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#31
I saw this thread earlier and since I may go the SSD route in the future I checked out the OCZ Forum and this is what I have found so far. The Vertex 2 SSD uses the Sandforce controller and has some hard to understand features (at least for me). Two things about AHCI. AHCI is required to flash the firmware and is also required for TRIM support. The firmware update may be the big problem although its possible to move it to a different PC to do the flash when needed. As far as TRIM is concerned it may not be needed and that is where I get confused. Sandforce uses Duraclass feature that handles the writing of data to the drive. It compresses the data and encrypts the data. It does have a Garbage Collection feature but still uses TRIM. Duraclass also handles the block selection for the writes to equalize the wear on the drive. I am not clear on how much of an effect not having TRIM activated will affect the equalization of the drive or will Duraclass and Garbage Collection take care of the problem. That is where it stared getting fussy. I know that TRIM is not supported in RAID and doesn't stop people from using RAID with these drives.
I guess the OP may as well install the drive in IDE mode and see how it performs. Like I said if a firmware update is required he would need to hook it to another PC that supports AHCI. This can be done from a 32bit Win 7 bootdisk without affecting other drives on the system. Will not work with a 64bit bootdisk.
Hope I did not confuse anyone but myself.
Jim