TO TRIM or not to TRIM on 3 party SSD and OSX ML

anthlover · 12-20-2012, 05:54 AM

TO TRIM or not to TRIM on 3 party SSD and OSX ML.

I just bought a Vertex 4, runs great. FAST. Was going to do a TRIM enable, but then read up a bit, there seems to be some mixed messages out there.

I read a few posts on folk who contacted OCZ and forum posts and the consensus seems to be that its not necessary and not recommended, may slow things down and or cause issues.

NO Trim appears also to be Mac sales official stance on their line of SSDs too.

It appears that Apple does not recommend TRIM since its not enabled by default either, except on their SSD.

In any case I figured I would poll those here who may have good information.

agentx · 12-20-2012, 12:13 PM

I too deliberated over this and tested with a Crucial M4.
I would say no TRIM let the 3rd Party SSD firmware deal with it their way.

anthlover · 12-20-2012, 05:44 PM

Well you do not have to hit me over the head then

Macsales says it
OCZ says it
Agentx says it

Figure Apple has it off for reason, if they have not vetted the SSD/firmware in question then it should not be on.

Most recent SSD has pretty extensive clean up and optimization schemes built in.

Hmm Does Apple's SSD sticks have firmware?
Does Apple enable trip on their 2.5 SSD now shipping in Macmini and iMacs.

agentx · 12-21-2012, 07:25 AM

;-)

It all depends on Controller and overall......i just do not trust Apple OS TRIM as i am sure it is all tuned to their custom made modules not just any 3rd party SSD.

You wil see discussions/arguments either way but on OS X i would say NO still.

"If you have an OWC SSD, though, you don’t need TRIM. The SandForce controller in our SSDs takes care of this “garbage collection” as well as performs various other tasks that keep your drive running at optimal speed, without the drop-off that you see with other brands. Especially note page two of this performance testing expert’s report where he feels so strongly about TRIM’s inefficiency that he calls call it “half-baked”…and that’s the kid friendly version of the phrase.

In fact, enabling TRIM could actually hurt the performance and reliability of your OWC SSD, rather than help it. As OWC customer Scott Gosling recently said in an email to us,

“I used the trim enabler 1.1 initially, then realized that your self maintenance was far superior to using TRIM so I disabled it. It made a huge difference in terms of reliability.”

anthlover · 12-21-2012, 06:43 PM

I saw much worse things happen to folk then performance according to the threads and all the issues were traced back to turning on TRIM. I imagine there drives it would work for but its not worth doing if its russian roulette at worst and not necessary at best.

12-20-2012, 05:54 AM	#1
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,658	TO TRIM or not to TRIM on 3 party SSD and OSX ML TO TRIM or not to TRIM on 3 party SSD and OSX ML. I just bought a Vertex 4, runs great. FAST. Was going to do a TRIM enable, but then read up a bit, there seems to be some mixed messages out there. I read a few posts on folk who contacted OCZ and forum posts and the consensus seems to be that its not necessary and not recommended, may slow things down and or cause issues. NO Trim appears also to be Mac sales official stance on their line of SSDs too. It appears that Apple does not recommend TRIM since its not enabled by default either, except on their SSD. In any case I figured I would poll those here who may have good information.

12-21-2012, 06:43 PM	#5
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,658	yup I saw much worse things happen to folk then performance according to the threads and all the issues were traced back to turning on TRIM. I imagine there drives it would work for but its not worth doing if its russian roulette at worst and not necessary at best.

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12-20-2012, 12:13 PM	#2
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,806	I too deliberated over this and tested with a Crucial M4. I would say no TRIM let the 3rd Party SSD firmware deal with it their way.

12-20-2012, 05:44 PM	#3
anthlover Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 2,658	Well you do not have to hit me over the head then Macsales says it OCZ says it Agentx says it Figure Apple has it off for reason, if they have not vetted the SSD/firmware in question then it should not be on. Most recent SSD has pretty extensive clean up and optimization schemes built in. Hmm Does Apple's SSD sticks have firmware? Does Apple enable trip on their 2.5 SSD now shipping in Macmini and iMacs.

12-21-2012, 07:25 AM	#4
agentx Hall of Famer Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Brighton, UK Posts: 3,806	;-) It all depends on Controller and overall......i just do not trust Apple OS TRIM as i am sure it is all tuned to their custom made modules not just any 3rd party SSD. You wil see discussions/arguments either way but on OS X i would say NO still. "If you have an OWC SSD, though, you don’t need TRIM. The SandForce controller in our SSDs takes care of this “garbage collection” as well as performs various other tasks that keep your drive running at optimal speed, without the drop-off that you see with other brands. Especially note page two of this performance testing expert’s report where he feels so strongly about TRIM’s inefficiency that he calls call it “half-baked”…and that’s the kid friendly version of the phrase. In fact, enabling TRIM could actually hurt the performance and reliability of your OWC SSD, rather than help it. As OWC customer Scott Gosling recently said in an email to us, “I used the trim enabler 1.1 initially, then realized that your self maintenance was far superior to using TRIM so I disabled it. It made a huge difference in terms of reliability.”