Alienware owners with Samsung PM800 SSD - TRIM now available!

Check this one for the alignment:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...h-stuttering-and-increases-drive-working-life

To check the alignment I use this:
http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157

Tips for SSDs here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=474521

 

Supported but you have to make sure that its activated.

You can use the following app to check your TRIM status and also your controller driver.

DCI

 

Ah, thanks. Turns out I was using Intel Matrix Storage driver, which I've now uninstalled. The drives are now running with the standard win7 microsoft AHCI driver, but the speed is still low.

Do I need to zap the drive with AS Cleaner again?

Or is there some other trick to it?

 

You ran AS Cleaner after flashing your SSD? If so, then that explains your speed drop

Either way, try letting GC work for an hour so two. Might help regain your speed.

To save your time: Make sure the GC is working before leaving it idling, else it will just waste your time.

 

Hm, I'm confused now, I thought AC Cleaner was required to restore performance. The drive was just as slow after flashing and erasing NAND as it is after cleaning

How do you make sure GC is running?

 

GC
1) Reboot the laptop
2) Disable the internet connection
3) Dont run any application. Just the basic start up programs
4) Leave it to idle and watch the disk LED light. It should flash like you are loading something. And that's GC

AC Cleaner
Never run that again. It wont do any good to your SSD.

I strongly suggest you to go back to step one. It will be much easier for. Of course not including the firmware flashing
Just secure erase your SSD and follow the right procedures then GOOD TIMES are on the way!

 

Thanks mate! I guess I made balls of it with AS Cleaner, ran it twice so far hoping to get something out of it.

I thought erasing NAND would reset the drive but maybe not. I'll try HDDErase next. Have all my data on a mechanical drive so I can play around with the SSD.

Should I leave TRIM enabled in win7 (disabledeletenotify) or disable it?

 

I think I'm back to square one here, HDD Erase won't find anything on my machine except for P0 and P1, and that's with drives set to ATA!

Is there a windows utility that does secure erase?

And I've heard something about Dell disabling secure erase on their machines, is that true? I guess there's no workaround for me then?

 

Maybe this workaround could help you but it's risky:
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

It worked on my laptop with the Intel X25-E, I don't know if it will work with yours...

The only thing I had to do extra (and that's even more risky because it's quite an expensive SSD...) was on Step 1a to hot unplug and replug the disk...

 

Thanks again man! I found out that it works fine on my old NF4 desktop, so I managed to erase the drive there with hdparm (Parted Magic USB boot).

I think I got the performance back as good as it will get, around 130MB/s read and write. I also have an X25-M (80GB, gen2) which gets similar results, so that makes me think it's as fast as my Core2Duo PM965 laptop will go.

Time to restore the backup to the 256GB drive. Once I upgrade my laptop I hope for ~200MB/s reads.

 

If you plan to restore an image backup be careful with the alignment...

 

Nevermind!

 

Does anyone know if the Samsung Jan 2010 SSD re-drive firmware with TRIM support can be used on the Samsung PM800 256GB drives dell supply?

Samsung SSD - Downloads

 

need to know which firmware version - some can, others not

 

Is there anyway of getting the firmware version when in RAID?

 

It will be marked on the drives (on the label)

 

Bah, much older firmware VBM15D1Q.

 

Anyone know if these older drives able to be sent in to get a newer firmware installed?

 

Greetings, I recently purchased an M15X, 256 SSD VBM24D1Q version , the windows 7 mark is 6.8 and Crystaldiskmark ratings seem a little low.... any ideas?

 

Some have done so, best argument is poor performance

 

Gotta be more specific. Screenshots would help.

 

Honestly, I think it's fine. Windows 7 starts up in way less than a min.

 

Easiest way of cutting load time would be to disable an services and programs that you don't need upon start up. Changing things like iTunes to "manual" in the services panel and going to "msconfig" to remove programs that start on boot.

 

I know trim will not work with Raid but does GC work with raid

 

Thanks for this, now I have my Dell 128GB SSD with TRIM!

