Windows 7: Show us your SSD performance 2

You are lucky you are not one of the few that get lousy 4K-64 results.
As a suggestion I wouldn't upgrade the firmware from 0309 to 000F unless you need to. Your write Acc time will likely increase to .37ms (a repeatable result for me).

You're saying your computer is better off if you aren't using it?

A Guy

Hey folks, first post on Seven Forums so I figured I better make it a good one! After 2, yes two, failed Intel 520 series SSD's, I made the decision to give the Samsung 830 a try. This is a brand new build, and so far the Samsung SSD is as reliable as they say. Here are the results....

Welcome to Seven Forums kbrady1979. Glad you got a winner at last

A Guy

Thanks Michael, good tip.
Well, I think TRIM works at idle rather than the logon screen, thereby making it perform better...until I garbage it up again.

As I understand it, some SSD's perform TRIM on the "down low", little-by-little, throughout the day, and some will wait until a certain amount of use and abuse has been met before running it. I'm pretty sure a trip to the SSD manufacturer's website would tell ya how your particular model works.

I noticed on my Intel 520 SSD's (while they worked) that it looked like AFTER I ran the Intel Toolbox Optimizer it would perform the bulk of the TRIM command because the HDD light would be solid for about 15-20 seconds. Other than that, the 520 series didn't seem to TRIM the drive a little here and there like my old X25-M 120GB did.

I guess one could run a benchmark test before performing any clean-up, after it's been all garbaged up, and then compare that to a benchmark directly after a manual clean up and see if there is a huge difference. If there is a huge difference, it is probably safe to say either you haven't met the threshold where the SSD would automatically run TRIM, and/or your SSD doesn't run TRIM a little here and there to keep it clean. Of course, YMMV

GC or garbage collection is only done at idle. This is done on Samsung, OCZ, and Crucial and many other brands.
Intel may have GC on their newest Sandforce based models. I'm not sure they use GC or just the Toolbox.
I beleive they are 530 and 330.

GC requires from what I have read on most brands 30-60 minutes of idle. Of course I would say if it is in bad enough shape speed is slowed enough to be noticed during use that it would not hurt to allow two hours of idle.

Intel 320, 520 and older models did not use GC nor need it.

GC is more complicated than TRIM as it is marking individual blocks that can be erased and reset to usable by TRIM.
TRIM usually takes 15-20 seconds.

If you have a Toolbox as Intel and Samsung they suggest using it once a week to prevent problems.

That is a basic overview.

For more details this is still the best.> Solid State Drive Primer

As always I'm not perfect. If you have better info please post a link and I will edit my post.

Here is another good article describing Trim and GC: Garbage Collection and TRIM in SSDs Explained - An SSD Primer - The SSD Review

Thanks Mike and Wolfgang, complex articles but I'm getting there. If I understand things, which I may not, GC is in SSDs with Sandforce controllers and TRIM for others, unless the Intel SSD now use GC since the newer ones are SF controlled. Crucial has Marvell and Samsung has its own in house controller.

Almost all if not all the Sandforce controllers use GC.
It is part of the firmware for each manufacturer so OCZ and other SF based SSD's will work according to their FW.

Crucial and Samsung use some form of GC in their firmware though they use totally different controllers than Sandforce.
No matter the brand the end result is the same.

TRIM makes the blocks usable to write new info on them.

If an SSD were a wood sided house needing the paint touched up then GC is the scraping and sanding of the old paint getting it ready.
TRIM is the new primer coat.
Then you paint it with your apps/software.

PS for Gary.

Get to scraping.