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

[Kermee]

Confirmed TRIM, using WinHEX after deleting a file, is working with the following setup:

Motherboard: Asus P8P67-M PRO (P67 Chipset)
Bios: 3608 (Modified)
Intel RST Drivers: 11.7.0.1013 (Latest)
RAID ROM Version: 11.6.0.1702 (Modified, From Fernando, Thank You)
Drives: Two Micron C400 256GB (OEM Crucial m4's)

Cheers,
Kermee

 

[Count_Zero]

Here's the youtube video showing how I do the test on Windows 8 and the fact that it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqQuWKnszog&feature=youtu.be

Hi, damageboy & forum,

I was more than happy finding this thread and even happier when I've read about your successful attempt of activating TRIM on a P55 board. I have the same MOBO (P7P55D) and I definitely intend to do this however I am bit reluctant to flash my BIOS since this is my "production" rig and and if I mess up something and render it unbootable the only quick option is buy a complete new platform with CPU (practically nobody sells 1156 boards anymore here, not even used ones) and I try to postpone this as long as possible :\

So may I ask you to post your modified ROM file? Did you do the flashing before boot within EZ-Flash 2 or from DOS/Windows?

Thanks in well advance!

 

[Fernando 1]

There are some news regarding the TRIM in RAID0 feature of Intel's actual Intel RAID ROM modules v11.6.0.1702:

If users with an AMI UEFI BIOS mainboard install Windows 8 in clean "UEFI mode" (CSM Disabled), the Intel SATA RAID Controller uses a separate Intel RAID module named "SataDriver" and not the "LEGACY" Intel RAID Option ROM module, which is within the CSMCORE file of the AMI UEFI BIOSes. For details you may read >this< discussion.

Since the users ucode and error-id10t gave me access to the actual Intel EFI RAID ("SataDriver") module v11.6.0.1702, I have put it into the latest BIOS for my ASUS P8Z77-V and done a clean UEFI mode Win8 installation onto my Z77 RAID0 array. The result was amazing: Now I can boot into the RAID0 within a few seconds - no delay anymore, which was caused by the "LEGACY" Intel RAID ROM module.

Today I have done a deeper look with a Hex Editor into Intel's EFI RAID module ("SataDriver") v11.6.0.1702, which has an uncompressed size of 184 KB.
Result:
Similar to the "LEGACY" Intel RAID ROM module v11.6.0.1702 the EFI RAID module v11.6.0.1702 contains the exactly same hex codes, which are responsable for the TRIM in RAID0 feature. The only difference is, that these hex codes are within another Offset section.
Here is the related string of the original "SataDriver" v11.6.0.1702:

After having realized this, it was no problem for me to modify the Intel EFI RAID module for users with an Intel 6-Series AMI UEFI BIOS mainboard, who want to install Windows 8 in EFI mode onto their RAID0 array.
Here is the "Trim in RAID0" section, which has been modified for Intel6-Series RAID0 users:

The original Intel EFI RAID modue v11.6.0.1702 can be downloaded from >here<.
Update:
As you can read >here<, this EFI RAID module v11.6.0.1702 obviously can only be used, if a file named "SataDriver" (GUID starting with 90C8D394) is already present within the UEFI AMI BIOS file.
As long as there are no such BIOS versions for 6-series chipset mainboards available, it makes no sense to offer modded versions of this EFI RAID module with additional TRIM in RAID0 support.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

 

[MaxICH]

Great stuff Fernando! So to make things clear, the "old" raid orom v11.6.0.1702 and this "EFI RAID ("SataDriver")" are two different oroms?

If so, is the procedure to insert the "EFI RAID ("SataDriver")" in a bios file the same as the old raid orom?

In the MMtool, do we need to look for the SataDriver line for this orom the same way we looked for CSMCORE for the RAID orom?

Thank you for sharing this with us!

UPDATE:
I am looking at the latest (3603) ASUS BIOS for my P8Z68-V Pro in MMtool and I cannot find the "SataDriver" line. The closest thing I see is "SataController" with a GUID starting with BB6594...

UPDATE#2:
I just checked the ASUS P8Z77-V Pro bios and there is a "SataDriver" line so I guess that Z68 boards don't have the native EFI RAID support. Too bad.