 

Okay, got VBM19D1Q to flash using maindiag to VBM19C1Q, gave up on my old drive.. got another one. same firmware tried over and over again.

One thing to note, I got it to the "Flashing point" (ie supported chipset) but the firmware number never changed..
This was because I didnt power cycle the drive before pressing anykey.

Works a charm now.

oh and if your trying to find a chipset that works.
if you get to the "Flashing now, dont power off" you have an okay chipset.. the firmware will flash REALLY FAST!, this is normal. just remember to powercycle the device before hitting a key. it must send some sort of command...

Flashed on a Gigabyte ep45-ud3r ICH10 chipset

 

I didn't power cycle the drive between any step and it flashed ok. I set my SATA mode to "compatibility" in the BIOS, nothing more.

 

HMMM weird.
maybe because i flashed a few times (man that sounds nub..)

anyway. I take it installing the nForce AHCI driver is a nono? I'm just about to re-install windows tonight


Okay, just installed win7 again.
Bit of background.. on my last SSD I didnt align the partitions as I just imaged from one machine to the other.

This is straight out of the box Win7 install.. no drivers nothing.

Test run on a Dell SXPS 1340 running bios a14 with the sata 2 restriction OFF (ie esata runs at sataII speed)

2 SSD's side by side, no AHCI driver installed.
Left one, new one from Dell, Flashed with VBM19C1Q
Aligned to 1024k using Win7 installer


Right one used for around 6 months no trim (VBM19D1Q) and not aligned.

 

Thanks joker!
I purchased a Samsung 128gb ssd from a fellow member here. I thought it was TRIM enabled because it was VBM19D1Q but after installing it with Windows 7 i used Crystaldiskinfo and it said there was no TRIM.

I then tried jokers steps on a Lenovo x100e which has an AMD chipset I believe but it did not work. I would load maindiag.exe and tried step one and it said it worked but it wouldn't let me go to the next step. The same firmware stayed. BIOS was set to compatibility mode. I then tried it in my Lenovo T400 with Intel chipset and it worked! Followed the steps on the first page and then I reloaded Windows 7 as all the info raised and then I checked crystaldiskinfo and it has firmware VBM19C1Q and TRIM was enabled!



p.s. I did not read the 38 pages in this tread so sorry if any of this was mentioned before

 

I signed petition how they pull their finger out!

 

ok.. i not yet flash to trim fw yet.. may i ask some noob question..

will all my ssd data lose after i flash the fw with support trim?

 

Here is a link to help identify which Dell SSD have Windows Trim support. "The factory installation of the IRST driver 9.6 will begin on May 19, 2010. The Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver revision 9.5 or older did not support the TRIM function. This was an industry wide issue, not a Dell specific issue.If you got the old version drive, it cannot support TRIM even with new firmware, because it is different based on NAND flash technology."

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19332633.aspx

Samsung M153R SSDR,64GB,S2,THM,SMSNG,PM800,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung R075R SSDR,64GB,S2,THM,SMSNG,PM800 (A00, A01, A02)
Samsung C585T SSDR,64GB,S2,2.5,SMSNG,PM800,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung D500T SSDR,64GB,S2,THN,SMSNG,PM800 (A00, A01)
Samsung F343T SSDR,64GB,S2,FULL,MCARD,PM800 (A00)

Samsung K326R SSDR,128GB,S2,THM,PM800,SMSN,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung M158R SSDR,128GB,S2,THM,PM800,SMSNG (A00, A01, A02)
Samsung G295T SSDR,128GB,S2,2.5,PM800,SMSN,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung F510M SSDR,128GB,S2,2.5,SMSNG,PM800 (A00, A01, A02)

Samsung J765R SSDR,256GB,S2,THM,PM800,SMSN,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung P058R SSDR,256GB,S2,THM,PM800,SMSNG (A00, A01)
Samsung F342T SSDR,256GB,S2,2.5,PM800,SMSN,FDE (A00, A01)
Samsung K256M SSDR,256GB,S2,2.5,SMSNG,PM800 (A00, A01, A02)

