Intel P67 support for TRIM (Windows 7 Ultimate x64)

[idata]

I have a Gigabyte motherboard (GA-P67A-D3-B3 v1.0) with latest firmware (F7 as of April 2013). I've read that some folks in other online communities (Anandtech, tweaktown) managed to alter their BIOSes and implement support for TRIM in RAID0 (on the two SATA3 interfaces).

I've asked Gigabyte support for an official BIOS update that would permit this.

Here's the reply:

"

Thank you for your kindly mail and inquiry. Since TRIM command depends on the SATA controller, and according to GA-P67A-D3-B3(rev. 1.0) chipset, it uses PCH and which does not support TRIM command. We are sorry that it cannot be support TRIM command by update BIOS version, since it is the chipset specification.

If you still have any further questions bla bla

Regards,

GIGABYTE"

What do you guys think about this answer?

I thought I have trim support, the SSD supports it (Corsair Force GT 120 GB) and I got "0" after "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify".

I thought that the trim command is passed by the operating system (Win7 Ultimate x64 in my case; SSD is hooked on SATA3, AHCI) to the SSD. OK, in RAID0 I understood that it can't be used, but didn't know that PCH (Platform Controller Hub) can't do that even with a single SSD.

[idata]

Uhm, seems to me that all they're saying is that BIOS doesn't do trim. Offhand, I wouldn't expect it to. BIOS doesn't care about what you do with the disks, it just makes sure they talk to the board, seem reasonable, or have I missed the point?

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means Windows sends "hints" to the disk controller that blocks are not being used and/or empty. The driver is what actually carries out trim. Garbage Collection is carried out by the disk controller, not the driver. There are some drivers that support trim in RAID 0. Offhand, I don't know which ones.

Any of this help?

[idata]

"Uhm, seems to me that all they're saying is that BIOS doesn't do trim."

To me, they seem to say that the chipset on my board doesn't do trim! Look here:

"Since TRIM command depends on the SATA controller, and according to GA-P67A-D3-B3(rev. 1.0) chipset, it uses PCH and which does not support TRIM command. We are sorry that it cannot be support TRIM command by update BIOS version, since it is the chipset specification."

Here's a webpage about modding BIOS components (OROM) to enable trim on RAID0 architecture:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6477/trim-raid0-ssd-arrays-work-with-intel-6series-motherboards-too AnandTech | TRIM & RAID-0 SSD Arrays Work With Intel 6-Series Motherboards Too

My question does not go that far. I just want to know if right now, with unmodded stuff, I have trim or not! From the Gigabyte support person, it seems that I don't have trim. But English is not my native language, and I'm not an expert neither in SATA nor in SSD intricacies, that's why I'm asking you guys.

[idata]

Uh-huh, upon re-reading that, I see what you mean. I just don't belive it. The link you posted appears to be about updating the Intel RAID ROM on the board. That is something totally outside of the Operating System.

It's funny, Win8 has been out since October, I do have a computer that runs Win7 with an SSD, but I let my girlfriend use that one, and I don't remember how defragging (trim) worked on Win7 with an SSD. Getting old is not fun.

You know you can try the defrag tool, if it takes more than a minute to run, stop it, it's doing a HDD defrag, and not trimming. If it takes mere seconds to complete, it's trimming. Even if it does start doing a HDD type defrag, stopping it is OK. One partial defrag isn't going to sap much life from the drive.

Make sure your Windows Experience Index is up-to-date. That's the way Windows knows what kind of drive you have, and should adjust settings appropriately.

Another thing to check is to query whether DisableDeleteNotify (fsutil.exe behavior query DisableDeleteNotify) is zero or not. If it's zero, the system sends trim hints, and that's what you want.

Ignore everything I wrote, I am not paying attention this morning, sorry.

Is any of this helpful?

[idata]

That ROM is part of the BIOS update file, that's why I was asking Gigabyte about BIOS updates.

I already tried that command and got "0", but it's not a proof of trim being done, it's just a posibility...

Until I find some expert answer that explains precisely the compatibility between PCH P67 and trim, when I'll get home (I'm at work now) I will try this:

https://github.com/CyberShadow/trimcheck CyberShadow/trimcheck · GitHub

Message was edited by: Razvan Neagoe