OCZ Vertex SSD New Firmware 1.10 released - Supports TRIM on Vista

hdnut

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"Old" news since it was released yesterday, but for those who didn't know, OCZ released their latest Vertex SSD firmware that will support TRIM.

OCZ will release their TRIM utility that is functional on Vista 32 and 64bit very soon. It's for Vertex SSD's only and does not support any other SSD's.

Downloads:

Vertex Firmware 1.10

Vertex Firmware Setup Guide (New)
 
I'm curious how this works. I thought TRIM was going to be implemented in Windows 7 but hasn't been yet, and possibly not at all in Vista. Does this bypass the OS somehow, or is it just "supported" but not really implemented until Microsoft issues their own update for it?
 
My impression is that the feature is there, but there isn't anyway to use it yet.

I'm giving it a few weeks before flashing it, 1275 serves me fine at the moment.
 
OCZ is releasing a program that allows you to run the TRIM command within Vista 32 or 64. Exact words from Tony (works for OCZ) from OCZ Forums:

"the OCZ trim tool works...you install it and run it like running IOmeter or HDtune...LOL

Let us not get confused here gentlemen...the tool works in windows...its not out yet."

With the OCZ TRIM utility, you do not have to wait till Windows 7 for TRIM. You can now have TRIM function in Vista 32 or 64. It's that simple.
 
Does this bypass the OS somehow, or is it just "supported" but not really implemented until Microsoft issues their own update for it?

No Microsoft update needed. OCZ's latest Vertex firmware + their TRIM utility makes TRIM a reality on Vista.

My impression is that the feature is there, but there isn't anyway to use it yet.

Oh it's here. Believe it. OCZ is making sure that the utility is fully functional on 64bit Vista. The TRIM utility on Vista 32bit has been confirmed to work fine.
 
before and after
firmware.jpg
 
the trim command cleaned out your drive and makes it fresh, no? Whats the point, your going to have to reinstall your OS all the time anyhow
 
I had a Vertex for a week, returned it. It would go from the kind of shiny masturbatory benches you see on the web to about 35 MB/s writes in a matter of a few days normal use, and only reflashing the firmware would "solve" the problem (for a few more days). My experience and the existence of all these tools and workarounds for a product that costs $4/GB just shows me that SSDs are nowhere near ready for anything but hobbyist uses. I would hesitate to say they are even useful for enthusiasts except in very specific scenarios/applications. Even in "peak" condition, mine really didn't give me a "wow" difference. The most noticeable difference was the lack of seek noise, not the speed.
 
SSD's aren't quite there yet, still need to be perfected if they stand any chance in beating the HDD, they also need to come down in price.
 
I had a Vertex for a week, returned it. It would go from the kind of shiny masturbatory benches you see on the web to about 35 MB/s writes in a matter of a few days normal use, and only reflashing the firmware would "solve" the problem (for a few more days). My experience and the existence of all these tools and workarounds for a product that costs $4/GB just shows me that SSDs are nowhere near ready for anything but hobbyist uses. I would hesitate to say they are even useful for enthusiasts except in very specific scenarios/applications. Even in "peak" condition, mine really didn't give me a "wow" difference. The most noticeable difference was the lack of seek noise, not the speed.

Hmm... I've had my Vertex for over a week and I friggin love it. I'm experiencing super fast Vista startup/shutdown time, faster application loads, and games load up noticeably faster as well. Vista search function is virtually instant now and this is without indexing.

I haven't yet experienced the type of degradation that you saw. The Vertex's write rate seemed to have gone down a bit but it is not really noticeable unless I'm running ClearDiskMark or ATTO. In real world usage, the Vertex is still blistering fast compared to the conventional drive that I had in my system previously. Can't really tell the difference from when it was brand new to how it is now unless I'm benchmarking.

Now is it worth $3/GB (not $4/GB anymore, you can even find it for under $3)?

For myself, yes it was. It was worth every penny. Oh, and I "only" paid $2.73/GB for the 120GB Vertex. :p
 
I had a Vertex for a week, returned it. It would go from the kind of shiny masturbatory benches you see on the web to about 35 MB/s writes in a matter of a few days normal use, and only reflashing the firmware would "solve" the problem (for a few more days). My experience and the existence of all these tools and workarounds for a product that costs $4/GB just shows me that SSDs are nowhere near ready for anything but hobbyist uses. I would hesitate to say they are even useful for enthusiasts except in very specific scenarios/applications. Even in "peak" condition, mine really didn't give me a "wow" difference. The most noticeable difference was the lack of seek noise, not the speed.

Have you tried SLC drives yet?
 
[H]adouken!;1033945954 said:
SSD's aren't quite there yet, still need to be perfected if they stand any chance in beating the HDD, they also need to come down in price.

SSDs are here... now. My 2 120GB Vertexes kick the CRAP out of my old 3x Velociraptors in every way.
 
