All Samsung 256GB SSD Owners - Firmware and TRIM

It seems HP has been shipping their Samsung SSD's without TRIM until just very recently with what looks like an updated firmware. Just to confirm if the "newer" firmware supports TRIM can you please identify your firmware version and whether it shows support for TRIM by voting in this poll. Please use Crystal Disk Info. It's a free program and a portable version is available so you don't even have to install anything if you don't want to, just extract and run. Get it here: Crystal Dew World - Download Center

I am asking HP to provide the updated firmware and tool to update our drives. So I guess this is also information for those of you unaware of the issue too.

I am assuming they are all MMDOE56G5MXP-0VBH1, please note if otherwise.

Here's the two different firmwares we know of:





I know there's probably not too many 256GB SSD owners out there but either way any amount of data will help and thanks for voting!

If you feel that you need TRIM and want an updated firmware and/or drive, please call HP and at least state your dissatisfaction. Maybe enough users will give them reason to help us out for spending top dollar.

 

Mine will be here Tuesday so I'm definitely anxious to see if TRIM will be enabled on mine. How were you able to determine your build date. The only date I've encountered was the ship by date.

 

You will have to physically look at the drive to determine its build date. I guess I was assuming machines built now would have the newer firmware but maybe not. I wish there was a firmware extraction utility because if there was, it would be nice if someone here that had the newer firmware could download it and offer it to us to upload to ours.

 

Looks like we can use the " Tony-Trim" method. Would require purchase of PerfectDisk but since I bought it like four years ago, I'm eligible for the $20 upgrade price. I'd really rather not go that route though, as it should be automatic.

 

My Trim is disabled. Mine shipped at around July 13th.

 

When you say "just recently," how long ago was that? I RMA'd my Envy 14 and am going to get an exchange around August 15 so is there a possibility that the Samsung SSD I will be getting will still be the same old VBM1AH1Q w/o trim?

And what exactly did HP say about that updated firmware & tool you mentioned?

 

I don't know when, I am expecting to hear back from one of their case managers (so they said) in the next couple of days. Nothing yet. Not sure if that means business days, so it might not be until Tuesday or Wednesday.

HP says there is no updated firmware but I pointed them to the one user here whose firmware was different and had TRIM. This is when he said he'd have to investigate and have a case manager get back with me.

 

htwingnut, I voted. I suspect as was suggested in the Owners Lounge HP probably had our drives sitting around for quite some time so they had the old firmware. Maybe they ran out of the old stock so the ones they ship now have the newer firmware with TRIM enabled and they may be unaware of this and not even have the firmware. I suggest everyone call them so they log all of our complaints instead of just posting on a forum HP doesn't read.

 

I agree, please call too, but it can't hurt to have as much logged here too since we don't have access to their information, we can at least use that as leverage. I'd prefer to get more people saying that they HAVE TRIM enabled so we can use that against HP.

 

Yeah, not saying not to post here but just saying also call up HP so they know it's not just noise from 1 or 2 people.

 

Hey guys, i just got my laptop 2 days ago and it doesn't have trim support but i will def start calling them bc we pay premium price for a premium product and i can't belive that we can't get the most updated hardware.

 

I too plan to call them if my exchange laptop does not have TRIM, although I hope that you're right about HP just recently shipping their laptops with SSDs that support TRIM.

 

I ordered my Envy 14 on the 31st of July... I'll update if mine has TRIM when it arrives

 

I have Firmware VBM1CH1Q and S.M.A.R.T, 48bit LBA, NCQ and TRIM are Supported features. I must admit this was one of my biggest fears, but I suppose since I ordered on 07/23/2010 I must have received a fairly new drive. When I called asking about my order the rep did describe my box as a premium build though. I suppose if you ordered the Slice Battery, 8GB of Memory and the 256GB SSD you get priority manufacturing, shipping, and firmware. My PC is just about perfect on all fronts though so I may be the exception instead of the standard.

 

@Guppetto: First of all, thanks for posting this info, I guess it gives us hope that we can at least get a drive WITH TRIM support. If you ever get brave enough and want to take the time, remove the SSD and give us info like build date and part number listed on the drive.

Maybe if we wait long enough we can all get replacement parts with the new firmware.

Although I find it hard to believe they would give your system any priority treatment. Others have spent upwards of $2000 or more (including myself) and still have significant issues.

 

Wow! That's great news! The order date for my exchange was dated on 7/23/2010. Hopefully I too will have a Samsung SSD with Firmware VBM1CH1Q w/ TRIM enabled. I tell you guys how it goes in three more days.

Hopefully Guppetto isn't right about the whole priority issue because I might just be given another SSD w/ no trim since I didn't make any changes to the base configurations other than the i5-450m and 256GB SSD =x

 

Not to make anyone paranoid, but here's the results of what happens once all the blocks on your SSD are filled once, regardless if you've deleted all the files on the drive. I was testing for any type of internal garbage collection routine and so far it seems no.

left: new drive
middle: filled drive, deleted all copied files to fill the drive, rebooted
right: idle for over 8 hours



Sequential write speeds were cut to 1/3, 512K to 1/4, and 4k with Queue Depth 32 to 1/3.

