Intel Updates SSDs, Supports TRIM, Faster Writes

MojoKid writes "Intel has just released a firmware update for their 34nm Gen X25-M solid state drives that not only boosts sequential write performance, but adds support for the TRIM command as well. A performance optimization tool is also being released today, for users of Windows Vista and XP, who won't be able to take advantage of TRIM. After being flashed with the new firmware update, Intel's 34nm Gen 2 X25-M 160GB drive offered increased performance in a myriad of benchmarks shown here, and sequential write performance was increased on the order of 30%."

Comments

A better write up at anandtech

[Zebadias]

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3667

Re:A better write up at anandtech

[Vigile]

Here is PCPer.com's post on this update:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=805

Re:They still are crap compared to Fusion-io

[crazypip666]

What you fail to mention is that Fusion-IO devices aren't bootable.

Re:They still are crap compared to Fusion-io

[jandrese]

Sure, if you're willing to pay $3500 for the same 80GB that you can get for $350 on the Intel drive you had better expect it to perform faster. It's literally an order of magnitude more expensive!

Re:Great

[tepples]

Now what file systems support TRIM?

Any file system whose checking program supports retrieving a list of cluster ranges that aren't in use can be made to support TRIM. These include any FS that uses a "bitmap" to record sector allocation (e.g. HFS or NTFS), as well as any that use a linked list of cluster numbers (e.g. FAT32, exFAT).

Re:Great

[TheRaven64]

Well, not exactly. The filesystem driver in the OS needs to support it. It's not something that you can just support for every filesystem easily, because each filesystem keeps track of which blocks are in use and which are not in a different way. An OS will support it by exporting a trim command from the block driver level, which will be ignored by older drivers and mapped to the SATA TRIM command on drivers for newer controllers. Each filesystem will then be responsible for actually issuing these commands.

TRIM

[EriktheGreen]

Great, now even my computer is getting more TRIM than I am.

Re:TRIM

[n1ckml007]

Yes, the computer will TRIM the FAT.

Re:TRIM

[bughunter]

Apparently that sense of the word 'trim' is regional.

I grew up in Florida and Colorado, and wasn't aware of that meaning until one day a couple years ago, when I was discussing my afternoon's plans with my wife, "I'll go to the grocery for some things, but I think I'll stop in for a trim first."

My wife tittered, "Don't say that!"

Here, I was utterly confused by her reaction, "Say what?"

She blushed and said "You know."

At this point I was becoming disoriented, because my wife is seldom either obtuse or squeamish. "What!"

"You don't know?"

I began to feel like the Knights of the Round Table saying 'it' to the Knights of Ni. "I really don't know."

She whispered, "'Trim!'"

I boggled for a beat. "I'm going to go to the barber for a trim. What did you think I meant?"

More girlish giggling, "You know!"

"No, I don't. What else does 'trim' mean to you, besides a haircut, or lawn maintenance?"

She finally realized I was serious, and said, "It's slang for the female genitals!" like I'm an idiot. Which is a much more familiar tone.

But I began imagining the etymology of such a usage, and began to picture a well-trimmed female pubic area. "You mean, like in trimmed pubic hair?"

More blushing and giggling, "Yes!"

Now I was intrigued, "Wow. I've never heard 'trim' used like that before; it must be a West Coast thing. So, is 'trim' used as a noun, like 'I want some of that trim?' Or is 'trim' a verb, as in 'I'd trim that?' Or maybe an adjective, as in 'trim pie?'" Every time I said the word, she flinched or tittered or giggled. The Pythonesque feeling returned.

"It's a noun, I guess. The boys in college used it all the time." Of course, this was taking all the fun out of it for her, but now that I'd found a new button to press, my fun was just starting...

[This reminds me of the time I illustrated the phrase 'tongue in cheek' by poking out my right cheek with my tongue... and nearly got fired for sexual harrassment. But that's another post.]

Re:Great

[bill_mcgonigle]

Now what file systems support TRIM?

ext4, but the block layer needs to handle it too. There was some LKML traffic a couple months ago about smart designs for this - it's probably not in current distro releases yet. TRIM can be very expensive if not well-optimized (the non-optimized demo took a half hour to delete a kernel tree with TRIM on a supporting SSD) and the right thing to do may depend on drive model capabilities. The moral is it's not worth doing poorly, and doing it right may require some re-plumbing. But the upside is that Linux ought to be very fast and efficient about it when it lands because smart folks are making sure it ships when it's ready, not by some arbitrary date.

Re:Intel change is great, but...

[Spad]

Defragging SSDs is not only mostly a waste of time (Seek time is the same regardless of where the data is physically on the drive so unless you're dealing with heavy fragmentation of large files it won't have any effect), but it reduces the lifespan by needlessly reading and re-writing data all over the place; there's a good reason Windows 7 automatically disables defragmentation for SSDs.

Re:call me bitter

[AmiMoJo]

Actually Intel are pretty good on the tech side, but in true Dilbert style their marketing department screws the customers.

The P4 is a good example. For marketing reasons they built a CPU that could be clocked really high at the expense of performance. The P4 was a consumer product as it defined the headline speed of a PC. Motherboard chipsets, on the other hand, are never mentioned in consumer marketing blurb so those stayed mostly about the technology.

Intel NICs, chipsets and mobile CPUs have all been pretty good down the years. Anything designed with the minimum of interference from marketing has had pretty good performance and reliability, and these SSDs are no exception.

Bricked 30% faster than before!

[ozbird]

Oops.

New firmware was pulled from Intel website

[lbschenkel]

Intel pulled the new firmware from its website because it would brick the drive in some machines with Windows 7: http://www.buzzbox.com/preview/intel_pulls_ssd_toolbox_for_killing_drives_under_windows_7/?id=154783

I have Windows 7 and a X25-M G2 that I was going to update but I gave up after I found via Google a lot of forums posts from people who bricked their drives with the new firmware.

A word to the wise!

[rabtech]

WARNING: Intel has pulled the firmware because there appears to be a chance of bricking the drive. Users report that the firmware updates successfully, but after rebooting Windows detects changed hardware, installs drivers, and after rebooting again the system BSODs and/or won't boot at all. The drives appear to be bricked unless reformatted.

I have one of these drives and I'm holding off until the dust settles.