Lenovo SSDs as of May 1st, 2010

With all the different threads on SSD and at different time periods of when the comments were made, it's confusing to know what exactly is still relevant.

I was wondering what manufacturer Lenovo gets it's SSDs from, and whether or not they support TRIM.

From what I was able to gather, the 80GB SSD is made by Intel, which supports TRIM, while the 128GB is made by Samsung which does not.

I also read the the 128GB Samsung has two generations, and the prior generation performed slowly, while the 2nd generation is being used and performs well. Apparently you can't upgrade the Samsung drivers to work with TRIM because OEM drivers won't work with the SSD, whatever that means. I also read you don't need TRIM support as long as you enable AHCI?

This is all fairly confusing, can anybody help clarify these things?

As of today, Lenovo only offers the 128GB SSD with it's T410 and X201 lineup.

 

I believe the 80gigs are now G2 Intel drives that support TRIM. I don't believe samsung's drives support TRIM as of yet. It is untrue what you said regarding AHCI and TRIM.

Just because AHCI is enabled does not mean TRIM type functions are performed. You need AHCI enabled to run TRIM when a drive supports TRIM, however.

Hopefully someone else can tell you specifically what Samsung SSDs are being used currently. I don't keep up with the model specifically.

 

Thanks for the info, I took a look at the Samsung website, and they provide firmware that supports TRIM:

Samsung SSD - Downloads

Can you upgrade the firmware yourself so that it supports TRIM? Someone said you can't get OEM drivers to work with the SSD or something like that.

Also, are there ways to zero-out the TRIM manually that can preserve the performance of the SSD?

 

you can return any SSD to its original state by using a zero out software to format the disk.

 

You just obviously wipe all the data. I am not sure on the firmware updates. I imagine the drives utilized by intel, while technically the same, might have special firmware to make it be a "different" model.

I haven't seen anyone mention doing that on this board. That being said I wouldn't be overly concerned with lack of TRIM on the Samsung drives. And if Lenovo does not support firmware for them, hopefully they will in the near future.

 

Thanks for the information. I've been reading different opinions on the Internet and one of them came from Lenovo's forums:

X201s Samsung SDD firmware does not support TRIM - lenovo community

Also, why can't you just use Samsung's firmware from their website? As stated here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/5654331-post1.html

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/ssd/2008/business/business.html

If I can't get TRIM support, which programs will allow me to zero the drive, without a need for format and preserving the existing data?

 

Why don't you just buy a 3rd party SSD instead of from Lenovo? That way you have more control over what you'll get, and definitely don't need to worry about if you can upgrade firmware or not.

 

Well I got a decent deal on the SSD, I was able to upgrade from a 320GB 7200rpm to a 128GB SSD for $182 after coupon.

 

If it were that easy there would be no real issue with drives that didn't support the TRIM function, even though it isn't as huge of a deal as you may think.

That being said if you want to try flashing your drive to a samsung firmware go ahead, but that is totally at your own risk. If you brick it your warranty is voided most likely...

Just use the SSD and be happy. If you have been using traditional drives for everything prior you will likely be pleased.

 

Any updates as to whether the 128gb samsung drives support trim?