RAID0 trim and SRT seems possible on 6-series and 5-Series

[organshifter]

Hello, this is my first message.

This is my configuration:

1)- Windows 7 x64;
2)- Mainboard Asus P8P67 Deluxe - Bios 3509 - Orom 11.6.0.1702;
3)- Driver Intel Rapid Storage 11.6.2.1002 WHQL;
4)- 2 SSD Vertex 3 MI - Firmware 2.02 - RAID 0;

Are you using your original BIOS, modified to incorporate an untouched OROM v11.6.0.1702? If so, that won't enable TRIM. Your BIOS needs to be modified with the hex-modded version of OROM v11.6.0.1702 from here.

If you're not comfortable with modding the BIOS yourself, you can download a pre-modded version of your board's latest BIOS w/ TRIM from Garikfox's FTP server here. I believe your motherboard is the ninth one down.

 

[Mike73]

Are you using your original BIOS, modified to incorporate an untouched OROM v11.6.0.1702? If so, that won't enable TRIM. Your BIOS needs to be modified with the hex-modded version of OROM v11.6.0.1702 from here.

If you're not comfortable with modding the BIOS yourself, you can download a pre-modded version of your board's latest BIOS w/ TRIM from Garikfox's FTP server here. I believe your motherboard is the ninth one down.

Ok, then I feel that reported in the link Garikfox's FTP
I'm going to try.

 

[Mike73]

I've updated the mainboard bios with the indicated (Garikfox's FTP) and looks like it works!!!

 

[organshifter]

I've updated the mainboard bios with the indicated (Garikfox's FTP) and looks like it works!!!

Nice!

 

[Ramon Zarat]

WOOHOO!!

Success!!

RAID0 TRIM WORK ON Z68!!

NO THANKS INTEL

Asrock Z68 Exreme4 GEN3
BIOS V2.30 modded by Garikfox with Fernando OROM 11.6.0.1702 RAID0 TRIM enabled hack specific to the P67/Z68
2 X Crucial M4 128GB 000F Firmware
RAID0 128K strip array originally created with OROM 10.8.0.1303
Intel RST driver 11.6.0.1030 installed before upgrading to OROM 11.6.0.1702
Win7 64 Ultimate

I flashed, I configured, I conquered. Nothing else to change. 100% confirmed to work with HxD, thanks to Fernando's guide. Ahhhhhhhhh, the pretty zeros all over the place!

NOTE: I don't know If I did something wrong, but after the first reboot, it didn't work. Rebooted a second time, tested again and BOOM! Maybe 2 reboot are necessary. Also, the M4's Marvell controller seem to have a more relaxed triggering time for TRIM. I did the test immediately after deleting the file and emptying the trash can and it didn't work. I then waited a good 45-60 seconds, tested again and BOOM!

Thanks a ∞ times!! to everyone involved. Especially Garifox, Fernando and of course to the one that made all this possible: Dufus.

 

[TooYellow]

Hi, I'm having a hard time verifying if this is working. Here are the steps I took:

1) installed Garikfox's modded P8P67 Pro TRIM BIOS
2) in ACHI mode I booted OCZ's linux tool to update my 2x Agility 3 to the 2.25 firmware
3) secure erased the drives
4) Set the SATA mode in BIOS to RAID
5) created a 2 disk raid with the Intel RAID config on boot
6) Installed a clean copy of Windows 8
7) installed Intel RST 11.7.0.1013

When I go to verify the using the hex editor method it can never find the string that I've copied out of the JPG file. I've followed the instructions exactly. Only once did it find the string but when I went to that sector after deleting the JPG it wasnt filled with 00 or FF, it had different data there entirely.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[Ramon Zarat]

Hi, I'm having a hard time verifying if this is working. Here are the steps I took:

1) installed Garikfox's modded P8P67 Pro TRIM BIOS
2) in ACHI mode I booted OCZ's linux tool to update my 2x Agility 3 to the 2.25 firmware
3) secure erased the drives
4) Set the SATA mode in BIOS to RAID
5) created a 2 disk raid with the Intel RAID config on boot
6) Installed a clean copy of Windows 8
7) installed Intel RST 11.7.0.1013

When I go to verify the using the hex editor method it can never find the string that I've copied out of the JPG file. I've followed the instructions exactly. Only once did it find the string but when I went to that sector after deleting the JPG it wasnt filled with 00 or FF, it had different data there entirely.

