Enable TRIM on a OWC SSD

[mbp150]

i just noticed that the owc ssd website has been updated to include the read/write speeds for incompressible data and the advertised speeds are close to what i'm getting in black magic with trim disabled.

when you say the "SF controller can't compress any further", is that a controller hardware issue? or a software issue? can the other controller brands compress the same data any further?

Ok so I am not the only one because I experienced the same performance degradation. Just wanted add that BlackMagic Disk Speed might not be the best benchmark to test your Sandforce-based SSD from OWC because it uses incompressible data which the SF controller can't not compressed any further to enable higher performance on the NAND flash chips.

 

[priitv8]

when you say the "SF controller can't compress any further", is that a controller hardware issue? or a software issue? can the other controller brands compress the same data any further?

AFAIK, SF is the only SSD controller that ZIP-s data on-the-fly. So this particular phenomenon is observed on SF controlled disks only.

SandForce controllers do not use DRAM for caching[2] which reduces cost and complexity compared to most other SSD controllers. SandForce controllers also use a proprietary compression system to minimize the amount of data actually written to non-volatile memory (the "write amplification") which increases speed and lifetime for most data (known as "DuraWrite").[4] SandForce claims to have reduced write amplification to 0.5 on a typical workload.[11] As a byproduct, data that cannot readily be compressed (for example random data, encrypted files or partitions, compressed files, or many common audio and video file formats) is slower to write.

Source

 

[mbp150]

Priitv8, Thank you.

 

[comics addict]

i just noticed that the owc ssd website has been updated to include the read/write speeds for incompressible data and the advertised speeds are close to what i'm getting in black magic with trim disabled.

when you say the "SF controller can't compress any further", is that a controller hardware issue? or a software issue? can the other controller brands compress the same data any further?

I'm curious just what read/write performance are you getting from BlackMagic Disk Speed ? Since I have the Mercury Electra 6G I get a little over 100MB/s on but read & write. :/

 

[peterson12]

I don't think that is the issue. Apple has used Sandforce controller SSDs and they have TRIM turned on with no issues. I suspect this is more an issue with instability with the firmware version Sandforce supplies OWC and other OEMs.

I have no proof of this... it is just my opinion based on Apple not having any issue with TRIM/Sandforce.

Yes, this clearly indicates sandforce is not at fault. It should be just a compatibility issue with OWC & I think it is not ethical that the blame rests only sandforce. Anyways, both of them will have latest firmware patches to address this issue. I believe sandforce are still very strongly associated with big names & they are doing very well which gives an indication of how vast their demand is!

 

[mbp150]

here ya go:

slower one is with trim enabled. the other is trim disabled. i used the 5gb option.

I'm curious just what read/write performance are you getting from BlackMagic Disk Speed ? Since I have the Mercury Electra 6G I get a little over 100MB/s on but read & write. :/

 

[comics addict]

here ya go:

slower one is with trim enabled. the other is trim disabled. i used the 5gb option.

My SSD is the one with Asynch NAND flash which would explain its abysmal performance from BlackMagic.