to an SSD, it should be as likely certain of success as a routine clone to another HDD.

But this all derives from my uncertainty about "what happened" to TRIM with my Pyro caching-SSD. It enters into a sort of marriage with the accelerated HDD -- labeled "RAID 0" in the IRST software. But it's "not really RAID0." The only thing I know for certain: this has been working for 30 months, no slowdown, no drop in performance. It works today like it worked then.

Even so. I thought I saw somewhere referencing one of the 840 models noted that "[X] had been updated for RAID mode." There were some other posts I found from the last couple years and since the 840 line had been introduced, that "Magician didn't report certain things [correctly]" or didn't "work" properly in controller RAID-mode. So it may be more likely that the version of Magician I have -- or the one posted as the latest at the Samsung web-site -- won't have such problems.

 

[Charlie98]

I would be very careful with Magician. There was a previous thread here asking exactly what Magician was good for (or any toolbox, for that matter) and while it can be a good thing (Magician has a very nice benchmark utility, for example, ) it can also jack with some of your settings (at least the latest version did so with my computers.)

To be honest, besides updating the FM with it... I probably wouldn't install it in your instance. In any event, I certainly wouldn't utilize any of the optimization utility... that's what gave me problems.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I would be very careful with Magician. There was a previous thread here asking exactly what Magician was good for (or any toolbox, for that matter) and while it can be a good thing (Magician has a very nice benchmark utility, for example, ) it can also jack with some of your settings (at least the latest version did so with my computers.)

To be honest, besides updating the FM with it... I probably wouldn't install it in your instance. In any event, I certainly wouldn't utilize any of the optimization utility... that's what gave me problems.

Heh-heh. It sounds like Magician is like "ASUS Turbo EVO." In hindsight for the over-clocking software, there should've been something in the "manual" that told people to uncheck the checkbox in the AISuite II . . menu, so you wouldn't "start something you might regret." Later, I discovered that it was worth using here or there, but "Don't touch the Auto-overclocking button."

 

[Charlie98]

Heh-heh. It sounds like Magician is like "ASUS Turbo EVO." In hindsight for the over-clocking software, there should've been something in the "manual" that told people to uncheck the checkbox in the AISuite II . . menu, so you wouldn't "start something you might regret." Later, I discovered that it was worth using here or there, but "Don't touch the Auto-overclocking button."

AH! Just like the Gigabyte EasyTune6! OC'ing is just as easy as clicking a button! ...of course, it partially OCs by pumping up the BCLK... not such a good thing with a Sandy... 😱

 

[BonzaiDuck]

AH! Just like the Gigabyte EasyTune6! OC'ing is just as easy as clicking a button! ...of course, it partially OCs by pumping up the BCLK... not such a good thing with a Sandy... 😱

ASUS had it set up three different ways. You could flick a switch on the motherboard. Or you could enter the BIOS and set it to going from a menu item. Or you could load windows and use the Suite's Turbo-EVO.

I was OK with the BIOS item: it got me quickly to 4.4Ghz. And . . . 1.44V. Turbo-EVO crashed the system. So I got into clocking with multiplier by the back door. I eventually had a whole set of profiles up to 4.62Ghz with the fairly minimum voltage settings.

So getting from 4.62 to 4.60 was fairly easy. Only need to fine-tune the voltage items. And set the bCLK to 100 . . .

 

[MoInSTL]

Heh-heh. It sounds like Magician is like "ASUS Turbo EVO." In hindsight for the over-clocking software, there should've been something in the "manual" that told people to uncheck the checkbox in the AISuite II . . menu, so you wouldn't "start something you might regret." Later, I discovered that it was worth using here or there, but "Don't touch the Auto-overclocking button."

In addition to updating the FW, it allows you to make a bootable USB flash drive to do Secure Erase, enable Rapid Mode if you so choose, etc. The settings I selected under OS Optimization was Maximum Capacity as it disables hibernation, sets the page file reasonably and disables the rest of the stuff as it should for an SSD. If you wanted, you could take a screenshot of those settings and do it manually.

I am OCD when it comes to a clean install and even restoring an image. I prefer to do a Secure Erase first. I don't over do it, but I like how easy it is.