Intel X-25M G2 TRIM Firmware RELEASED (02HA)

[taltamir]

the tool does manual trim people... you only need to run it once after upgrading firmware as long as you have windows 7 and ahci.

 

[Nizology]

Originally posted by: tomt4535
Does anyone know if this update will work with the Kingston branded drives as well?

Doubtful...it was released by Intel, for their drives.

 

[taltamir]

this update is known to NOT work with kingston drives... although, kingston might eventually port it to their drives. Currently kingston owners are SOL.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

Uhoh - warning all Win7 users!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/1...rives-under-windows-7/

 

[Idontcare]

I guess they didn't have enough time to debug their firmware...I thought that was why they made everyone wait months and months for Win7 release before they would release the TRIM firmware in the first place.

Looks like Intel is having their GMA graphics drivers team develop firmware for their SSD's on the weekends :laugh:

 

[ZetaEpyon]

Yeah, I'm glad I decided to hold off on updating after the first few failure reports started coming in. I mean, it's not like the performance is bad right now, so it's not really much loss to me.

 

[TLScrappy]

So here are my results for 2 G2's in a RAID 0 configuration.


Before


After

 

[vtfanmv5]

Uh, so...if we updated the firmware and are running in Windows 7, are we constantly at risk? Or if it didn't brick already, is it not going to? Is there anything we should do?

 

[dfuze]

It appears you only have to worry if it tries to install a driver upon the first reboot. I've turned my pc on and off and in and out of sleep mode quite a few times since I upgraded the firmware and all is fine (knock on wood).

 

[vtfanmv5]

Guess I'm okay then. I wiped the drive, updated the firmware, and then did a fresh Windows 7 install, but have restarted without issues several times since then. Maybe it isn't a problem if you update the firmware before the Windows install.

 

[taltamir]

eh, some people on some forums claim that after the first reboot windows installs new hardware and then windows doesn't work anymore (bluescreens on boot)... For me it had no problems. It did install new hardware after firmware update, but it did not cause any ill effects.
Intel is probably playing it safe until finding out what is going on. It seems to be really hit and miss as to who has problems.
my guess is that something happens to their windows install.

 

[BaboonGuy]

Yep, I have Windows 7 and no problems with the update as well.

 

[Andres3605]

I did the upgrade, windows found the hardware change but everything works good, lucky i guess .

 

[IntelUser2000]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
I guess they didn't have enough time to debug their firmware...I thought that was why they made everyone wait months and months for Win7 release before they would release the TRIM firmware in the first place.

Looks like Intel is having their GMA graphics drivers team develop firmware for their SSD's on the weekends :laugh:

Funny you'd say that. They'll eventually get it right, be graphics drivers or general software. My experience is that the software part of their hardware products always seemed a bit premature in the first release. My motherboard used to have this problem with sound drivers and installing everything in general, but 6-8 months after that, the problem isn't there anymore.

They are good with compilers, so why are they subpar in all other areas of software development? Maybe for graphics Larry will help being that its an x86 architecture. For SSDs, they need more time.

 

[jimhsu]

Originally posted by: taltamir
the tool does manual trim people... you only need to run it once after upgrading firmware as long as you have windows 7 and ahci.

Technically, manual TRIM doesn't make sense as TRIM is just a command to tell the drive which blocks are available - when idle, it cleans up those blocks that have been deemed available by TRIM. The command in the toolkit probably tells the SSD to clean up now as opposed to later (when idle). There is a delay because erasing blocks takes a noticeable amount of time (i.e. stalling incoming reads/writes).

Wiper != TRIM.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Originally posted by: jimhsu

Originally posted by: taltamir
the tool does manual trim people... you only need to run it once after upgrading firmware as long as you have windows 7 and ahci.

Technically, manual TRIM doesn't make sense as TRIM is just a command to tell the drive which blocks are available - when idle, it cleans up those blocks that have been deemed available by TRIM. The command in the toolkit probably tells the SSD to clean up now as opposed to later (when idle). There is a delay because erasing blocks takes a noticeable amount of time (i.e. stalling incoming reads/writes).

