Two questions about a rebadged Intel X18-M

[idata]

1. Is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820157021 this an X18-M G1? Or a G2 (I doubt though they'll sell G2 this cheap).

2. Will complete formatting (not quick) an X18-M (or any Intel SSD) act as a manual TRIM in a way that it'll free up all the used blocks? Can this be used to make up for the unavailability of TRIM in G1 drives though formatting/reinstalling OS is a painful process?

I hope Intel will release at least a manual TRIM tool for G1 users but so far no sign of it ...

Thanks for any comments/replies.

[idata]

My suggestion is buy a genuine Intel product if that is what you are looking for; not some re-badged product. You can't tell whether it is a gen1 or gen2. Also, it doesn't say whether they have a modified firmware vice the true firmware from Intel. Save yourself the headaches.

From what i understand the only way for a gen1 to get back to the near original performance is to do a secure erase. On the gen2s with TRIM support, if yuou are using WIN7, then quick format doesn't work. I think i read this somewhere, you must partition the drive again or just let TRIIM do it's thing. TRIM is suppose to keep the drives at near the original peak performance. As for the GEN1s, I read that there is no way possible for them to support TRIM. It is a technical issue. Forgot specifically what the details were.

Before you buy read the link so you understanding what you are getting and what the pros/cons are. Goto this link: Good article on SSDs:http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=1

[PCoup1]

I am by far no means an authority on this subject, but I read over on the OCZ forums that the latest version of CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com www.ccleaner.com) has a feature called 'wipe free space'. I read over there they were discussing the possibility of this providing a type of TRIM for early generation drives which technically are not able to process the command.

You'll need to investigate it yourself though.

[idata]

To do a manual TRIM, wouldn't they need some kind of firmware support? However I hope it really solves this problem with the G1 drives.

[idata]

Thanks dbm. It has been confirmed as G1 and from the user reviews in Newegg, it is the same as Intel's and no custom firmware needed, so I am happy to save a few bucks. If secure erase or full format+partitioning helps the drive get back its original state, then I have no serious issue. It's OK for me to do so once a year or so.

I read the article before but was wondering what option G1 owners have once their drives start to slow down. If the above 2 options work, I am not much worried, though having TRIM support in the firmware would be a much better solution.