 

[Fernando 1]

So to make things clear, the "old" raid orom v11.6.0.1702 and this "EFI RAID ("SataDriver")" are two different oroms?

That is correct.

If so, is the procedure to insert the "EFI RAID ("SataDriver")" in a bios file the same as the old raid orom?

Yes, the way to extract and to replace the modules is rather similar, but you should not check anything within the PCI ROM section of the MMTool GUI, when you are going to extract or to replace the Intel EFI RAID module (it is no PCI ROM!).

In the MMtool, do we need to look for the SataDriver line for this orom the same way we looked for CSMCORE for the RAID orom?

Yes. Contrary to the CSMCORE file, where a lot of different PCI ROM modules are inserted, the "SataDriver" line just contains this single Intel EFI RAID module.

I am looking at the latest (3603) ASUS BIOS for my P8Z68-V Pro in MMtool and I cannot find the "SataDriver" line. The closest thing I see is "SataController" with a GUID starting with BB6594...

That is something else. My ASUS P8Z77-V BIOS has the "SataDriver" module with the GUID starting with 90C8D394.

 

[john-117]

I just registered to thank you Fernando. I have been following this thread from the beginning, tested for TRIM a million times with the modded raid orom but nothing. I have a Z68 board and had installed windows 8 in "UEFI" mode. Couldn't understand why rim wasn't working for me. Until now! Thanks!

EDIT: Can't find the SataDriver line, oh well...

 

[Fernando 1]

Can't find the SataDriver line, oh well...

Which way do you get access to the Intel RAID Utility?

 

[Emulex]

man I tried SRT, and it sucks. Tablet windows 8 (patched up) with 24gb MSATA and 500gb 7200rpm (lenovo twist). sucky.

Should be easy to swap in a 256 or 480gb msata and 256 or 512gb 7mm ssd.

First decent windows 8 i've had a chance to play with but man when the SRT wasn't doing the job, it was a pig and it was pretty random.

 

[john-117]

Which way do you get access to the Intel RAID Utility?

I'm not sure I understand. Windows 8 has a 100MB EFI partition. Dufu's tool returns 2822, 1C06. However, IRST says I'm using option rom 11.6.0.1702 (modded). And this is the bios I use:
http://www.mediafire.com/?uvge42byufvinhy

EDIT: Searching the bios I find two lines, IntelIvbGopDriver and IntelSnbGopDriver. Inside those are "Intel RAID for Sata v11.0" modules. Hope you can make something from this, although I think those have something to do with graphics.

 

[Fernando 1]

Windows 8 has a 100MB EFI partition. Dufu's tool returns 2822, 1C06. However, IRST says I'm using option rom 11.6.0.1702 (modded).

You obviously are running Windows 8 in UEFI mode, but the Intel SATA RAID Controller seems to use the "LEGACY" Intel RAID PCI ROM module, which is within the CSMCORE file of the BIOS.

And this is the bios I use:
http://www.mediafire.com/?uvge42byufvinhy

I have opened the BIOS with the Aptio MMTool, but couln't find any Intel EFI RAID module.

Searching the bios I find two lines, IntelIvbGopDriver and IntelSnbGopDriver.

Both modules contain EFI GOP drivers for the Intel iGPU Graphics device. Here is the text fragment I found:

I.n.t.e.l.(.R.). .I.v.y. .B.r.i.d.g.e. .G.r.a.p.h.i.c.s. .C.o.n.t.r.o.l.l.e.r

Inside those are "Intel RAID for Sata v11.0" modules.

I didn't find such text within the Intel "GopDriver" modules.

 

[Marcus Vinicus]

Hi, damageboy & forum,

I was more than happy finding this thread and even happier when I've read about your successful attempt of activating TRIM on a P55 board. I have the same MOBO (P7P55D) and I definitely intend to do this however I am bit reluctant to flash my BIOS since this is my "production" rig and and if I mess up something and render it unbootable the only quick option is buy a complete new platform with CPU (practically nobody sells 1156 boards anymore here, not even used ones) and I try to postpone this as long as possible :\

So may I ask you to post your modified ROM file? Did you do the flashing before boot within EZ-Flash 2 or from DOS/Windows?

Thanks in well advance!

