Upgrading to VPCZ1290 CTO - have a couple of questions

I love being my own boss and deciding when I get to do an upgrade. A couple of years ago I purchased a VGN-Z555DNB for business from a sony style store. It was one of those inspired purchases where I didn't have the time to do a ton of research but went with a gut feeling (as well as discrete graphics on such a sweet form factor).

Well, 2 years later and my laptop is in need of an OS refresh; it's getting that laggy feel and experience tells me only a wipe will do. Well, the problem is, if that wipe and restore takes longer than a day or a client problem comes up while I'm in the middle of it that won't do. And so, I'm upgrading to a new Z and will wipe the old Z and build a fresh image as a backup computer (I'll come back to that in a while).

Here's what I ordered; like I said, I love my 'job':
Component: Standard Capacity Battery
Component: No Engraving
Component: 256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology
Component: 13.1" VAIO Display (1600x900)
Component: Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Player/Burner
Component: Adobe Bundle ($448 value.)
Component: Metal Mosaic
Component: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Component: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066

That is one sweet setup. I deliberately went with the 16x9 resolution. It's what I have now, HDMI works, and with a 330M graphics card there will be a difference in gaming performance between 16x9 and a Full HD res (i.e. slower frame rates). I've not seen a Full HD display on a 13" screen size, but given what I'm used to this has to be a workout for the eyes.

According to the rep, TRIM is supported with the 1290 (wasn't for the 1190). Also, my old Z docking station won't work However, these are all business expenses, and tax deductables as a consequence. I'll live with this (but thought I'd share for anyone who was curious).

Given my totally positive experience with my 555 I'm stoked. Can anyone share their opinion about the new 'Auto' setting on the switchable graphics on the Z1290?

And my second question; I don't seem to have an OS disk for my old laptop. Any thoughts on the most efficient way to go about re-installing my OS? Are these files on a hidden partition? ANy help would be appreciated.

 

I've not heard of Intel RST supporting TRIM for drives in RAID0, how did the rep prove to you that it does indeed support TRIM?

I don't think you can image your old Z onto your new one, there probably will be driver issues (I'm not 100% sure it won't work). For the new Z, Vaio Recovery Center provides the option to burn recovery DVDs.

 

I don't need to port the image; I want a fresh OS image on my old laptop.

Thanks for the call on TRiM. I've phoned the rep and asked for something in Writing.

 

Here's Intel retraction of their earlier claim that TRIM is supported on RAID:
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) — Is there TRIM support for RAID configurations?

 

Thank you, thank you! That will teach me to go with the verbal comment.

I've sent an email back to the rep and shared the URL with him. Unless they can provide me Intel information to contradict this I'm cancelling the order.

I don't want to, but raid 0 only options on the 1290, as far as I'm concerned, are a poor design choice. *sigh*

Does anyone know if there's word on when Intel fixes this?

 

The Sony rep is looking into this. He sent me a couple of articles that spoke about Windows 7 supporting it but I had to point out hat nowhere does it say that raid is also covered, whereas the Intel article is pretty clear.

The order is on hold, but I'm thinking I have a negotiating position. If they can't confirm trim on raid I'll give them the option of cancelling the order or configuring it with raid turned off (losing a little zip but getting trim) and giving me a docking station as a make up.

Thanks again. Great info, already gave you rep.

 

Hey you don't have to worry about TRIM, the Samsung SSDs that came with Z11s has garbage collection independent of the OS, so performance won't suffer over time. That's one of the key issues that Zoinks had resolved when he first got his Z.

P.S. I hope you still get your docking station for free

 

I just heard back from the rep. The verbal word from the product compliance guy in Sony us is that they've got a proprietary chipset that provides trim on raid 0. I'm waiting for something in writing and I'll have the option to return the laptop.

The question then becomes how can an end user confirm that trim is working on a laptop with ssds in raid 0?

Edit: so, it turns out I just discovered the recovery centre. All my restore needs are there *face palms*

 

Now the question becomes, how can I validate that TRIM is active with a system where the SSDs are in RAID?

Sony is making a very strong claim that they've changed the game on this. For the past year everyone, including Intel, is saying it ain't so. Toshiba drives and garbage collection aside I'd love a way to prove TRIM is working.

