Intel Solid-State Drive FAQ: Read This First!

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Intel Solid-State Drive FAQ Table of Contents

• Basic Information
• SSD Optimizations
• SSD Communities FAQs
• How-To Videos
• Resources

Basic Information

What do the digits in each SSD product code designate?

(Click on image to enlarge)

The last two digits labeled "Ordering Information" refer to what comes in the box you've purchased and how many SSDs were shipped in the same box ie

C# drive shipped in a brown box

R# drive shipped in a retail box without a desktop cloning kit

K# drive shipped in a retail box with a desktop cloning kit

The "# " simply states how many SSDs were shipped out together

SSD Optimizations

If you're using Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, please utilize these system settings to ensure compatibility, endurance, and performance. If you're using Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, please disregard the Superfetch setting.

Make Sure Your SSD Isn't Scheduled for Disk Defragmentation

•If you're using an SSD with Microsoft's Windows 7, the operating system will automatically disable scheduled defragmentation.

•If you're running Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, navigate to "My Computer".

•Right click on your SSD and choose properties from the drop-down menu.

•Navigate to the "Tools" tab and click "Defragment Now" in the "Defragmentation" menu.

•Near the top, there is a "Schedule" menu. Click "Configure Schedule" and ensure that there is no check next to the "Run on a schedule" option.

•If you're running Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, you must run disk defragmentation automatically. Simply make sure not to run the utility.

•Due to the design of SSDs, disk defragmentation is unnecessary and can even have a negative effect on the endurance of the drive.

Disable Superfetch (For Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7)

•On your "Start" search menu, type "services.msc". Scroll down and find the "Superfetch" line, and double click it to open up its properties.

•Change the "Startup Type" to "disabled".

•Superfetch is designed to open your frequently used programs more quickly. However, this technique doesn't speed up an Intel SSD's performance significantly and can ultimately have a negative effect on the performance of the drive. Superfetch is not a feature on Microsoft Windows XP.

Ensure You Have the Proper Drivers Installed

Intel recommends using the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology v.9.6 driver available here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=&ProductID=&DwnldID=18859&strOss=&OSFullName=&l... http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=&ProductID=&DwnldID=18859&strOss=&OSFullName=&l...

This driver enables your Intel SSD to receive the TRIM command natively and automatically. Additionally, it is optimized for performance and endurance.

Intel® SSD Communities Frequently Asked questions General SSD FAQs

Visit this link for a more broad SSD FAQ:

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-029623.htm http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-029623.htm

Are there any known issues with regards to compatibility or performance?

Known issues are located in the Intel® Solid-State Drive Toolbox Read Me and Firmware Update Tool Guidelines found here:

http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18455/eng/README%20rev11.rtf http://downloadmirror.intel.com/18455/eng/README%20rev11.rtf

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I'd just like to confirm what Duckie said, from my personal experience. I've done exactly what he said, install the Intel RST driver after an OS installation, to use with my SSDs in AHCI mode. Simply download and install, I've done this on four PCs with Intel SSDs, and it's always worked perfectly. The RST driver is appropriate for Intel chipsets (not CPUs) from the 3 series through the 6 series, and several of the 900 series chipsets, and Windows versions from XP through Windows 7, 32 or 64 bit. The download page explains the few restrictions, which can be found here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19607&ProdId=2101&lang=eng&OSVersion=... http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19607&ProdId=2101&lang=eng&OSVersion=...

Some Intel chipsets do not support RAID, but this is not a concern if you plan on using the driver in AHCI mode. I have installed it on a non-RAID support chipset, the ICH10 (ICH10R supports RAID) successfully, but I am not sure if the installation program will complete with all of the Intel non-RAID support chipsets. I would think it will install fine but you never know with software.

The only small caveat is occasionally what is called the Option ROM on a mother board will not support the latest RST driver. That is why the instructions on the Intel download page suggests checking the download page for your mother board and use the Intel RAID driver found there. I have used Intel RST drivers that were newer than those listed on my mother board manufacture's download page without any problems. That may be because I did not use the driver in RAID mode, just AHCI mode. All in one PC's (HP, Dell, etc) may be more sensitive to this issue than personally built PC's, so use at your own risk. BIOS updates may also update the Option ROM, so flash your mother board to the latest BIOS if you have driver issues. Also, do not worry if you must use an older version of the RST driver, the newer version is not necessarily better, and the updates to it are likely due to simply adding support for new chipsets.

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This thread has been usefull for the most part. However, I still have some confusion regarding TRIM support in RAID 0. I have 2x80 GB Intel X-25M G2 SSDs in RAID 0 on a P55-GD65 mobo.I am not using a RAID card, and my OS is Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I just flashed the latest firmware update for the drives. According to the SSD Toolbox, TRIM is not enabled. From reading this thread, I want to see if I understand this correctly. If I back up my data, set the drives to ACHI rather then RAID, rebuild the area, and restore my back up, the drive will support TRIM. Is that correct? If not is there any way to manually run TRIM from time to time? Assuming Ubuntu, or any other flavor of Linux support TRIM, could I change my RAID setting in the BIOS, boot in to Ubuntu or other flavor, and get a trim done this way, or would it be useless since the drives would no longer be in a RAID stripe?

