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Try, Try Again As Intel Releases TRIM-Enabling Firmware

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News Posted: Thu, Dec 3 2009 3:05 PM
Intel has re-released TRIM enabling firmware for its Intel X25-M and X18-M SSDs. TRIM is available in Windows 7, and its function is to prevent the performance degradation that SSDs see over time. 

TRIM clears flash pages instead of marking them as available when users delete data. That is what happens for normal hard drives, and there's no issue with them, but this creates what's called the "block-rewrite penalty" on SSDs, which occurs if a flash cell is not empty when it needs to be written to.



The new firmware version is 02HD. The short description of the update via Intel's release notes are the short and sweet:
This firmware revision has several continuous improvement optimizations intended to provide the best possible user experience with the Intel SSD.
That actually means this firmware revision will fix your bricked SSDs, and hopefully not brick any ones that are working. As always, Intel warns that firmware upgrades are done at your own risk, which is what people who upgraded to 02HA found out.
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3vi1 replied on Thu, Dec 3 2009 5:58 PM

>> ...TRIM enabling firmware...

>> TRIM is available in Windows 7

Wait... is it firmware, or a Win7 device driver?  Or is it firmware that relies on a device driver to be used?

What part of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" don't you understand?

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acarzt replied on Fri, Dec 4 2009 12:44 AM

Win 7 expects the device to support the TRIM features... but if it doesn't...

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realneil replied on Fri, Dec 4 2009 7:29 AM

Send me four of them and I'll try the firmware out and get back to you within a few years.

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3vi1 replied on Sat, Dec 5 2009 8:39 PM

Send me eight of them and I'll get back to you within one year!

What part of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" don't you understand?

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