I updated the bios to the OROM 1703 on my Asus P7P55D-E PRO and had no issues whatever even though like you I was a bit dubious about fiddling with bios'.

I now have a single Intel 520 240gb SSD for the OS (Windows Server 2012 running as a workstation and applications) with the Western 2 x 640gb RAID 0 now used for my files. So far I've had no issues to deal with.

 

[Fernando 1]

As you can read >here<, this EFI RAID module v11.6.0.1702 obviously can only be used, if a file named "SataDriver" (GUID starting with 90C8D394) is already present within the UEFI AMI BIOS file.
As long as there are no such BIOS versions for 6-series chipset mainboards available, it makes no sense to offer modded versions of this EFI RAID module with additional TRIM in RAID0 support.

 

[tlzmazaite]

Has anybody completed this operation on the Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 and can confirm it works?

My unmodified RAID option ROM version is currently 10.6.0.1091. The OS is installed in EFI mode.

My BIOS:

13. PCI ROM[A] 1DC00h(119.00K) 10E0Ch(67.51K) raidrst5.bin
14. PCI ROM 04000h(16.00K) 02B45h(10.82K) cptahci.bin
15. PCI ROM[C] 10000h(64.00K) 097BDh(37.93K) rtegrom.lom

The RST ROM has the internal ID "A". I'm confused about the EFI thing - is this not the ROM to replace? Which ROM should I use, the Especially modified EFI one or the normal?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

 

[Fernando 1]

Has anybody completed this operation on the Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 and can confirm it works?

I really doubt, that any user with a Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3 has already tried to get the Intel EFI RAID module into the BIOS.

My unmodified RAID option ROM version is currently 10.6.0.1091. The OS is installed in EFI mode.
The RST ROM has the internal ID "A". I'm confused about the EFI thing - is this not the ROM to replace?

No, your Intel PCI ROM "A" named RAIDRST5.BIN is the Legacy mode RAID module, whereas the Intel module named "SataDriver" is the UEFI mode RAID module. If your system should be able to use the UEFI mode RAID module, you should have both RAID modules (Legacy and UEFI type) within your mainboard BIOS.

Which ROM should I use, the Especially modified EFI one or the normal?

If you have an SSD RAID0, I recommend to update the Intel RAID ROM v10.6.0.1091 to the especially modified v11.6.0.1702, which will support the TRIM in RAID0 feature for your Z68 system.
I don't think, that you will be able to insert the UEFI mode Intel "SataDriver" module into your mainboard BIOS as long as Gigabyte is using a Phoenix BIOS for your board.

 

[tlzmazaite]

Thanks for the reply Fernando

Here's my BIOS, although I can't see a module named SataDriver (This board was quite early in the whole EFI thing, I'm not really sure if it fully supports it although I don't honestly know)

If you have an SSD RAID0, I recommend to update the Intel RAID ROM v10.6.0.1091 to the especially modified v11.6.0.1702, which will support the TRIM in RAID0 feature for your Z68 system

Okay, thanks. I'll try that. Are there any other issues that may arise from updating the ROM version? I was under the impression I should keep the same version but almost certainly I am mistaken.

 

[Fernando 1]

Are there any other issues that may arise from updating the ROM version?

If you are going to flash the modified BIOS, you may get a checksum error message. This will be caused by the fact, that the sensitive module named MINIT is below the PCI ROM file you are going to update and Gigabyte does not follow the CBROM rules.
You can try it nevertheless. If you have done the BIOS modification the correct way, the worst case will be, that the modded BIOS will not be accepted by the system.

 

[tlzmazaite]

I flashed the BIOS today using the Gigabyte Q-Flash. Success! Thanks again for all the information and the great work.

 

[tlzmazaite]

I've done some analysis and can confirm the RAID0 TRIM Command is working on the GA-Z68X-UD5 with RST 11.6 and 11.7.

The significant issue I've encountered thus far is Windows 8 Disk Management. Opening this is incredibly slow, takes minutes to load and will cause all access to secondary storage to grind to a near halt until the system is reset. It's not something I do very often so it's not a big problem.

Enumerating storage volumes (e.g. opening Computer) causes a brief but noticeable system lag. Almost feels like bus bandwidth issues (but I suspect it's interrupts not getting handled) - the mouse cursor will briefly slow and sound is interrupted for a fraction of a second.

