A complexicated contemplation on how PCIe SSD's handle TRIM on old OS's:

[Bad_Bike2]

For a person running a Vista 64 OS, would a PCIe SSD, if plugged into a PCIe 2.0 slot, have it's own "integrated" garbage cleanup outside of the OS? I'm assuming that since these devices seem to have their own self-managed RAID configuration, and management on these drives seems more "OS independent" (compared to your usual SATA SSD), that some form of GC is able to be performed outside of the OS.

I'm not certain I know much about how TRIM or Garbage Cleanup is implemented on PCI Express SSD's, but I do know it's vastly different from how SATA devices use it in Windows. Finding "how" has been a struggle, since these drives aren't commonly fitted into installations as queer as this one.

TL; DR: It sounds like a stupid question, but for a PCIe SSD, is TRIM supported in the OS, or in the actual drive hardware itself (kind-of like PCIe SSD RAID 0 is)?

 

[jen4950]

Stupid question- have you thought about upgrading your OS, and doing whatever you need to do in Vista 64bit in a VM?

 

[Bad_Bike2]

I really have, but that doesn't tell me how TRIM works on these drives. If I were to upgrade (and I'd only upgrade to 8), it would bring another concern into the picture. The nForce 780A SLI chipset I use has been in legacy status since 2010, I'll need to use Microsoft's included chipset drivers if I were to upgrade to W8. This, combined with the older SATA II interface, will actually limit performance more significantly than choosing a PCIe-based storage device.

I'm trying to find out if TRIM in PCIe storage devices like OCZ's RevoDrive works independently of the OS.