SSD, Win 7, and Trim........And what now?

[GMink]

I got my SSD all set up. Took me longer than I expected since I decided to do a fresh install of both OSX and Windows 7.

Now, what is the deal with the Trim comand and windows 7?

I can't find anywhere in windows where I can execute the comand. Is Trim done in the background? I've turned off automatic defrag in the tools area, what else should I enable/turn off? Do I need to install the Intel tool box and run the optimizer?

I'm using the Microsoft AHCI default drivers, from what I've read they pass the Trim camand along to the drive.

George

 

[GoCubsGo]

Can you implement TRIM in Windows if OS X exists or would it just work the partition? Sorry but I am curious george.

 

[GMink]

Can you implement TRIM in Windows if OS X exists or would it just work the partition? Sorry but I am curious george.

Thats a good question!

I would assume it would only apply to the windows partition.
I know Trim doesn't work with HFS+ drives.

I plan on making an image of my OSX boot drive, formatting it as NTFS, running either the Intel Optimizer or the Microsoft Trim command on the partion, formatting it back as HFS+, then putting the OSX image back on it.

I figure once a month? lol
Still a lot of work, Apple needs to get on the ball with SSD!

 

[snouter]

It's my understanding that you do not need to do anything to enable TRIM in Windows 7. It just takes care of business in the background.

Also, Windows is supposed to see the SSD and disable defrag which is not needed with an SSD and shortens the life of the SSD.

 

[VirtualRain]

I think as long as you are using the Windows 7 (Microsoft) default AHCI drivers, it will work automagically.

 

[GMink]

Thanks for the replies!



When I turned off the auto defrag scheduleing I noticed that even though the box was selected that said "all drives" only my data drive was listed and not the SSD boot drive so Win 7 had to have detected the drive as a SSD device.

 

[ghislain]

Is it certain?

I have a SSD Torqx with the last firmware upgrade and with windows 7 64 GB installed, so I guess that TRIM should work in the bacground. However, wiper.exe says that it can't do anything on this drive. So, I am still dubious that TRIM works on a Mac Pro, even with microsoft AHCI drivers installed.

 

[GMink]

I have a SSD Torqx with the last firmware upgrade and with windows 7 64 GB installed, so I guess that TRIM should work in the bacground. However, wiper.exe says that it can't do anything on this drive. So, I am still dubious that TRIM works on a Mac Pro, even with microsoft AHCI drivers installed.

I've got the Intel toolbox installed. I guess I could just run their optimizer every once in a while to be sure.

 

[x-machine]

Hey George, just thought I'd add a comment here. I run the same setup as you with OSX and Win7 installed on my Intel X-25M SSD.

Whilst Win7 does support TRIM, you still need to run a trim utility such as the one supplied by Intel. My disk is 70% full and the trim tool takes seconds to complete. It also has a built in scheduler that will allow you to run the tool in the background on any schedule. Intel recommends running it once a week which I do Still as fast as ever so I guess it works.

As you suggested, it will only operate on your NTFS partition, the HFS+ side wont be touched by this.

On a separate note, which partition do you feel that your SSD makes the biggest difference to? I defo noticed it more in OSX than Win7. Probably becuase OSX is where all my creativity apps (such as Aperture and Photoshop) are... damn I love how Firefox opens with 1 dock bounce :->>

xm

 

[GMink]

Hey George, just thought I'd add a comment here. I run the same setup as you with OSX and Win7 installed on my Intel X-25M SSD.

Whilst Win7 does support TRIM, you still need to run a trim utility such as the one supplied by Intel. My disk is 70% full and the trim tool takes seconds to complete. It also has a built in scheduler that will allow you to run the tool in the background on any schedule. Intel recommends running it once a week which I do Still as fast as ever so I guess it works.

As you suggested, it will only operate on your NTFS partition, the HFS+ side wont be touched by this.

On a separate note, which partition do you feel that your SSD makes the biggest difference to? I defo noticed it more in OSX than Win7. Probably becuase OSX is where all my creativity apps (such as Aperture and Photoshop) are... damn I love how Firefox opens with 1 dock bounce :->>

xm

Thanks for the response XM

I ran the Intel Optimizer just to see if it would work and to get an idea of what to expect. It ran fine and only took about 30 seconds to finish. So I plan on making that part of a weekly routine or setting it up in scheduler.

It's hard for me to judge the difference in loading with windows. I had vista loaded in my dual boot first then went and picked up Win 7 just in time to set up with the new SSD drive. I can say that win 7 on the SSD is FAST loading to the point of apps loading practically instantly.

The same is true for my Mac set up, I went from 2x Baracuda drives in Raid 0 for my boot drive to the SSD. Mac Apps load much faster now too, and with out all the chatter from 2x baracuda's in raid! lol

 

[x-machine]

Pleased to hear you like it (its hard not to eh). Enjoy.

Also, the Intel tool has a section to allow you to run it on a schedule. You dont need to use any other task scheduler

 

[GMink]

It's my understanding that you do not need to do anything to enable TRIM in Windows 7. It just takes care of business in the background.

Also, Windows is supposed to see the SSD and disable defrag which is not needed with an SSD and shortens the life of the SSD.

Just to verify that Windows 7 does in fact disable defragmentation on SSD drives automaticly, it will only defrag the HD's. So you can leave the defrag schedule option on for your hard drives without concern for the SSD. Tested this last night