What am I doing wrong?

HxD seems to be picky about search strings for some reason. From what I've noticed, avoid dot "." or space between characters. I choose this string from my file: "NÕ4ÈÞÝÏúE«r‹". No dot, no space. Once you find it, save the string in Notepad. Next time you test, use the same file and search the same string.

Also, you might have picked your string from a portion of the file common to many other files. That's why once you find your string the first time, you have to press F3 to continue the search to make sure your string is the only 1 occurrence on your entire partition. In other word, to make sure that the string you found actually belong to your test file and only to your test file.

Finally, make sure you copy your test file to the root of your boot drive "C;\". You'll find your string quicker.

 

[TooYellow]

HxD seems to be picky about search strings for some reason. From what I've noticed, avoid dot "." or space between characters. I choose this string from my file: "NÕ4ÈÞÝÏúE«r‹". No dot, no space. Once you find it, save the string in Notepad. Next time you test, use the same file and search the same string.

Also, you might have picked your string from a portion of the file common to many other files. That's why once you find your string the first time, you have to press F3 to continue the search to make sure your string is the only 1 occurrence on your entire partition. In other word, to make sure that the string you found actually belong to your test file and only to your test file.

Finally, make sure you copy your test file to the root of your boot drive "C;\". You'll find your string quicker.

Thanks! That worked. The only problem is that it proved that my TRIM isnt working . I'm not sure what to do now.

 

[Ramon Zarat]

Thanks! That worked. The only problem is that it proved that my TRIM isnt working . I'm not sure what to do now.

Just re-read your procedure. Unless Windows 8 come with the appropriate RAID drivers, you shouldn't have been able to install Windows without it asking for those RAID drivers at he beginning of the installation process (like the F6 thing from XP).

Stupid question, but you sure both drive shows as a RAID0 array in Intel Rapid Storage utility "manage" section?

I would suspect the drives themselves could the culprit. Are those drives TRIM function been tested as standalone drive before putting them into a RAID array? Did it worked then? For what I remember, OCZ doesn't have a stellar SSD reputation when it comes to firmware and compatibility. Maybe they're better now?

Some vendor TRIM firmware algorithm take longer to initiate after an erase event. Try waiting 5 minutes after deletion and check again.

I had to reboot twice after flashing the moded BIOS and noticed a TRIM occurred after the second reboot. Try deleting your test file, empty the trashcan and then reboot and test if TRIM somehow worked that way.

Last resort, use SSD "Anvil's Storage Utilities" manual TRIM function located in the menu "Benchmarks/Trigger TRIM (on free space)". Wait a few second (look at your HHD LED light activity until it's no more busy) and then check again if TRIM worked.

EDIT:

I remember reading somewhere that the new 11.7.0.1013 might have issue with Windows 8. Try RST version 11.6.0.1030 if everything else fails.

 

[Brocius]

Hi everyone

I also have a weird thing verifying trim with the hex edit method.
I used an mp3 for the test so i was sure i had a unique string( dont think windows 8 comes standard with an 2pac album ).
So i copied the mp3 to root of c:/ searched the unique string, deleted it and emptied the trash can. I waited 5 minutes and the string was still there, i rebooted it was still there, rebooted again and then i had this http://imageshack.us/f/834/trimtest.jpg/ totally different data but no 00's or FF's
Im sure i did everything right with flashing the modded bios. I have a maximus iv extreme mobo with 2x vertex 3 120g in raid 0 flashed with latest firmware. Using windows 8 with intel rst 11.6.0.1030 drivers.