Ideas?

Note: DisableDeleteNotify only tells you whether or not Windows is sending TRIM commands to the drives. Since them being in RAID is affected by the chipset more than the OS, I would assume that even with Windows sending commands, they don't reach the drives in order to TRIM the drives.

 

Don't know if you've seen this, here's the thread where a bunch of guys try to figure this out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...g-term-ssd-performance-post-your-results.html

I'm thinking: the Intel RST sits between the OS and drives. If Sony says they're making TRIM work, it must mean the RST is changed in some way. But it's not, I think it's the generic driver from Intel. Even if the RST is Sony-specific, the chip on the motherboard (I think it's one of the ICH-something) is an Intel chip. So...


Edit: I don't know if all this is true for the Toshiba SSDs. Somebody needs to check the drivers and storage chips, and post them. Nothing much is known about the Toshiba drives, a pity...

 

Thanks for that link. I'm working my way thru that excellent long thread.

I did some digging around. I found an article on the z series where the author specifically states TRIM is supported: Thoughts: Sony Vaio Z series laptop ? Computer Chips & Hardware Technology | Geek.com

of course they could be following Sony pr.

My take on that thread you shared is that long term performance of hose ssds do not seem ot degrade over the long term. The research continues however.

 

The article deals with VPC Z11CGX. Abn we know for sure that Z11 does not support TRIM on RAID0.

 

That's no surprise. So either the author was blindly following sony pr or they took their own initiative. I'm more curious about WHY they wrote what they did than the fact they did, given known facts

 

It would be great if Sony has some kind of blog where its engineers talk about the sort of decisions they make and spill the technical beans. Maybe there's already one but since it's probably in Japanese the rest of the world remains in the dark

 

Agreed Tofu. Dev blogs can be extremely useful at times.

Update on the Sony RAID issue. I got a call back from the rep today. He told me he had an answer back after double checking and that it was an adamant yes; TRIM is supported in RAID on the z1290.

I've asked for something in writing on this. I pointed out that testing for TRIM being supported in RAID is tricky at best and that I want something in writing from Sony given that what they're claiming goes against what Intel themselves say. He has to get permission since it's an internal email. We'll see what they come up with next.

It's an interesting situation. Right now I've got the word of a Sony Rep and Sony US Product Compliance. If they put it in writing I'll be posting a new topic. This might make for an interesting topic given the general consensus out there.

 

The way I see it, TRIM on striped disks would be a breakthrough feature, and one which Sony would have advertised (if not patented too).
Sony isn't exactly known for hiding their candle under a bushel, so the lack of advertising for this strongly indicates that it isn't there.

 

I'm interested to know if this is specific to the Toshiba drives on the Z12 Not much is known about those...

 

Thus my insisting for something in writing. And I agree that the Toshiba drives are the unknown. If it turns out I got lied to in writing I can hold them accountable.

 

I love that you're pursuing this issue, and I'm excited to hear the end result, so don't take this as criticism. But realistically, what will you have Sony do if it turns out they have misled you about TRIM? I don't know what else you'll be able to do besides get a refund for the machine.

 

I kinda feel sorry for the tech support and customer support people who have to put up with pushy and belligerent callers who try to browbeat them into giving them things (big discounts or whatever else). Would not be a fun job.

 

I hear you. In my case, I asked a simple question when I put in the order:
"Does this laptop support TRIM through RAID?"

The rep answered an emphatic yes.

I put down over $3,000 without a discount for a purchase. I think I'm entitled to see a burden of proof when all other evidence is refuting what I've been told.

I appreciate that there are many who'll push for a discount. I didn't. I had a few simple requirements. Now I'm simply asking for that requirement to be met.

It's not a fun 'job' to spend over $3,000 (partly) based on an answer that just about everybody I speak with about this says is not possible. Besides, if I can get an answer on this I'll be doing the community a favour.

 

Ok then, that seems reasonable. That's why I didn't say YOU we're being pushy, just that SOME people get in a mindset where details such as this get them all worked up into a lather.

I saw another thread somewhere that I guy was heavily implying that he was gonna try to muscle his way to a discount over some minor detail like his unit took a few days longer to build than the initial estimate date. It's nice to hear that you're going about this process of communication in a levelheaded manner.