topic Re: How long in idle before a 530 starts internal garbage collection in Solid State Drives (NAND)

How long in idle before a 530 starts internal garbage collection

TDuff2 — Mon, 11 May 2015 22:24:00 GMT

I'm using a 530 240GB in a write-heavy embedded application (not a desktop OS, Freescale i.mx6 processor).

After a series of intensive writes, how long before the SSD goes off-line and starts GC?

If I attempt to start another write while it is GCing, does it stop what it's doing straight away, or block I/O until its ready, and could that take more than several seconds?

If it hasn't GC'ed in a while, does it get more urgent (smaller idle time)?

These are spec questions that are not noted anywhere in the docs.

I'm trying to calculate how long the drive could be inaccessible.

Is there a better drive for this usage (e.g. DC series), where constant writes are normal operating practice, compared to a desktop drive where long periods of idle or mostly reads are normal.?

Re: How long in idle before a 530 starts internal garbage collection

ASouz7 — Tue, 12 May 2015 16:05:29 GMT

Hello tomuo,

We are going to research on this subject and will get back to you as soon as possible.

Re: How long in idle before a 530 starts internal garbage collection

CHamm4 — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 20:18:42 GMT

I would also like to know this for the Intel 530 and 535 SSDs, as I use my SSDs to hold VMDK files for virtual machines inside a USB 3.0 enclosure that does not support Trim.

Thanks

Chris

Re: How long in idle before a 530 starts internal garbage collection

jbenavides — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 22:05:21 GMT

Hello ChrisH7,

Garbage collection varies by firmware and is designed to maximize the different hardware architectures. The Intel® SSD 530 Series uses foreground garbage collection, so idle time has a minimal impact.

Here is an external link with more information about garbage collection methods:

*NOTE: This link is being offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel of the content, products, or services offered there.

http://www.thessdreview.com/daily-news/latest-buzz/garbage-collection-and-trim-in-ssds-explained-an-ssd-primer/3/ Garbage Collection and TRIM in SSDs Explained - An SSD Primer | The SSD Review

It is worth to mention that Data Center SSD's like the Intel® DC SSD 3500 and Intel® DC SSD 3700 Series are a better choice for server or data center usage, since they are designed for availability, have power loss protection (PLI) for in flight data and have higher write endurance.

The Intel® SSD 530 Series is designed to be used in low power usage systems (laptops, ultrabooks), and has power saving features (DIPM, devsleep) that are not available in some systems.