SSD Advice

[u751920]

Hi All,
Just wanted some advice regarding an SSD I'm thinking of buying:

It is Lenovo FRU - 45N7959
Samsung - MMDPE56G8DXP-OVBL7
F/W - VBM8LL10
Date - 11MAY2010

Does anybody know if this SSD supports trim?
Does anybody have any experiences of using it?
Does anybody have any general advice regarding this SSD?

Cheers

[visionviper]

I don't think it supports TRIM, the only firmware versions that were upgradable to the TRIM supporting one were VBM1801Q and VBM18C1Q.

[u751920]

Thanks for that.
Actual info on whether SSD's support trim seems to be hard to come by.
Am I correct in assuming that if the SSD does not support trim then the OS cannot use it, even if it is able to?
How much slower is the drive without trim?
How else would I be able to manually trim the drive?

Thanks for the help.

[AMATX]

I have two or three Samsung/Lenovo SSDs running in various W700 laptops that are older than your SSD and have had zero problems with any of them. While I haven't run any benchmarks early on and recently for comparison purposes, they -all- run great and have very snappy response.

Win7 Pro for opsys, which supports trim, altho none of my Samsung SSDs have it.

If you're doing any kind of general purpose computing, what I've read elsewhere and can verify from my own experience is that you won't have any problems. It appears the lifespan and performance characteristics of these Samsung non-trim-able SSDs are just fine for quite some time.

Five years out, well, that may be a different scene. By then, tho, you'll be onto something else.

I wouldn't worry about it, if I were you; just make sure you have adequate backups(good advice no matter what kind of system you have).

[u751920]

Thanks for that.

Have you ever performed any manual trim operation?
I noticed from the Samsung website that they recommend defragmentation of the drive, but general opinion seems to be that SSD's should never be defragmented - do you ever do that?
Lastly has your SSD developed any bad sectors?

Cheers for the info.

[AMATX]

No, never performed manual trim. Haven't noticed any bad sectors or other hiccups in the drives.

Nuthin', nada, zippo. They just work F-A-S-T

Also, skip the defrag, as each part of an SSD is equally accessible, so it really doesn't matter where a chunk of data is located. On a HD, defragging can make a huge diff in speed because the read/write head has to move to wherever the chunk of data is physically located.

Bear in mind that negative comments on a board like this don't reflect total reality, as the people on this board are > average in knowledge and are quick to complain if they find something bad.

If Samsung SSDs had real issues, you'd see lots of write-ups similar to the OCZ fiasco underway.

I recently purchased a used Samsung 64G(60G usable) SSD. It was supposedly pulled from a new box and replaced by a larger SSD, so it had very little initial usage. I use this SSD for a special purpose app that writes to it all day long and fills it up to the brim. The data is later all deleted and the next day it starts all over again. Monday-Friday. It will be interesting to see how this SSD holds up over weeks/months. Offhand, I didn't check to see if it supports trim or not(I run Win7 Pro). Regardless, I plan to run it till it croaks or will replace it in a year or two just to play it safe. Kind of a grandiose large temp disk, so if it blows, I'm only inconvenienced for a few minutes while I shift the write activity elsewhere.

My personal experience has been that SSDs work very fast, and if you stay away from the real cheapies(Kingspec, in my case), you'll probably be just fine for most types of usage. I've had a couple Kingspecs lock up/hose up, but I was halfway expecting that, so I've made sure I'm always up-to-date on my backups. Not the greatest quality SSDs, but just what I needed at the time, and I'm now onto better quality stuff.


Don't worry about SSDs; just use 'em and always have adequate backup.

[iamdmc]

To me the formula is simple

SSD = fast

HDD = storage

SSD + external HDD = fast + somewhat inconvenient storage

mSATA (mPCIe) SSD + 2.5" HDD = fast + very convenient storage

okay, so that wasn't as simple as I thought it would be, but you get my point.

I don't care if my SSD dies on me (I assume that it eventually will) as long as I do not lose my data, and have it backed up properly. It's there to serve and soothe my impatience.

[u751920]

Thanks for the replies all very helpful (AMATX - cheers).

I've got a 128gb drive which has only 60gb free and I've really not added that much to the Laptop. I will have a proper check as to where the memory has gone. I thought I would have a look at bigger drives and if a cheap one comes along buy it.

Just some last questions;
1) The SSD I'm looking at does not have the black tab that is used to pull the drive from the laptop, does it come out without the tab? bit lazy that question as I guess I could check on my own laptop (X301) but I'm not touching anything unless I'm changing it. I looked at the service video for the X300 and it seems a very tight fit.
2) Are the any major differences between the Samsung and Toshiba SSD's?

Cheers

[iamdmc]

1) The black tab is part of the caddy/tray. You screw the SSD into the tray. If you swap the SSD, you remove the old one and install the new one in this tray. The SSD itself will not come with the tray, as it is specific to the X30x series

2) Personal choice. I'd go for Kingston SSDnow V+ for its performance specs... but that's just me.

[u751920]

The black tab is part of the caddy/tray.

Thanks for that I nearly discounted the SSD as I could not see the black tab on it.
I've only used 1.8" ATA HDD's in the past and they fitted straight into the laptop.
Do I need a special tool to remove the caddy?

New SSD here I come.

[bill bolton]

If Samsung SSDs had real issues, you'd see lots of write-ups similar to the OCZ fiasco underway.

There seem to quite a few fruity computer users who are less-than-gruntled with the Samsung SSDs

I suspect the only reason they haven't got the write-ups that OCZ etc have, is that they just haven't gained much traction in the enthusiast market.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[iamdmc]

Yes, the special tool is a Philips screwdriver

[Widows Son]

Yes, the special tool is a Philips screwdriver

Metric




Have a Magical Day!