Hi i am about to install a Intel SSD along side 2 RAID arrays using the Intel controller on my Rampage 2. Doe's this mean that TRIM will not automatically get run though windows 7 and that i'll have to manually run a piece of software to to optimize the data on the drive?
SSD and Intel Matrix Storage Manager
- Thread starter DIABLO
- Start date
If it's true what Zarf says above anyone know if it works well with the Jmicron controller that is onboard as well? How often does the TRIM software need to be run maintain performance? would a work around be to switch to IDE mode say once a month just to optimize the drive then switching back to RAID mode after?
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TRIM does not work on the Intel X25-M G2s when they are in RAID0 on the ICH10R cont., simply because Intel has not released a driver that supports it yet, and neither will the Intel SSD Toolbox allow you to run TRIM manually with they are in RAID.
At the moment, the only way to "service" them is by making a Backup image and put it on another HDD, then disabling RAID in BIOS and run HDDErase on both of them, enable RAID again (you may need to delete RAID volume in raid bios before erasing and create the RAID0 volume after erase), then put the backup image onto the RAID0 volume...
I have had 2 x Intel X25-M G2s in RAID0 since 22nd October 2009 and the performance is still very good, but it does very much depend I think on your use...
EDIT: Just re-read the OP and see that my uptake of it was wrong....
If you attach your (single) Intel SSD to the ICH10R cont. with 2 RAID arrays, it will automatically run in AHCI mode, so the Intel SSD Toolbox "may" work on it, I certainly would be loathe to put an SSD on the jmicron cont. as it really is very poor...
At the moment, the only way to "service" them is by making a Backup image and put it on another HDD, then disabling RAID in BIOS and run HDDErase on both of them, enable RAID again (you may need to delete RAID volume in raid bios before erasing and create the RAID0 volume after erase), then put the backup image onto the RAID0 volume...
I have had 2 x Intel X25-M G2s in RAID0 since 22nd October 2009 and the performance is still very good, but it does very much depend I think on your use...
EDIT: Just re-read the OP and see that my uptake of it was wrong....
If you attach your (single) Intel SSD to the ICH10R cont. with 2 RAID arrays, it will automatically run in AHCI mode, so the Intel SSD Toolbox "may" work on it, I certainly would be loathe to put an SSD on the jmicron cont. as it really is very poor...
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It should work over the Jmicron, but you might find that the Jmicron hurts performance more than being untrimmed.
The workaround you mentioned should be fine, to be honest being untrimmed only costs about 10% performance, so you may not even notice it. The intel toolbox recommends daily cleans, but i think once a fortnight should be more than enough.
good question there diablo, i myself have a raid0 array of WD 640aaks's and an intel 80gb ssd as a os drive.
after reading this thread i thought to myself, well the trim stuff is suppose to work automatically in windows 7. so ill just run crystaldiskmark to check.
now heres the numbers of the crystaldiskmark i ran after first reading this thread. (sorry no image i just wrote down the numbers as at the time i didnt know i would be posting them up.)
seq....260.2 82.22
512k...207.2 69.00
4k......24.03 47.66
at this point i decided to download and run the intel ssd toolbox to see if it mentioned if trim was working or not.
hers the crystaldiskmark from after the toolbox was run.
for comparison here is a screenshot of crystaldiskmark from when i first installed win7 on the ssd.
now it certainly looks like running the toolbox has improved things, so maybe the automatic trim functions dont work if you also have a raid array running along side a single ssd, it would be interesting to here from other users in a similar situation just to check.
at least running the toolbox was quick and painless.
after reading this thread i thought to myself, well the trim stuff is suppose to work automatically in windows 7. so ill just run crystaldiskmark to check.
now heres the numbers of the crystaldiskmark i ran after first reading this thread. (sorry no image i just wrote down the numbers as at the time i didnt know i would be posting them up.)
seq....260.2 82.22
512k...207.2 69.00
4k......24.03 47.66
at this point i decided to download and run the intel ssd toolbox to see if it mentioned if trim was working or not.
hers the crystaldiskmark from after the toolbox was run.
for comparison here is a screenshot of crystaldiskmark from when i first installed win7 on the ssd.
now it certainly looks like running the toolbox has improved things, so maybe the automatic trim functions dont work if you also have a raid array running along side a single ssd, it would be interesting to here from other users in a similar situation just to check.
at least running the toolbox was quick and painless.
After doing some research i've read that the inbuilt TRIM support in W7 doe'snt work while the SATA controller is in RAID mode regardless if the drives are actually in an array due to lack of support from the intel matrix driver but the SSD Toolbox should work fine even if the controller is in RAID mode but only on drives not in an array. And the Jmicron controller is utter pap.
Good to know then that Intel SSD Toolbox does work with an SSD running in AHCI mode when RAID is enabled...
Do you have a source for that?
I am using a mix of RAIDed hard disks and non RAID SSD and couldn't find anything that confirmed this.
Taken from the Intel SSD Toolkit PDF manual (P13) "If your PC uses Microsoft Windows 7 and the Intel Matrix Storage Manager version 8.x
(which can be used in place of the Microsoft AHCI driver), then the Intel SSD Optimizer
tool is required to enable the ATA Data Set Management Command (Trim)."
(which can be used in place of the Microsoft AHCI driver), then the Intel SSD Optimizer
tool is required to enable the ATA Data Set Management Command (Trim)."
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I did not install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager or other non Windows 7 drivers specifically to avoid loss of Trim support (or so I thought). So the question is whether the IMSM is the key part or just having a mix of RAID and non RAID SSD on the Intel ICH10R controller.
i havnt installed the matrix storage manager either, and my results show earlier in this thread it would seem it dosnt work if you have a seperate raid array.
Amen to that