Hyram:
Apple locked TRIM support for a very good reason — their code works reliably with the SSD’s they’ve chosen to use and no others, because they have programmed in nanosecond-critical timing loops that match perfectly with the access timings of the controllers used in Apple’s SSDs.
This is nonsensical. For one, they don't even use the same drives in all their systems. For another, TRIM doesn't require "nanosecond-critical timing loops" any more than any other disk command. The OS issues the command, the drive does it, end of story. Same as the OS issuing a "write this file" command. The OS doesn't know or care how this is being done, the drive handles it.
Using these drivers with other controllers can, at best, slow them down, and at worst, increase the thermal effect that kills storage cells by forcing the controller to act when it isn’t quite ready.
This is also nonsensical. The TRIM command doesn't "force the controller to act when it isn't quite ready". It CAN'T do that. TRIM is just a command like any other-the OS issues it, the drive carries it out as it can, in the way that it's designed to.
Then there is the Sandforce issue. SSDs which use one of Sandforce’s DuraClass controllers (SF1200 or better) do not need TRIM at all, as they have their own garbage collection and wear levelling system built in which uses parallel writes, as there are actually two sets of chip controllers built in — whilst one is satisfying the demands of the host in reading & writing requested data, the other is autonomously managing the solid state arrays, shifting regularly-accessed data into new cells, updating block indexes and generally spreading the workload around to ensure thermal effects are kept to an absolute minimum.
Drives with Sandforce controllers are less affected by what TRIM fixes, because they're compressing data, and thus reducing writes, and thus (potentially) less effected by writes taking longer due to lack of TRIM.
However they're still slowed down like any other-this is the nature of the technology.
Things the drives do in the background can help, but are kludge-y compared with just supporting TRIM, and don't work as well, and can't always get the job done.
By enabling TRIM, the SSD is forced to work twice as hard as there are now two separate element management systems running, one from the OS and one built into the device itself.
This is yet another completely nonsensical claim. It in no way increases the amount of work being done. All TRIM does on ANY SSD is basically shift when the process of wiping cells takes place. It does not and can not cause "thermal damage" to have TRIM enabled. If anything the reverse would be true as more work has to be done during extended writes if TRIM is not on. Instead of just writing, you're having to read, wipe, write, a three step process instead of a one step process if the OS and drive support TRIM.
Until Apple can implement an intelligent TRIM system — one that can respond to the SSD’s built in characteristics data and adjust its own timings to match, as Windows does
Windows does not do this. All Windows-or OS X-have to do is detect whether or not it's an SSD. That's it. It sees something supporting TRIM, it "turns on" support of the command so the command is issued when files get deleted. There is no responding to build in characteristics. There is no adjusting of timings. The OS does not know or care how the command is being carried out, only that the drive is carrying it out, exactly the same as how the OS does not know or care how a file is being written, just that it is.
The OS has to support the command, so you need Windows 7 on the Windows side (or newer versions of Linux on that side), but...it's just a command the OS passes to the drive.
— then the only safe, reliable non-factory SSD you can trust with Mac OS X is Intel’s X-25 series. Everything else dies after six to ten months’ regular use.
If they are, there's something wrong with the drive, or else OS X has some kind of bizarrely high rewriting going on compared with Windows NT and Linux, which I'd assume isn't the case.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738/10
This was one of the earlier articles on what TRIM is, I think from right as all the pieces were coming together. Of course later articles could talk about it in practice, though there's not much to say-it works as advertised, pretty much keeping drive performance in a like new state.
EDIT: The point of the above is to say, if OS X is in a state where it has true TRIM support, as apparently it is, then there's no technical reason Apple can't just detect what type of drive is there, and if appropriate, turn on TRIM. They don't need to know anything about the drive save that it supports TRIM. That they aren't is almost certainly because they want to push people to their own drives.