Also I was bot confused in regards to the driver references. I have the latest drivers from the Intel site here, rather then the drivers from the MSI site. Which drivers are preferable?

Thanks in advance for any advice, and thanks for the nice sticky of info. Disabling superfetch alone has already sped up my drives, but I ran an analysis only of the drives using Smart Defrag, and the out come was not pretty...Just to be clear I never proceeded with ac actual defrag.

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The RAID - TRIM thing is actually pretty simple. As long as a SSD is part of any RAID array, the type (0, 1, 5, etc) doesn't matter, the TRIM command will not be passed to the SSD by the RAID driver. More accurately, the TRIM command will not be acted upon by the RAID driver, and will never get to the SSD. It makes no difference what type of RAID implementation is used, RAID software and a chipset or a RAID card, if a SSD is part of a RAID array, TRIM will not work with it.

That last part is the subtle point, the OS will have TRIM enabled and may try to pass a TRIM command to the SSD (more on this in a moment) but that command will not reach an SSD that is part of a RAID array. The reason for this is clear if you think about it.

A single, non-RAID drive is controlled by the file system of the OS. Drives in a RAID array are controlled by the RAID driver and the SATA interface chipset, or a separate RAID card and it's software. The OS is not aware of the way files are stored in a RAID array, which is different than the OS file systems view and normal storage of those files. The RAID driver provides files and file operations to the OS in the form that the OS is familiar with, although the actual layout of and operations on files in a RAID array are different. The RAID driver provides this necessary translation.

So when the OS sends a TRIM command to tell the SSD's controller that certain blocks are no longer in use and may be made available, the block addresses do not match what is stored in the RAID array. Apparently, the information in the TRIM command is not sufficient for the RAID driver to complete a translation, which also is likely not even applicable to the manner in which files are stored in the RAID array. The result is the TRIM command cannot be applied to drives in the RAID array, so it is discarded. One obvious theoretical fix for this would be making the RAID driver capable of sending TRIM commands to the drives it controls, but we don't have that yet.

Once a drive is removed from a RAID array, the OS is controlling it directly again, and TRIM commands can be executed successfully on it. The state of that drive after removal from the array, and the OS's knowledge of it's contents may not correspond perfectly to allow it to be TRIMed optimally. Which is why the best way to perform maintenance on a SSD in a RAID array is to back up the array, remove the drive from the array, secure erase it, and rebuild and restore the RAID array and data. You can also run the Intel SSD Toolbox Optimizer on Intel SSDs that are not part of a RAID array.

I don't completely understand this statement:

"If I back up my data, set the drives to ACHI rather then RAID, rebuild the area, and restore my back up, the drive will support TRIM. Is that correct?"

You lost me on the "rebuild the area, and restore my back up", is that drive in a RAID array or not? If a drive that was formerly in a RAID array is changed to a standard Windows NTFS file system disk, then TRIM will work with it. You can manually TRIM Intel SSDs with the SSD Toolbox Optimizer that are not part of a RAID array. When you said the Toolbox said TRIM was not enabled, that is because the SSDs were in a RAID array, not because TRIM was disabled in Windows, unless you specifically did that.

There is no trick or technique using a different OS that allows TRIM to run on a drive in a RAID array, for the reasons I explained above.

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Parsec, thanks for the reply. You stated that if the a SSD is part of a RAID array, it will not receive the trim command period. Sorry but acording to the first post that is incorrect. Sorry if this sounds nitpicking, but you said "a SSD" rather then "the SSD" which would make me think you were referring to the X25M specifically.

As for using Ubuntu/Linux, yes, I can see where your coming from now. I think I was to tired to properly think that statement through before I posted it lol.

However, like you, I don't understand your statment:

"You lost me on the "rebuild the area, and restore my back up", is that drive in a RAID array or not? If a drive that was formerly in a RAID array is changed to a standard Windows NTFS file system disk, then TRIM will work with it."

Where exactly did I loose you? It is possible to run a RAID configuration in AHCI rather then RAID itslef, is it not? While AHCI itself is enabled when chooisng RAID, from reading comments above, I was under the impression if the RAID array was set to AHCI rather RAID, this would make the controller pass the TRIM command along. However, after reading the information again with my brain fully awake this time, I now see I missread the information provided.

Thanks for the response.

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Xplorer, are you referring to this (by DuckieHo):

TRIM is supported by the RST driver in ACHI or RAID mode. The SSD just cannot be a member of an array. You can actually switch between AHCI and RAID mode fine since RAID drivers is a superset of Intel's AHCI driver.

This is a correct statement. Since you are using a RAID 0 array, that is what I was talking about. The model of SSD doesn't matter in general, but there were a few that did not support TRIM at all. Don't miss this part:

The SSD just cannot be a member of an array.

Or it is a single drive, as I called it, rather than a member of a RAID set. Changing the SATA mode with an existing RAID array from RAID mode to AHCI will cause the array to be destroyed, you can't have a functioning set of drives in any RAID array type in AHCI mode.

The point of his statement is that TRIM will be passed to drives that are not a member of a RAID array when the SATA mode is RAID. That occurs because the file system on the single drive is not being controlled by the RAID driver, so the format of a single drive is still in the native NTFS format.

If you have a RAID array operating correctly with the SATA mode set to AHCI, that is amazing.