The new SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News and Advice)

I found that wiley Tomy B. character.

His procedure seems easier, I think.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=424509

 

wiley character :laugh:

@ hooterbif: Don't forget to uncheck "Round to cylinders" in step 9. This is most common mistake witch result as some error.

 

plus to repair his partition with his OS Cdrom cause his system won't boot after the realignment otherwise ;-)

Very nice guide Tomy btw ;-) Worked well for me.

 

I believe intel says their SSD is supposed to be run in ACHI mode too. so i would still switch to ACHI mode if i were you.

 

Thanks guys. I will do the realignment procedure and look into changing to ACHI mode.

 

Uh, really? That seems like an important step, so I am confused that this would have been left out of Tomy B.'s recipe.

 

Well it's left out because it's recipe for align boot partitions without losing data, not for switching from IDE to ACHI and still be able to boot.

On my laptop (Dell Latitude D620) I don't have an option to switch between IDE and ACHI in BIOS, so I can't test it.

BTW: Google is Your friend!

 

hooterbif,

just making sure you didn't miss my post 9201 just a few above this one which gives a link to a really easy way to enable AHCI mode on an XP system.

On the other hand, you may want to wait until Intel issues either a new firmware for your G2 or, they confirm that your flashed G2 will not develop issues running in AHCI mode.

Maybe you were lucky that the firmware worked for you because you're in IDE/ATA mode in your BIOS?

Either way, play it safe (backup!) and Good Luck!

 

Thanks. I did see your link and went to it, but it is for ICH9 (not sure that makes a difference). Also, I am still a bit hesitant on the AHCI conversion because I have not found benchmarking evidence that it has any effect, especially for my configuration that has only one disk (non RAID).

Also, after having unpacked the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager ISO, I see that I can choose between two different ICH8 controllers:
ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI or
ICH8R/DH/DO SATA AHCI

I am researching the difference between the two and which one I should choose. My existing controller is called "ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2828," so I am guessing that I should choose the first of the two drivers because of the "M" in the name.

Good point about being cautious given that I updated my firmware with potentially bogus code (that happens to be working great for me right now!).

I do full system state external backups automatically every night as I snooze using EMC Retrospect Pro.

 

Here's your evidence:

http://pcper.com/article.php?aid=669&type=expert&pid=3

 

Just a little update about the firmware bricking G2's... The few cases I read about seem to be mostly Win 7 related (does anybody know differently?) so maybe you will be fine with XP Pro?

Yes, like Ashura said, it's the small file access that AHCI speeds up mostly (and NCQ too is also enabled for supported drives like the G2).

These small file accesses are even noticeable with mech. HD's (VRaptor) between ATA vs. AHCI mode. Acoustically, the drive seems even 'quieter' in AHCI mode because of NCQ being enabled, not to mention faster.

BTW, Yes, the ICH8M is the driver you want - the ICH8R is the 'RAID' version (M is for Mobile, although some notebooks support the R version too).

 

Has anyone used MyDefrag on their SSD? I was installing it on my other computer and noticed that they had an option to optimize SSDs and other flash drives. http://www.mydefrag.com/FAQGeneralInformation-WillMyDefragReduceTheLifespanOfMyFlashMemoryDisk.html

 

Thanks to tilleroftheearth, Tomy B., Kallogan, Mormegil83.

Here are my post-AHCI conversion results. I have not aligned yet (and my disk is clearly mis-aligned to sector 63).

 

hooterbif,

I'm so glad that it didn't hose your system (going to AHCI)!

Did you find any specific info that limits the G2's firmware problems to only Win 7?

Now, to be totally up to speed, we need to see your partition aligned properly. Waiting for the next BM's.

Oh! Do you 'feel' the 2x to up to 4x increase in Read speeds and/or the 50%-150%+ increase in write speeds?

 

I have XP3-32 and have had no problems with the firmware update. I have been reading that they are limited to W7, just like you have read.

As for alignment....I have some critical work that would be made very difficult in the case of a hosed system, so I am being a bit chicken right now. Also, I am having a hard time imagining how my benchmarks could be any better than they are now. (I know, I said that pre-AHCI conversion, but you guys showed me the benchmarks to prove otherwise!).

 

Not even sure if it needs alignedd... aren't those benchies right on par?

 

That's my point at the end of my post.

That is, what the heck else do we expect out of an Intel G2?

 

hooterbif,

I've included my edit (which you may have missed) from my post above, but commenting on your quote, in post 9131 sgilmore62 shows write speeds closer to 150MB/s vs. your ~100's in ATTO.

So... are you aligning your partition yet?

 

My new-found speed is even more problematic than when I got a boost from the firmware upgrade. Now, I cannot even reach my finger to my nose when saving a big file.

OK, now you are pushing me to get my write speeds up....maybe I'll align after my upcoming critical work next week....

 

Okay, I messed up!

Instead of message 9131 from sgilmore62, you should compare to message 9130 from chris-m.

chris-m is running an Intel G2 while sgilmore62 is running an OCZ Summit.

Myself, I would still align the partitions - its the 'right thing to do' (even though Intel publicly states that the X25's are mostly 'immune' from misalignment), but as far as benchmark's go - I think you're golden (even if chris-m seems to be running on Win 7 x64 and assuming he did a full install, Win 7 should have aligned his partitions properly for him).

Hmmm... maybe chris-m needs some tweaking too? His 0.5 to 16K scores look awfully low compared to yours. Although I don't know what to suggest.

 

Alright, 9000+ posts and it is time to close this thread. See continued discussion here.