What should I do? Intel X25-M

Alfie

Alfie

Alfie

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Please help me guys, I'm losing patience.

I got my X25-M G2 a month ago and I still haven't touched it because I've been waiting for the working firmware.

I'm totally new to SSD's and since purchasing it all I have read is that without TRIM the drive will degrade in performance permanently.

What can I do? If I install windows on it now and fill it full of stuff wrecklessly, can I in theory restore it to it's original performance or is that it for eternity?

Forgive my SSD noobness. I just need you guys to give me a few starter tips and a confidence boost.

I HAVE READ THE SSD GUIDE BTW.
 
This is a fairly simplified overview (so advanced warning on its inaccuracies to any pendants - the more technical and accurate explanation can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM_(SSD_command) )

As you may know, as well as storing data on a disk, the OS also stores a map somewhere on the disk indicating which parts of the disk store data, and which parts are free space which can be used by new data (precisely where on the disk this map is stored varies by file system). When you delete a file, it marks the part of the disk previously used by the file as available for use - however, it doesn't actually delete the data itself from the disk (just permits a future file to overwrite the data).

Due to the way an SSD works, it also has a similar map internally indicating which memory chips are storing data. Now because when you delete a file, the OS marks that part of the disk as free for future use but doesn't tell the disk that the data is no longer needed, this means that over time, the SSD firmware ends up tracking a lot of data which as far as the OS is concerned has been deleted.

Now, this will not impact the capacity of the drive (the OS will eventually overwrite this data with a new file), but it does result in the SSD firmware doing a lot of unnecessary work tracking unwanted data and this impacts write and delete performance.

The solution to this is to either completely wipe the disk (which tells the SSD firmware to stop tracking all data on the disk included deleted data), or to synchronise the internal SSD map of used and free space with the OS map of free and used space - the later is essentially what TRIM does (either automatically triggered by the OS, or manually triggered via an Intel Tool)

So any performance degradation would be regained by using TRIM - even if the degradation occured prior to upgrading the firmware with TRIM support - and even without TRIM you can always restored the original performance by using a tool called HDDErase (version 3.3), although this is equivalent to a reformat so is a little drastic!

In any case the degradation only occurs after a large amount of writes and deletes, so unless you are planning on filling the disk to capacity then deleting everything repeatedly, it would normally take months of normal use (if not longer) before any degradation becomes noticeable.

Matthew
 
Great, so can you 100% confirm that ANY loss of performance will be restored with the TRIM update when it finally comes?

Thanks
 
A non-TRIM firmware drive doesn't permanently degrade your drive. You can manually restore it. Either through something like HDDErase and a re-install or the Intel Toolbox when that is re-released.

If you've used the drive prior to the new TRIM firmware I'd recommend using this tool to clean up your drive so that TRIM is effectively starting afresh - as at the moment the OS will have been sending TRIM commands to the drive, but the drive will not have been able to interpret and do anything with those commands - which I'm assuming will leave those dirty cells in a dirty state until they are next recycled and a further TRIM command sent by the OS.
 
So i guess you saying when intel do release this tool to get full use out of our drives would be to HDDErase and start again, now rather than do a total re-install is there something i can back up with and off i go.
 
you must think i'm a right muppet for sitting on this drive for a month and not using it lol.
 
No Jabbs, what I'm saying is that after you've installed the TRIM firmware, run the Intel Toolbox manual TRIM tool to clean things up, as I expect the drive to still have dirty cells that the OS thinks it has told it to clean :)

No Alfie, but I bet you wish you'd asked sooner ;)

Anyway TRIM and degradation is a bit over talked about at the moment, it takes quite a while to notice a significant drop off - especially if you're using it everyday and it's gradual. Remember you don't see a lot of first gen users complaining they have to format and reinstall every week :)
 
Alfie said:
Great, so can you 100% confirm that ANY loss of performance will be restored with the TRIM update when it finally comes?
Click to expand...

No, because I'm not going to give absolute guarantees, and in any case TRIM does not restore 100% of the performance you would get on a factory new drive (just around 98-99% of it).

What I will say is that the performance of a disk which has been used for a month and then had the TRIM update installed will be the same as a disk which was subject to the same usage pattern for a month after having the TRIM update installed (plus or minus 1-2%).

Matthew
 
ChileanLlama said:
No Jabbs, what I'm saying is that after you've installed the TRIM firmware, run the Intel Toolbox manual TRIM tool to clean things up, as I expect the drive to still have dirty cells that the OS thinks it has told it to clean :)

No Alfie, but I bet you wish you'd asked sooner ;)

Anyway TRIM and degradation is a bit over talked about at the moment, it takes quite a while to notice a significant drop off - especially if you're using it everyday and it's gradual. Remember you don't see a lot of first gen users complaining they have to format and reinstall every week :)
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot its nice to have someone who knows what they are doing to clarify these things much appreciated.
 
Alfie said:
Will deleting the volume in a windows install process have the same effect as a HDDerase?
Click to expand...

No. For the same reasons that Trim is needed. Deleting a volume merely removes the entry in the disk partition table for the volume, all the volume data is still intact on the disk (hence the various volume recovery tools available).

HDDErase however send a special command to the SSD telling it to delete the entire drive.

Matthew
 
Alfie, Matthew is quite corrent - but can you just modify your install process a bit?

Create a bootable USB and put HDDerase on it.
Boot to the USB, run HDDerase.
Reboot.
Install Windows from the DVD/USB as normal.

It will literally add 5 mins to the process.

(Make sure you backup your data before hand).
 
Worth mentioning I just found out you need to use HDDerase 3.3 as 4.0 will not work on intel drives.
 
Alfie said:
you must think i'm a right muppet for sitting on this drive for a month and not using it lol.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily.

Although the firmware update should leave any data/OS already installed on the SSD intact, there is always a possibility (as those who tried the last firmware update) that something will go wrong and you'll lose the data on the disk.

it would be somewhat disheartening to spend a day or so installing and OS and applications, only for the firmware update to go wrong leaving you to install the OS and applications all over again!

Of course, you should back up before you begin (Macrium Reflect Free is a good tool for doing this and will preserve the optimal SSD partitioning if you need to do a reinstall. This would also be a good tool to use to make an image of the disk prior to a HDDErase so that you can quickly restore afterwards).

Matthew
 
ChileanLlama said:
Alfie, Matthew is quite corrent - but can you just modify your install process a bit?

Create a bootable USB and put HDDerase on it.
Boot to the USB, run HDDerase.
Reboot.
Install Windows from the DVD/USB as normal.

It will literally add 5 mins to the process.

(Make sure you backup your data before hand).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what i'll do.

Here is my plan of action.
  • Install windows 7 on the SSD from new.
  • Wait for the new firmware.
  • HDD erase the drive.
  • Install the new TRIM firmware.
  • Install Windows again.

Is that ok or should I install the firmware before HDDerasing?

Thanks for your patience with me :)
 
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