Can Toolbox be used to Trim in Windows 7? Using IDE. Can't use AHCI.

[idata]

I can't boot into windows 7 when switching to AHCI. Did the registry change, tried to do a fresh install of Win7 in AHCI. Everything is failing when using AHCI. Works in IDE. So my question now if Windows 7 is in IDE mode, is TRIM being issued by the OS or not? The posts here say Yes and No. No definite answer.

If No, can the Toolbox software be used to manually issue the Trim command when in IDE mode? I don't mind doing this manually once a while. If Windows and the Toolbox can't use Trim in IDE, I will have to replace the motherboard. I have updated the MB's BIOS to the latest version and I can't get the darn AHCI to work with Windows. It has to be the MB/BIOS problem.

[idata]

Ok, it's coming back to me now, after reading your experience. I had an existing, although new PC, and bought an Intel 80GB SSD. Pulled the HDD, installed SSD and installed Vista 32bit (that the wife bought for me... good excuse?) on the SSD. Worked fine, no Toolbox yet, installed endless Vista updates and SP2.

Discovered AHCI mode, performed registry edit trick, set AHCI in BIOS, and saw message during POST that MS AHCI driver was loaded. Then I found the Intel SSD Toolbox. Installed and worked fine (of course - I know what you're thinking) being in AHCI/msahci mode. All along doing more research on SSDs and drivers, and had an Intel mother board and CPU waiting for next build. Discovered Intel RST driver, installed that, worked fine, more research... seems to be the best driver, done.

After that I built two more PCs with Intel SSDs (all 80GB) all with fresh Win 7 64 bit installs, AHCI set in BIOS before OS install, Intel RST driver waiting on zip drive after install, could of done it during install, but made no difference, I wanted to see a stable boot first.

So all of that to conclude... gee, I've never run the Toolbox in IDE mode. Doh!

Ok, so I guess I must say... it doesn't state in the Toolbox User Guide you must be in AHCI mode to run the Toolbox...

[idata]

I did a benchmark test some time ago. AS SSD speeds were better when Win7 was installed when BIOS was in AHCI mode right from the beginning than when Win7 was installed in IDE mode then switching to AHCI with the registry switch after the Win7 install.

[idata]

Very interesting abdu, about how much difference in score did you see, from what to what?

In my case, I don't have any before and after scores to compare... well, maybe I do, I'll need to check but then I can't be sure under what circumstances the benchmarks were run.

As I recall, my scores (all with Intel G2 80GB SSDs) range from (with AS SSD) the 380's to low 410's. That is also on completely different PCs, different mother boards, CPUs, and Vista 32bit on one vs Win 7 64bit on two others. Then again, the ICH's were ICH10 or ICH10R, so how much difference the rest of the systems make may not matter.

The small differences in scores do not matter to me, I'm pleased with each of my PCs and the scores are good and where they should be. I've seen some wild scores on an overclocker's website, some in the 600's and I think as high as 1000 with Intel SSDs and I think a Crucial SSD. I read that a trick is to run the benchmark in Windows Safe Mode, which for some reason results in higher scores, but I've never tried that.

[idata]

The difference wasn't that big. I don't remember how much. It made me wonder if Windows does some kinds of optimizations if AHCI is on during installation and if the same ones happen when Windows is switched to AHCI post installation.

[idata]

I see, that is an interesting notion. Or, is there something(s) that are missed when simply performing the single Registry change, that are done when installing in AHCI mode initially. Now you've got me wondering....