SSD Raid on an ICH10R...

[Zetro]

Hey Guys, I am a total SSD newbie so please be nice

I am currently running 2 x 150GB VRaptors in RAID0 on my Gamer and after watching a couple friends of mine with their SSD setups I am coming to the conclusion that is the best upgrade to increase the speed of my rig.

The SSD drives I am looking to pickup are either 2 120GB OCZ Vertex drives for 2 80GB Intel G2 drives. I really want the 160GB Intel G2 drives but the price is a little steep for my liking.

I have been doing a lot of reading on TRIM and other features of SSD's and how it does not work when the drives are in a striped RAID0 array. Obviously due to how RAID0 works I assume it would be only a short while before the drive fills and the performance degrades from being a "clean drive". I would be using these on my X58's included ICH10R controller.

Basically my question is the following - is there a way for me to setup 2 SSD drives in order to have them be cleaned up by running a tool of something similar while they are in RAID0?

Thank you kindly!

 

[Yoda4561]

I think the new ocz firmware has some kind of automatic garbage collection built into the drive. Garbage collection works alot like an automatic trim, and should be just as effective. It's supposed to work independent of any other hardware or software, so you should be good to go in RAID.

 

[Motivator]

I've two ssds in raid0 myself. Oddly enough, w7 reports that trim is enabled. But there's no real way for me to tell if it's actually happening.

 

[engiNURD]

All Indilinx-based SSDs perform similarly, so if you can find an UltraDrive ME, TorqX, CTxxxM225, or Falcon of the same density for cheaper than the Vertex, go for those instead.

There is a wiper tool released by Indilinx that you can run manually, if you need to; but as mentioned above, the garbage collection should work fine if you leave your system idle for some periods of time.

I've two ssds in raid0 myself. Oddly enough, w7 reports that trim is enabled. But there's no real way for me to tell if it's actually happening.

Run a test and compare it with other people's results online. If you're numbers are a LOT lower than everyone elses, then its not working, hehe -- you need to leave your system idle longer, I guess.

There's a new AT article on TRIM, btw:
Updated: The SSD Improv: Intel & Indilinx get TRIM, Kingston Brings Intel Down to $115

Also, have you read the Anthology articles?
[Anandtech] The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ
[Anandtech] The SSD Update: Vertex Gets Faster, New Indilinx Drives and Intel/MacBook Problems Resolved
[Anandtech] The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD

[Hard|OCP] SSD RAID scaling under Windows 7