 

Hi all, sadly borked my drive after flashing. mine's the hp OVBH1, ran the maindiag, used number 2, then number 1. couldnt flash. now drive has no id, shows in bios as hard drive, but has blank area where device id is. when i try to reflash, maindiag says "the device is not ready, please press any key". obviously i have removed the firmware, anyone any ideas? or where i could get this drive factory reflashed? also, where in minidiag u see drive id, i have nothing, not even a blank area. damn, only had drive a day lol. live n learn..

 

Well, that statement from Dell is certainly up for debate. Either they are just washing their hands of having to deal with firmware updates for their customers, or they are misinformed, because even Samsung issued firmware updates for their older revision drives that enabled TRIM after the update!

My guess is that Dell just doesn't want to deal with supplying firmware updates (and the cost of replacing drives from people who kill their drives doing the update wrong).

I suppose, too, that Dell's statement could be interpreted as saying that old version drives (pre-PM800) cannot be updated, but PM800's can. Say, if you have an A00, you can update to A02, etc...

 

I got my drive in may with my M17x, should it have come with a flash of the TRIM supporting firmware or do I need to do that myself? My drive is the samsung PM800.

 

What is the firmwware version of your drive

also you can use CrystalDiskInfo to determine if TRIM is enabled

 

Yes, flashing a new firmware wipes the drive completely

 

i read some drives could only be reflashed if they were returned to Samsung.

There was also a change in the design of some newer drives that the Late 2009 released firmware would not support.

Easiest thing to do IMO is simply call dell and get the drive replaced, and hopefully you get one that supprts TRIM

 

I think it supports trim. Heres a screenshot.

 

Yep. You SSD is TRIM enabled.

 

Thanks. +1 to LOUSYGREaTWALLGM and dave-p. You both were very helpful.

 

Glad to be of help

Let us know if you need more info.

CHEERS!

 

guys, im reading but am kind of lost in all of this

i have a drive with VBM19D1Q FW, is there a solution to the TRIM problem for this drive yet?

thanks in advance

 

Just curious... These are my read and write times for my Samsung PM800 SSD. Do these numbers look right?

 

TitanGod look good and says you havr Trim
Lvivke run crystal disk info it will tell you.

 

yes. TRIM is currently disabled, but is there a FW update to enable it yet?

 

There is no official firmware from Dell yet.

You basically have 2 options

1. call Dell and request an exchange - and hopefully the new one has TRIM

2. Flash the drive yourself with a TRIM enabled firmware.

option 2 carries risks, Flashing the drive can brick it, so do so at your own risk.

Some of the newer SSD drives have a different controller and flashing it = Bricked Drive.

Flashing can be a pain, as the flashing software works on a limited number of computers, and takes allot of experimenting to find a system that is compatible with the flash software.

IF you think you want to try flashing the drive go back to the first post and READ carefully. if you have any doubt dont.

 

well if your laptop is still under warranty, Dell will replace the drive if you have any issues.

 

It's been posted by Dell at dell.com forums that Dell will not replace non-TRIM drives with TRIM drives by request. The non-TRIM drives were never advertised as having TRIM, therefore, the customer is not missing anything. They consider it, I guess, a feature of the newer versions, and as such, would require purchasing a new drive.

It's also a fact that Dell will not replace a SSD because you bricked it doing something that is not Dell sanctioned. Dell does not make firmware available, so whatever you fish from the internet and use to brick your SSD, Dell won't cover.

Now, you may get lucky and get a Dell tech that takes pity on you and doesn't ask the right questions, but otherwise, it sounded like they will not be making TRIM available to the older PM800's.

Just thought I would put this out in case some people didn't already know or didn't want to read through 10000 posts on this thread!

 

yeah, thanks guys, this drive is going back on ebay