 

[Fernando 1]

@ TooYellow and Brocius:

It seems possible, that the TRIM test file location has been replaced by any other data after the reboot of the system.
Please try the following:

1. Open the test file with a hex editor like HxD and copy a unique text code fragment without any blank space or dot within it.
2. After having copied the test file into the root of drive C do a complete search of drive C for the previously copied text code fragment (just to make sure, that there is not more than 1 file with such text code fragment).
3. After having deleted the test file and the Recycle Bin redo the search for the text code fragment within the entire drive C.
4. If the text code fragment should be still present, reboot and redo the search.

Please report here your results.

 

[Brocius]

Hi Fernando!

I did the method you told and at first it found the tekst code fragment, so i did a reboot and searched again and it was gone so just to be sure i manually searched to the offsett of the code tekst fragment and voila
http://imageshack.us/f/577/testsy.jpg/ all FF's

thx for the fast reply Fernando you deserve a medal along with the other poeple who made it possible :thumbsup:

 

[Ramon Zarat]

Hi Fernando!

thx for the fast reply Fernando you deserve a medal along with the other poeple who made it possible :thumbsup:

He certainly deserve a medal. Fernando, but also Garikfox and Dufus.

As for Intel, they deserve to be stoned to death for this immoral practice of intentionally putting artificial limitation on prodcut not even a year old to force upgrade to newer chipset... Shame on you Intel! :thumbsdown:

With a quad core running at 4.7Ghz and 16Gb or RAM, it's gona be a long long time before I even think of upgrading. With AMD incapacity to compete toes to toes with Intel, expect more of this corporate dictatorial behavior in the future.

By the time my rig is 100% obsolete in 6-7 years, thechnology will have progressed so much anyway, I'll be able to buy a rig 10 time more powerful for half the price, no matter who manufactured it. And believe me, Intel WON'T be my choice.

 

[Makaveli]

He certainly deserve a medal. Fernando, but also Garikfox and Dufus.

As for Intel, they deserve to be stoned to death for this immoral practice of intentionally putting artificial limitation on prodcut not even a year old to force upgrade to newer chipset... Shame on you Intel! :thumbsdown:

With a quad core running at 4.7Ghz and 16Gb or RAM, it's gona be a long long time before I even think of upgrading. With AMD incapacity to compete toes to toes with Intel, expect more of this corporate dictatorial behavior in the future.

By the time my rig is 100% obsolete in 6-7 years, thechnology will have progressed so much anyway, I'll be able to buy a rig 10 time more powerful for half the price, no matter who manufactured it. And believe me, Intel WON'T be my choice.

Intel may be the only choice for High performance X86 in 6-7 years if AMD doesn't find a miracle.

 

[Ramon Zarat]

Intel may be the only choice for High performance X86 in 6-7 years if AMD doesn't find a miracle.

Then I'll buy ARM or maybe a revolutionary Quantum CPU from that new manufacturer that came from the left field, that no one saw coming, that will force everybody else to bankruptcy because of the huge paradigm shift impossible to compete with. Happened before, will happen again.

I'll just sit down and wait for all those sharks to go at each other throats and I'll pickup what's left of them in a bargain bin at the dollarama store in 2020. Even those left over of technology will be better then than my current rig now.

We are near the point of technological ubiquitousness anyway. My current rig is at least 2 to 3 time more powerful than I actually need, 90% of the time. In only a couple of generations, we'll have enough compute horse power to drive A.I. indistinguishable from the real thing and process real-time simulation at the molecular or even atomic level. Who'll need an upgrade then? LOL!

But enough of this rant, lets get back on topic!

 

[Schmide]

Past few days I've been working to mod a Gigabyte z68xp ud3.

1- took the latest uefi bios from their site
2- loaded it in the mtool
3- replaced the CSMCORE location 8086,2822 with the 8086-2822_v11601702_mod_for_P67+Z68.bin file
4- saved it
6- loaded it on the board
7- raid ORAM still reads 11.0.0.1339 at the raid bios screen
8- trim doesn't work with the common jpg check method

Using 2 ocz vertex 3s with the latest firmware.