 

[Fernando 1]

I've done some analysis and can confirm the RAID0 TRIM Command is working on the GA-Z68X-UD5 with RST 11.6 and 11.7.

That is good news - thanks for your feedback!

 

[S3TRXV4]

Hey I downloaded the latest bios for my P8P67 Deluxe, bios version 3602 iv'e modified the bios with the v11.6.0.1702 Raid ROM.

During POST i can see that its 11.6.0.1702

I then proceeded and installed my RAID0 Vertex 4 array numerous times with different stripe sizes and different driver versions iv'e tried stripe size 64 and 128, and the drivers 11.2 and 11.7 and a couple times 11.6, just to test and benchmark and see what was the best setup for my hardware, while I did this i've tested if trim worked with the TRIM test with HxD, and it seemed to work everytime the first time I tried, i've also done it twice after each other just to verify if it worked and it did. Also during my TRIM test I din't need to reboot my system once to make sure that it was working when it was working it worked instantly.

So I thought it was great and went ahead and made my final array and installation, with 11.2 drivers, configured my whole computer but did not test TRIM in the beginning, so when I finally finished my configuration I tried the TRIM test again just one time more to verify if everything worked fine and the test failed, I was stumbled tried it again and TRIM still wasn't working, i've checked my versions again and if the Windows 8 TRIM command was working and it worked, So I tried to install 11.7 drivers and my PC crashed and al my work of the last couple hours was gone, my system wouldn't boot anymore.

I reinstalled everything again with 11.2 drivers and at the beginning tried the TRIM test and it failed again, I tried to reinstall the 11.2 drivers and suddenly it was working again. Tested it twice and it still worked so I went ahead and finished my configuration and made some system restores during the configuration just to be sure that it wouldn't lose all my work twice, and tried the TRIM test one more time and now it fails again, it seems to work sometimes and sometimes it just doesn't work anymore. I don't know what's wrong. I'm lost does somebody else experienced the same? or does TRIM keeps working on all of your systems?

 

[Fernando 1]

@ S3TRXV4:
It is hard to believe, that TRIM is only working sometimes (unless you change the driver or the RAID configuration). Either the TRIM command passes the Intel SATA RAID Controller into the RAID0 or not.
Precondition for the TRIM activity is the detection of the SSDs by the OS. That is why you should run the Windows Experience Index as first step after having installed win7 or Win8.
Furthermore the TRIM activity may need a stimulation. If your OS should be Windows 8, I recommend to use the Optimizer (formerly named Defrag tool).

 

[S3TRXV4]

Fernando thanx for your quick reply,

I'm running the WEI right now and going to try the TRIM test again after that.

I think I am doing the TRIM test the right way, because how would I be able to see all FFFFFFFF on the offset I search for when I delete the picture from the root drive C:, well at the beginning I saw that the data blocks where cleaned but now it doesnt work anymore and I don't see FFFFFFFFFFFFF but instead the data is still there, I changed nothing on my system I just finished my computer configuration.

If my way of testing was wrong I wouldn't see all FFFFFF at all during my test on the specific offset right? Or could there still be an error on my side?, I find that hard to believe, but I am not that computer technical and you guys know a lot more than me so if you say that it's hard to believe that the TRIM command sometimes works and sometimes not, maybe I am doing something wrong but what, I really don't know.

I'm going to run a TRIM test again and report back.

 

[S3TRXV4]

Nope still not working, I am 100% positive that at the beginning of my installation the TRIM test worked well not the first time I tried but after I tried reinstalling the 11.2 driver it worked I even tested it twice after each other and went on with my installation.
I am going to try thisDefragment and Optimize Tool for Windows 8, Maybe that will help.

 

[S3TRXV4]

I went to the Defragment and Optimize tool (Optimizer), my Raid0 array C: is detected as a SSD, it needed optimization, I pressed optimize and I could see a progress of Trimming 20%, 40% 100%, and now the current status is OK(0days since last run) and optimized daily, however the TRIM test failed again so for some strange reason the TRIM command is not being send. I am going to install drivers 11.7 and report back.

 

[S3TRXV4]

I've tried 11.7 and it is still not working.