Dump SSD Raid for Trim?

J

JohnleMVP

Supreme [H]ardness
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I've beening using my Intel 80GB G2's in Raid 0 for a few months now and its been pretty good, but I'm finally getting around to updating the firmware and I'm going to rebuild my OS. Should I dump raid to gain the use of Trim?

Are there any load time benchmarks between Raid and non-raid SSD setups. I'd like to know how much I'm really gaining by using raid. The synthetic benchmarks all look good, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it really makes.
 
This depends on your usage habits. If you're moving large amounts of data daily, then staying with RAID will be more of a benefit than TRIM. If you're more of a normal user, a single SSD will still be fast. Even with just drive, your apps will still start instantaneously, and general computer usage will still be lightning quick. The advantage to having RAID, beside speed, is the fact that writes are spread over the two drives, therefor lengthening the life span of your drives.
 
Klown, from my understanding there are some software that can be used to trim manually or either by schedule. Can this be done for SSDs in raid mode?
 
I'm in the exact same postition. Not sure whether there would be increased load time running the drives seperately. One 80gb for OS and apps and then the other 80gb for games and additional apps. Just got myself 2 80gb x25's. There are a two topics about whether to Raid or not but I'm still not sure. Perhaps I can expand on the situation. With SSD, is it better to minimize the number of Partitions?
Would there be more of a delay having, say, the OS/programs on 1 dirve and then games/other programs on another drive?
I read both threads all the way but am only more confused.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....1471980&page=2
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1470472
If I raid I'd be using the onboard RAID controller on my p5q-DLX board. On one hand I loose TRIM, but would probably be comfortable doing a reload now and then since the array would be cloned/backed up anyway. That being said, since it's an OS drive/array if 2 drives would not affect 'real life' speed then I could ignore RAID altogether I suppose. Hopefully myself and Johnle can get some solid answers.

Thanks for your help fellas.
 
fellows said:
I'm in the exact same postition. Not sure whether there would be increased load time running the drives seperately. One 80gb for OS and apps and then the other 80gb for games and additional apps. Just got myself 2 80gb x25's. There are a two topics about whether to Raid or not but I'm still not sure. Perhaps I can expand on the situation. With SSD, is it better to minimize the number of Partitions?
Would there be more of a delay having, say, the OS/programs on 1 dirve and then games/other programs on another drive?
I read both threads all the way but am only more confused.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....1471980&page=2
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1470472
If I raid I'd be using the onboard RAID controller on my p5q-DLX board. On one hand I loose TRIM, but would probably be comfortable doing a reload now and then since the array would be cloned/backed up anyway. That being said, since it's an OS drive/array if 2 drives would not affect 'real life' speed then I could ignore RAID altogether I suppose. Hopefully myself and Johnle can get some solid answers.

Thanks for your help fellas.
Click to expand...

If I were setting up a system like yours, I would go with a single drive for OS and seperate of games/apps. SSDs are fast enough that even with one, everything will be amazingly fast. It'll open up apps is instant. RAID is good for benchmarks, ego, and working with files that are GBs in size. Also, TRIM is a huge thing in the big picture, since without it, as you write to the drive it slows down. After time, you'll start having terrible performance, and even the old stuttering like the first JMicron drives. Eventually, there will be RAID controllers that support SSD, but it won't be in the next few months. As far as partitions go, it shouldn't matter. Since there is not seek time, the placement of a particular file doesn't effect performance.
 
ocz drives do garbage collection in raid 0, an autonomous form of trim that runs independent of the OS. for intels there is no raid trim.
 
SicKlown42012 said:
If I were setting up a system like yours, I would go with a single drive for OS and seperate of games/apps. SSDs are fast enough that even with one, everything will be amazingly fast. It'll open up apps is instant. RAID is good for benchmarks, ego, and working with files that are GBs in size. Also, TRIM is a huge thing in the big picture, since without it, as you write to the drive it slows down. After time, you'll start having terrible performance, and even the old stuttering like the first JMicron drives. Eventually, there will be RAID controllers that support SSD, but it won't be in the next few months. As far as partitions go, it shouldn't matter. Since there is not seek time, the placement of a particular file doesn't effect performance.
Click to expand...

I guess my concern was in the event of the 2nd game/apps drive needing to que/communicate with the OS, a loss in speed would be introduced. Is it correct to assume that for TRIM and Garbage collection to work properly the respective drive(s) shouldn't be too full. Is 10% free still good enough or should it be more?
 
Despite not having Trim I decided to go with RAID 0 again, because my steam games will probably grow larger than 80GB that one drive can offer.
 
Old Hippie said:
I use Tony-Trim for my Intel G1s in RAID0.

Works vey well.
Click to expand...

According to that link, you need to buy one of those programs. Dammit I'm no closer to making a decision. Leaning towards 2 seperate drives , though. Reading that extensive article at Anand Tech, it seems you need to keep 20% of the drive free. Does that mean make the final partition size 20% smaller or to just make sure you don't fill the fully partioned drive more than 80% ???
 
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