SSD Toolbox deployment in an Enterprise setting ?

[idata]

Hi

I work in for a large corporate with thousands of Lenovo XP notebooks and we are retrofitting Intel SSDs. The TRIM tool wasn't written with the managed environment in mind and documentation is lacking. A problem is the scheduling running under the context of the end-user. Obviously AD passwords change but the Scheduled Task credentials remain the same. When a task tries to launch with an out of date password .... user accounts locked out.

Plus the command line for the tool includes the unique drive serial number ! Annoying for automation.

Today I've written a script to be deployed with SCCM that reads the disk's serial number, creates a scheduled task to launch SSD optimisation using that serial and runs the tool in the SYSTEM context, rather than end-user. It appears to be working. It certainly runs the process.

Question Time:

1) how to know if the optimiser is running correctly ? All I know is that it is running when scheduled.

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Other questions

2) Do we really need to run this tool ? Any figures on performance degradation ?

3) Updating firmware seems to be only possible by booting a machine from a CD. This is not feasible in a global environment with many remote branches. Does Intel have a more credible deployment method ?

We have Version 1.2 deployed. Version 1.3 available from 22 March 2010. Release Notes don't explain what changed apart from 'continual improvements'. 4) What changed ?

5) Intel Read Me explains there can be an issue with encrypted drives. All disks are encrypted at my place. Anyone encountered trouble ?

6) Intel ReadMe also advises not to have defragmentation as hangs can occur. We are using 3rd party PerfectDisk. Should we disable?

7) I read on forums that the optimiser isn't working well with non-Intel motherboards. Any comments ?

😎 Optimisation duration appears to be unpredictable. I've seen it take some seconds. Read of case taking up to 25 minutes. ??

This could be a problem as Intel advise not to use the machine during optimisation. My wish is to schedule optimisation once a week at lunch time. There should be no risks to end-user productivity.

9) Can there be conflicts with other system management activities like AV scans or SCCM processes ?

10) Intel warns Hibernation during optimisation can result in a non-booting machine. Can standby also be affected?

Overall, I'm not too impressed.

[idata]

Hi, our simple approach to this is that we schedule for both normal and transposed. Only one will run

Greetings from Zurich.

[idata]

Yeah, i thought about doing that also.

How dit you invert the numbers? Can i have the script?

[idata]

Hi Mystery Machine,

In reference to the following comment:

"As stated earlier having the serial number CVPO016101G3080JGN in the command line is poorly thought out. WMI reports the serial as VCOP1016103G80J0NG using set objEnum = svc.execQuery ("select SerialNumber from win32_physicalMedia") or using WMI Tools.

Intel Toolbox reports CVPO016101G3080JGN

WMI reports VCOP1016103G80J0NG

Each pair of characters is swapped in order. This makes coding the reading of the serial number and translating it to create a scheduled task inconvenient."

We've had our engineers investigate, and this looks like a software bug. The author of the WMI code is not taking into consideration the bytes being swapped as they are transferred over the SATA bus. Nothing to do with the drive! Hope this helps.

Scott, Intel Corporation