Safe to install TRIM firmware on a blank/new drive?

[idata]

I have a new 160GB x25M G2 drive and am wondering if i should go ahead and upgrade the firmware to the new one and then install windows 7 64bit.

I skimmed through the POLL thread and it seemed people who installed it on a clean drive seemed fine.

Is this the case? Did anyone have a busted drive by upgrading firmware on a blank/new drive?

Should I upgrade or just install win 7 with the existing firmware and then risk re-installing OS all over again just in case some future firmware sucks as much?

[idata]

Okay, I did the upgrade to Windows 7 x64 bit. All is still fine. So it seems that this is a path that does not corrupt the drive:

- In Vista x64 with IDE mode, upgrade to 02HA bios

- Boot Vista, finds new drivers, reboot

- Reboot and turn drive into AHCI mode

- Boot from Windows 7 x64 installation disk

- Delete partition, recreate it, format it and install

[idata]

I did not update my X-25M before installing Win 7 x64. I bought an X-25M 160Gb G2 (firmware version 02G9) to upgraded my Sony VAIO (shout out to Wiredzone.com where I got the drive a few weeks back for $461 versus the over $600 others were charging!) I received a free upgraded to Win7 from Sony. I did not install the SSD until the upgrade arrived. By then, there were plenty of reports of hosed drives with the firmware update and indications x64 was a common factor so I simply made an bootable DVD with the ISO image of the x64 files, swapped drives and did a clean install. Went smooth as silk. Given this is a new drive in a laptop that won't receive hard use, I can wait for Trim.

[idata]

I just read that Intel is saying the problem doesn't have anything to do with the firmware, and it's actually caused by the updater tool (v1.3). So, just wait for the fix, you can't predict what will happen if you try and use the faulty updater.

[idata]

At this point, I'd personally wait for Intel to issue a new firmware / update tool to be safe.

If you brick the drive from updating with what's out there now, you could be looking at weeks to get a replacement.

On the other hand, if you can wait perhaps a few days, they'll hopefully have something new out there that's confirmed to work without issue.

I'd take a few days and 90%+ odds of working okay over maybe a 50/50 chance I'll have to wait weeks.