You will never get back to a fresh SSD performance (except for secure erase), but with TRIM usually you can get 80% or better, and usually 90%. Without it you're at 25-35% of original speeds.

 

Bummer. Someone mentioned this in the owner's thread...but if I knew that the SSD didn't support TRIM, I would have bought the i520 with 8GB RAM and the standard 320 GB drive. With BCB 30% and CA state taxes it would have been around $1131. I could have bought my own SSD later.

Now that BCB is gone, I feel a bit stuck. I can hassle HP and hope they send me a new machine/drive or I'll just give up and go with the VAIO Z.

 

It was probably me that mentioned it. Just thought I'd better just track it here since its more specific.

 

That's great to hear! Hopefully mine will have TRIM, as I orded mine 8 days after you.

When did yours ship?

 

I hate that HP shipped some drives without TRIM enabled. I'll post a pic as soon as I get back to my laptop.

 

I called the Envy support number 1-866-408-5408 and the rep I got had no idea about firmware, TRIM, SSDs...kinda sad. Did you guys do anything to get a more knowledgeable rep? I need to get this process started or just do a straight up return.

 

I just called 1-800-HP-Invent from this page: Contact HP - Phone assistance

I got through to a fairly knowledgable and helpful rep. At least I got a replacement SSD shipped, should be here Thursday

 

Thanks htwingnut! What exactly did you ask for? Just a straightup replacement or did you have to explain the whole firmware nonsesne?

 

I actually noted that I had an online chat session with a rep before and never heard back in the 48 hours they promised. I then proceeded to explain that I received an Envy 14 with the 256GB SSD which is a Samsung and others have ordered the Envy 14 with the exact same SSD and theirs supports TRIM but mine does not.

So yeah, you will probably have to explain the whole TRIM and firmware thing unfortunately.

 

Thanks. I didn't get very far with the 2 reps I talked to. I'm supposed to get a follow up call tomorrow.

 

HOLY COW! It's a miracle!

My Envy 14 has been idling for the better part of the last 24 hours or so. I used it a little bit. Under power plans I set the hard drive not to power down, and system not to sleep.

Seems the system has repaired itself!

Here's latest results.

Two days, ok really about 24 hours idle (but that's two days of awakeness at least.)



Compare with a fresh disk:



TRIM of course wouldn't require the idle time or wait time, and of course having your PC sleep and/or SSD scheduled for shutdown after x minutes probably won't help matters much. But seems it will fix itself over time with idle.

I guess it had a lot of repairing to do since I did throw over 200GB of data on it.

 

Wha?! Man, I wish we didn't have to play this guessing game with HP trying to figure this stuff out (and by we I mean you while I mostly cheer on). You're much more persistent and patient than I am.

Anyhow, this is great news. I just wish there was a spec sheet or something about idle-time garbage colection to back up your findings.

In realted news, I'll post an update tomorrow as soon as I hear back from HP and see if they've figured out what an SSD is.

Thanks again for all your work. Good luck with the replacement SSD on Thursday.

Now if HP could only fix the fans-always-on and CPU-whine problems.

 

Nice work, htwingnut. That is good to know. I am still going to try to get a drive with the TRIM-enabled firmware from HP.

 

Well, yeah. TRIM is pretty much an instant garbage collection. And also, I'm not sure why all of a sudden the auto healing decided to work. I had idled the machine for an overnight once with the drive active and no sleep and it didn't work. I'm sure if you only had a few GB to recover it would do that in much less time.

It would be nice to know though, what the SSD needed in order to heal itself. If you sleep the PC, will it be powered on still and be able to do it? How much time is considered "idle" before it will start? How long does it take to recover a GB? I don't like this secret GC routine.

Many users use their machines, then close their lid to sleep or hibernate their PC's when they're done. If the machine has to be completely idle then it may never work. I don't know.

 

From other thread.

 

Sorry, I'm not totally familiar with SSDs but does this mean that this "idle-time garbage collection" is effective/nearly effective as an SSD w/ TRIM enabled (disregarding the fact that the notebook has to be "idle" in order for this to happen)?

 

It appears to be, that's what we're (I'm) trying to figure out. I also blew an email kiss to Samsung to see if someone will describe this to us (me) a little bit. Because problem is nobody knows for sure how much idle time, and what constitutes idle time.

 

Great. I won't get my new SSD until August 19, it's on back order. Although this may be good, meaning more likely to get one with the updated firmware. I guess I'll just have to keep this laptop.

Now anyone interested in buying my Sager NP8662? I'll give you a good deal. It'll probably go up on the NBR Marketplace sometime in the next week, but I'll give anyone here an advanced bid! See spoiler tag for details.

