Which SSD to choose

[Chippy99]

Is it true that Trim information is sent to an SSD, via the Apple driver, if the drive is an OEM Apple device? Looking for clarification on this.

Yes, correct.

I am using an older M4 Crucial drive, as a boot drive, in a Late 2008 MacBook Pro (SATA 3Gb). I installed it because the computer was very slow, and even this slower drive, on the 3Gb, interface has made this machine acceptably fast. Even though it's an older model, it does support GC.

Now I am confused... According to the Crucial website, GC only works when the drive is idle. It was recommended to boot the machine into Startup Mode as the SSD will then be in an "idle" state where GC will properly run. I will look for the link, and post it here.

GC can be done either foreground or background. BGC takes place when the drive is idle, as you suggest. It's important to understand that Trim does not actually *do* anything - in terms of reading, writing, deleting etc. A Trim command merely informs the drive what blocks are stale so that the drive understands it need not perform BGC on those blocks.

Thanks for the info. I am going to email the author of the utility, and ask him for comment. I would like to know what the deal is, and he has been very responsive in the past.

By all means. But do remember as the author, he's might be a bit defensive about a piece of code that he is trying to generate revenue from! You'll need to exercise a bit of your own judgement in reading between the lines of what he says in his reply. I would hardly expect him to say "it's a fair cop, my utility is worthless"!

EDIT: BTW, I don't think that the M4 uses a Sandforce controller. Is what you have stated above still applicable? I believe Sandforce controllers do compression, on the fly - would this matter?

Sandforce or not, all modern SSD controllers work in pretty much the same way.

 

[DCIFRTHS]

GC can be done either foreground or background. BGC takes place when the drive is idle, as you suggest.

I did not know this.

It's important to understand that Trim does not actually *do* anything - in terms of reading, writing, deleting etc. A Trim command merely informs the drive what blocks are stale so that the drive understands it need not perform BGC on those blocks.

Yes. This I knew.

By all means. But do remember as the author, he's might be a bit defensive about a piece of code that he is trying to generate revenue from! You'll need to exercise a bit of your own judgement in reading between the lines of what he says in his reply. I would hardly expect him to say "it's a fair cop, my utility is worthless"!

I believe that he will elaborate, or better yet, come here to discuss the issue. He does include the kext replacement with Disk Sensei, so for people that want to use that driver (not me) he is offering value with his program. I do understand what you are saying though.