Wiper != TRIM.

Intel drive does not do idle GC. Part of the reason is that its counterintuitive with faster performance=more idling. TRIM from what I can gather allows the OS to delete the files on the SSD when its instructed to be deleted, rather than just merely marking it as deleted.

According to most user reports, the Toolkit only takes about a second(few seconds) at most to clean. That's not what I'd call really noticeable...

The Toolkit is useful even to Win 7 users as currently the Intel drivers don't do auto TRIM: http://www.anandtech.com/stora...howdoc.aspx?i=3667&p=3

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: jimhsu

Originally posted by: taltamir
the tool does manual trim people... you only need to run it once after upgrading firmware as long as you have windows 7 and ahci.

Technically, manual TRIM doesn't make sense as TRIM is just a command to tell the drive which blocks are available - when idle, it cleans up those blocks that have been deemed available by TRIM. The command in the toolkit probably tells the SSD to clean up now as opposed to later (when idle). There is a delay because erasing blocks takes a noticeable amount of time (i.e. stalling incoming reads/writes).

Wiper != TRIM.

TRIM is a command to tell the drive what blocks are avilable. When you delete a file, the drive is informed that blocks are available.
The tool SCANS the filesystem for existing files, and tells the drive to trim all the space that does not have files.
It does not force it to physically clean up now as opposed to later, and there is no "idle" cleanup involved. It simply lets it know that the free sectors are actually free.

 

[monkeydust]

Originally posted by: monkeydust
Borked my Win7 64 installation. It is trying to do a repair now but I'm not that hopeful. Didn't have that much on it anyways so not a big deal to reinstall.

The repair feature actually worked so I didn't have to reinstall. TRIM is now enabled and everything seems to be working ok. Windows 7 experience score dropped 1 point on HDD for whatever reason though.

 

[imported_spike99]

Originally posted by: kyp275
so nobody else has experienced any issues with the ssd toolbox? I still cannot get it to detect my drive, any ideas? (currently running win7 pro)

Same problem here. I updated FW fine but Toolbox is not recognizing my Intel SSD 160GB nor my Raptor 150GB.

 

[Stoneburner]

I wonder... TRIM is supposed to be operational once you switch to AHCI mode. I updated but I left the drive in IDE mode. I wonder if I switched over to AHCI whether or not it would crash on me.

Only one way to find out.

 

[OCGuy]

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16159/1/

Intel removed update.

 

[DukeN]

Originally posted by: spike99

Originally posted by: kyp275
so nobody else has experienced any issues with the ssd toolbox? I still cannot get it to detect my drive, any ideas? (currently running win7 pro)

Same problem here. I updated FW fine but Toolbox is not recognizing my Intel SSD 160GB nor my Raptor 150GB.

I believe it has to be on SATA channels 1 or 2

 

[zuffy]

Since I am off this week, I took the time today to redo my system in preparation for TRIM. Instead of 32-bit, I am going with 64-bit to utilize my full 4GB. Also, changed my BIOS from RAID to AHCI. Now let see how long it will take for Intel fix the firmware.

 

[taltamir]

the common thread in people who report that this does not work, is that AFTER the update WINDOWS 7 installs "new drivers" and then refuses to boot up again...
For me and others it installed the new drivers and then DID come up again.
So as far as I can tell it is a problem with windows 7 on upgrades...

If you left it with AHCI disabled then you are NOT having TRIM at the moment... meaning the upgrade was pointless for you. You are better off with AHCI and older firmware then no AHCI and latest firmware.

 

[BaboonGuy]

I really think that TRIM is not being automatically executed... I deleted a bunch of stuff from my HD and then noticed my load times in my favorite game were a little bit higher. The weird thing is, I executed the Intel Toolbox Optimizer and the load times may have gotten a smidgen faster. It certainly did look like the Optimizer was doing something though as it took a longer than usual.