Spoiler

Laptop works great. I updated to a quad core Q9200 several months ago and its worked great. One issue, however, is that I had a slight spill on my keyboard. Just recently replaced the keyboard because it was non-responsive, gave the whole machine a thorough inspection and cleaning inside and out, and so far it works great. Ran through 24 hour burn-in with zero issues, and played dozens of hours of Bad Company 2 and Starcraft 2 beta on it without a hitch. Specs: Core 2 Quad Q9200 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR3 1066MHz, GTX 260m, 500 GB Seagate Momentus (not XT) 7200 RPM HDD, 1680x1050 15.4" screen, DVDRW, NO OS! $850 shipped continental USA.

 

My exchange doesn't have trim...

 

Sorry to hear that. Although after seeing that it is self repairing I'm not freaked out as much.

My replacement drive is on back order until August 19. That really sucks. However, much better chance that it will have the newer firmware that supports TRIM. At least I'd hope so if they're delayed by two weeks.

To be honest, I would call and complain and tell them you need an SSD with TRIM and you know the same drive exists with newer firmware that supports it. That's all I did and they happened to set me up with a replacement SSD. Maybe I just got lucky.

 

It looks like I'm the second person to get a TRIM-enabled 256 SSD. I received my laptop on Aug 2.

 

Good. Thanks for reporting that. If people keep reporting new builds with this, then us TRIM-less folks just need to find a way to get HP to provide us with TRIM enabled drives. Considering only 9 votes here, I think HP could help us select few.

 

My Envy 14 with the 256GB SSD came today.. and it has TRIM!!! woo hooo!!

The firmware on my SSD is VBM1CH1Q - TRIM is Enabled

 

Nice! I still don't understand why they shipped any drives without TRIM. Probably just trying to exhaust stock.

Still waiting for my replacement drive. ETA 8/19. Ten more days, ugh. That's ok because (a) significantly improved odds of getting a TRIM drive and (b) I can bench the hell out of this one and not worry about wasting write cycles.

 

This is my first SSD and now I see what all the hype is about! WOW!

 

Congrats! I had the same feeling when I got my first which was a gift from a poster on this forum. Bought one for every computer I own.

 

any updates on how the idle garbage collection works? =/

 

Who votes "VBM1CH1Q - TRIM is NOT Enabled"? I just noticed this and that is quite disturbing or someone voting incorrectly.

 

Nope. But from my testing something is working.

I saw that too, probably some goofball or an error.

 

I hope to do that soon as well!

 

Geez, I called them, waited 30 mins, and finally spoke to tech support and of course he said no firmware update. I told him I wanted a replacement drive then and he said he would have to connect me to home & home office. Well, the lady there then said they don't send parts and they would have to process a return for the whole notebook and only tech support can send parts. Is your head spinning yet? I got sent back to the same tech support idiot and he insisted he can't send a replacement SSD unless mine is defective. I said mine is defective in a way but he wouldn't budge so I said I'll just return the POS laptop and he said he would transfer me BACK to home & home office. Well, the idiot did something and it said "technical difficulties please hang up and call again." Spent an hour and no replacement. I guess you got lucky.

Summary: HP refused to send me a replacement SSD.

 

Just call them, tell them you called before you ordered and they told you it was a Western Digital, which supports TRIM, but it ended up being a Samsung, which does not support TRIM. Their misinformation should guaranatee you a replacement.

I would call again. It's a load of crap that you spend $565 on an upgrade and they won't disclose proper information, or admit they released false information. I would grind the next tech guy and let him know that there is a drive with a newer firmware and you either need a way to get the firmware updated or sent a new drive. The tech told me he could not promise the new one would have the updated firmware, but I told him that was a chance I was willing to take, otherwise the laptop is getting returned. I was on the phone probably over an hour and was quite firm with them discussing the importance of TRIM. They didn't want to help at first either, until he realized how ticked I was they fed me false information before I made the decision to spend $565 on an upgrade.

As a matter of fact, the new drive got back ordered, and tomorrow is day 21 for me, and since I don't have the new drive I am definitely going to call CSR and ask them for an extension on the return period because the drive wasn't shipped yet, so I can't confirm if it'll work or not.

I'm less irritated knowing the drive has its own garbage collection routine, but there's no information that says how or when it works. The Crucial sale is still on. Hopefully it will be when I get my new drive, and if it doesn't have TRIM, I'll verify it works then it's going on eBay, I'm then complaining, hoping to to get at least $100 back, probably $200, and buying that Crucial 256GB M225, or if I feel I can get by on 160GB, I'll opt for an Intel.

 

Yeah, I've read your previous posts so I tried to take the same approach. I didn't mention the Western Digital thing though. I gave up for tonight because after they tried to transfer me for the umpteenth time they hung up on me. I know the TRIM probably isn't a big deal in the end but it sucks to know they are sending drives with the right firmware.

 

Can someone with the newest HP firmware for the drive upload it somewhere?