Edit: I did check that the bios was changed with windif64 and checked the extracted rom from the modded bios to the replaced rom and they are the same.

Could gigabyte be loading the raid rom from a different location?

 

[Fernando 1]

@ Schmide:

Either you have done something wrong while modifying the BIOS or your Gigabyte mainnboard didn't accept it and recovered the previous BIOS file.
Which way did you flash the modded BIOS?
Have you done a CMOS reset?

 

[davidm71]

It's been a while since I've looked at trim but some good news, RAID0 trim seems possible with pre-7 series chipsets.

Tested on ASUS P67 EVO


Running 11.6 OROM and 11.2 driver with no modification on W7SP1x64 with 2x V4 in RAID0, sectors 16 thru 31 were filled with 8KiB of test data and some crude software written to send a trim command to unmap them. The command was rejected by the driver, no trim performed.

Dufus,

How did you send the trim command out manually? Was there a tool you created? Can you share a link?

Thanks.

 

[Schmide]

Flashed with q-flash from the uefi menu. It seemed to accept it. I tried the FLASHEFI.exe from dos and it said it was not possible for this bios type.

Did do a CMOS reset.

Edit: The exact phrase used by FLASHEFI.exe was v1.06

"!!! BIOS does Not Support Flash Interface !!!"

 

[Fernando 1]

Dufus,
How did you send the trim command out manually? Was there a tool you created? Can you share a link?

Dufus has already answered to this question in post No 277. Look >here<.

Flashed with q-flash from the uefi menu. It seemed to accept it.

Then I recommend to check the Intel RAID ROM version of the BIOS you have flashed. Open it with the Aptio MMTool, extract the 8086-2822 PCI ROM module, open it with an hex editor and look for the version.

 

[davidm71]

Dufus has already answered to this question in post No 277. Look >here<.

Then I recommend to check the Intel RAID ROM version of the BIOS you have flashed. Open it with the Aptio MMTool, extract the 8086-2822 PCI ROM module, open it with an hex editor and look for the version.

Ok thanks.

 

[Schmide]

I got the proper orom on there and the bios now reads 11.6.0.1702.

However Latest Intel RST service won't start with error 1067

Trim check doesn't work as well.

Edit: Reset CMOS, changed marvel controller to raid as well RST service now working. Trim no go.

 

[Fernando 1]

I got the proper orom on there and the bios now reads 11.6.0.1702.

Ok, that's fine.

However Latest Intel RST service won't start with error 1067

Which OS are you running und which Intel RAID driver is installed?

Trim check doesn't work as well.

Did you try everything I have written in post No 311 inclusive rebooting?

 

[Schmide]

Which OS are you running und which Intel RAID driver is installed?

Windows 7 Ultimate x64 fresh install fully updated.

Raid Driver 11.7.0.1013

Did you try everything I have written in post No 311 inclusive rebooting?

Rebooted checked the same sector. Still there. No trim working.

Edit:

Reloaded the driver over the latest one. Did the check. Nothing. Rebooted and got all zeros. Yay. Working I guess.

I'm glad because this thing boots soooo much faster than a single drive.

 

[davidm71]

I fired up Ubuntu and ran lspci to try to understand what my alternate device id might be on my X58. Lspci reports for the raid controller [8086:2822] with a subsys of [8086:3A20]. The latter I presume is the alt id BUT according to Intel's spec update document thats the code for the Non-AHCI and Non-Raid mode device (ports 0-3). According to the Intel document the raid controller is suppose to be 3A25 and they state that:

The SATA RAID Controller Device ID may reflect a different value based on Bit 7 of D31:F2:Offset 9Ch.

of which I don't understand. Furthermore Intels' document lists ports 4 + 5 as belonging to the 3A26 device id. So I tried swapping sata cables such that my raid was on 4 + 5 and still trim was not working with all of those device ids injected into the orom. So I guess I'm giving up. Was fun while it lasted!