I know that an SSD will slow down once all of the blocks have been written to the first time, and it starts having to rewrite them. Does the trim command then reset those empty blocks as having never been used? Saving the erase needed before they can be written to. How often should your run it, and how hard does it hit the life of the drive?

I know that SSDs are not perfect, but I love my 8 that I have bought to date. Of course 2 of my setups are multiple RAID setups, and 1 into a perc 5i with 256 meg of cache. I loved them on my desktop setups so much, I even bought a 60 gig Vertex for my work laptop cause the 5400 drive in there seemed glacial compared to my desktops. Money well spent.

Don
 
Trim is an low level command, its not like a program like defrag or something-- eg you don't run it once-in-awhile. Any time data is deleted from file system it will use trim command to tell the SSD whatever blocks are no longer needed This will let the garbage collector do its job better.

This helps solve difference cases but the basic idea is in the background the garbage collector is going about doing full block erases so when the drive does gets a write command chances are it won't need to go through the slow rewrite process.

To make the garbage collector work better the trim command will let the drive know right away when a block is no longer needed and can be erased.

Overall there should be a potentially huge reduction in delays due to full block erases.

It would not increase wear any noticeable amount, probably require more study but because wear leveler would also benefit potentially life could be improved.
 
His "before" results are way off. The "after" results are more like what you usually would see.

Here are my results going from FW1275 to FW1.10 (1370), with a single Vertex 30GB, aligned to a 128KB offset.

Atto 1275.png
Atto Vertex New.png


Cdm 1275.png
Cdm Vertex New.png


Not much difference, performance-wise. If you're running FW1275 without problems, there isn't any real urgent reason to flash to the newer firmware...
 
His "before" results are way off. The "after" results are more like what you usually would see.

Yes, his benchmark looks a little off. That is not normal for Vertex with firmware 1275.

Not much difference, performance-wise. If you're running FW1275 without problems, there isn't any real urgent reason to flash to the newer firmware...

This firmware wasn't necessarily released for improved read/write performance but mainly to support TRIM command. TRIM is a must for SSD's. If you have a Vertex and want to use the TRIM command, then this firmware is a must.

If you don't care for TRIM :confused:, then obviously it is not needed for you.
 
my before benches are not off. Those (I have more than one) drives were shipped to me with 1199 firmware.
 
SSDs are here... now. My 2 120GB Vertexes kick the CRAP out of my old 3x Velociraptors in every way.

i know they are here, but they can't be dubbed mainstream unless the price comes, down. im thinking about getting a 60GB vertex for my PS3.
 
[H]adouken!;1033951702 said:
i know they are here, but they can't be dubbed mainstream unless the price comes, down. im thinking about getting a 60GB vertex for my PS3.

For your PS3? You're kidding right?

I suppose it will make things a bit snappier for your PS3, but still...
 
...

It would not increase wear any noticeable amount, probably require more study but because wear leveler would also benefit potentially life could be improved.

This is not quite true.
The TRIM command has the potential of messing with the wear leveling algorithm, which will reduce the life of the drive.

When enough cells wear off, you will need a firmware update to restructure the drive and get it usable again.
 
How so? The erase pool would only be larger with trim allowing level to work over larger number of blocks, correct? This would increase its effectiveness, I do not see how it would decrease. Are you saying there would be an overall increase in number of rewrites/erases? I do not think this would obviously be so, although perhaps it would be.
 
Due to the discussion of version1275 vs version1.10 above,
I'll post my results (it was a comparison of offsets as well):
note: n sectors = n/2 kB
(64sectors = 32kB, etc).

firmware version 1275
v1275summary.jpg


firmware version 1.10
v110summary.jpg



ICH8 chipset. version1275 is a little faster. however, the 1.10 has not ran wiper.exe yet.
 
Only v1.1+ supports TRIM. I can't believe a drive could degrade enough for reads to drop down to 150MB/s.
 
Even the intels have pretty bad degredation.

Although access times are the real reason to go sdd in the first place.
Not to mention 150mbs is nothing to complain about.
 
Hmm.. How bad is "pretty bad"?

AFAIK Intel fixed the issue with the latest firmware.
 
Hmm.. How bad is "pretty bad"?

AFAIK Intel fixed the issue with the latest firmware.

Firmware may have helped, but its definitely not fixed.
See OCZ info before and aftter Firmware 1275(this is where TRIM was first implemented)
The degredation is not manufacturer specific...its an inherent characteristic of the technology, this TRIM command is suppose to help alleviate the symptons.
People have this misconception that TRIM is only for not as good SSD's that need the additional support. However that is simply not the case.
Microsoft would not implement FileSystem commands to suit a certain hardware vendor.
But Intel as of now does not support TRIM. I expect their next revision of SSD's will though.
 
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