The SSD guide - what should be in it? [Archive]

Andy

02-06-09, 10:52

At the request of one of the forum members I will be starting to make a guide on SSD's (specifically the OCZ Vertex) possibly tonight or tomorrow night. But before I do are there any requests for what should be in it? At the moment I am thinking of the following:

1. Flashing the firmware - this will most likely just be an explanation of the benefits of doing this and a link to the official OCZ firmware flashing guide.
2. Wear leveling - an explanation of what wear leveling is and why you should do it.
3. The importance of partition offset and how to set it correctly - this is only really relevant for XP users.
4. Operating system tweaks to improve SSD drive performance and decrease wear.
5. RAMdisks - explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of using a RAMdisk and a guide to creating a RAMdisk using a completley free and 100% legal software package (this is very simple to do).

If there is anything else that should be included then please post below.
Also, what is the prefered format of this guide? Word document, written completely on the forum or something else?

Cheers,

Andy

Sam

02-06-09, 11:46

There was a link that someone gave to a website explaining loads of information about SSD's. I think it was anandtech or something.

I think you missed the TRIM function :D. Obviously why people need to use it, how they can get it and a guide to get the best possible use out of it and where to download it of course.

Other than that, I think that's it.

Thanks.

Andy

02-06-09, 12:07

I suppose I better just explain the TRIM function quickly:

TRIM is just the name of a command supported by the OS. When windows 7 is released it is hoped that an updated firmware will be released so that the TRIM function is automatically used by the OS and the SSD performance is kept high. At the moment there is a program availalbe off the OCZ forum called "Wiper", this program manually calls the TRIM function, therefore by running this program say once a week, you can keep your OCZ SSD performance high. There are however a few things that you should know about Wiper:

1. Firstly there are 3 different versions of wiper currently available. There are no major differences that I am aware of between the versions apart from bug fixes.
2. It currently does not 100% support 64 bit (64 bit support has been improved however in some cases it can corrupt the OS)
3. It currently does not support RAID configurations.

Azuricate

02-06-09, 14:20

Did you mean this, Sam?
AnandTech the SSD anthology (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1)
Great that you'll write a guide, I know many people, including myself, are interested in the subject :)

Andy

02-06-09, 15:02

I assume that is the article he means. It is an interesting read (it was the first article I read when researching SSD's some many months ago).

Curunen

02-06-09, 16:07

Well done for doing this. OCZ forums has a lot of information, but you have to search a lot.
:)

Andy

03-06-09, 08:02

I have added a couple more topics to the list:

1. Flashing the firmware - this will most likely just be an explanation of the benefits of doing this and a link to the official OCZ firmware flashing guide.
2. Wear leveling - an explanation of what wear leveling is and why you should do it.
3. The importance of partition offset and how to set it correctly - this is only really relevant for XP users.
4. Operating system tweaks to improve SSD drive performance and decrease wear.
5. General Vista Tweaks - these apply to both SSD and HDD.
6. RAMdisks - explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of using a RAMdisk and a guide to creating a RAMdisk using a completley free and 100% legal software package (this is very simple to do).
7. TRIM/Wiper - what it is and why you should use it.
8. SSD Benchmarking programs.

If all goes to plan then I will be starting to write it tonight :), however I dont think I will post it until it is finished.

Cheers,

Andy

Curunen

03-06-09, 10:13

I'm just wondering, is Acronis True Image 2009 safe to use to create a backup of the ssd partition?

Andy

03-06-09, 11:06

As far as i am aware it is fine to do so, however I am unsure about what would happen if you were to restore the partition? Would it restore it to exactly the same partition offset as the original?

Curunen

03-06-09, 11:28

Hmm, well it seems to backup ok. Interesting point about restoring though, I wonder any word on this from Neil or Andrew?

Andy

03-06-09, 12:33

Im not to sure if Andrew/Neil will know the answer to this as it is not something I would think that they would be doing (or at least not on a regular basis). I suppose you could just try it and let us know if it does :). What is your current offset?

andrew@kobalt

03-06-09, 16:41

Hmm, well it seems to backup ok. Interesting point about restoring though, I wonder any word on this from Neil or Andrew?

Not a problem creating an image, we've sucessfully done this on SSD's here. I wouldn't create an image with Acronis and store in on the secure zone on an SSD though, that's bound to cause issues ;)

elliottpjs

03-06-09, 19:48

New vertex Firmware has been released (V1.30) (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57516)

I have tried this but did not work for me.... would recommend speaking to Andrew of Neil, I get an error saying "[ERROR] firmware download fail!" once selecting the drive and pressing enter... have tried alternative memory sticks.

Pete

Andy

04-06-09, 08:48

Not a problem creating an image, we've sucessfully done this on SSD's here. I wouldn't create an image with Acronis and store in on the secure zone on an SSD though, that's bound to cause issues ;)

Yes it is definitely possible to create an image using Acronis, but when you restore the image does it put the partition back with the exact same partition offset as the original? If it does not then this can cause micro stutering :(.

Andy

Andy

04-06-09, 08:49

Matt

04-06-09, 12:25

Well Andy you certainly seem knowledgeable about this area.

I’ll represent those of us that aren’t and request that you try to keep the guide as simple to follow as possible, thanks.:)

elliottpjs

04-06-09, 12:57

I downloaded the 'VT60.zip' and unzipped it giving the folder,

I then pasted the three files found in that onto a DOS formatted pen drive,

That sound ok?... any other BIOS changes you made apart from the pen drive boot order?

Thanks,

Pete.

Andy

04-06-09, 13:11

Yeah you have to change SATA mode to IDE (not ACHI). Other than that it sounds fine.

elliottpjs

05-06-09, 08:41

I'm running XP so don't have the option in the BIOS, but spoke to Neil yesterday and changed to Vista in BIOS and changed to IDE mode, rebooted with CD Key as fist boot device and still NO JOY.....

I get the same message after selecting 1 , firmware download fail :(

Pete.

iemie

05-06-09, 09:21

Hi elliottpjs, you might have to set "USB Legacy support" to OFF or DISABLED in the BIOS.

Hope this helps

iemie

Andy

05-06-09, 09:24

What is the current version of firmware on your Vertex? You have to have v1.1 or 1275 to be able to flash to v1.3. If you do not have v1.1 then I would flash to that first then try flashing to v1.3. The reason for this is becasue v1.1 (and I believe also 1275) are the first version to support jumper free firmware flashes.

Cheers,

Andy

elliottpjs

05-06-09, 09:57

With Legacy support off it then skips the USB pen drive with the FW files.

Yeah, I'm running 1275... so was hoping that it would be no problem (sais it should be fine on OCZ) going to V1.1 first means starting again from scratch.....

Thanks for suggestions though,

Pete.

Andy

10-06-09, 15:08

The SSD guide has been started, but I got delayed from finishing it over the weekend. Hopefully I can do some more work on it tonight. Hope to have it finished and uploaded by the end of next week. :)

Andy

10-08-09, 11:19

neil@kobalt

10-08-09, 13:22

Cheers for all your effort on this Andy, as you have found out there are new firmware versions comming out all the time and then we have Windows 7 to deal with:eek:

kobold123

20-08-09, 12:52

To be honest an SSD guide is quite straightforward - Intel if money is no problem, OCZ/Samsung if it is.

Although I am quite annoyed that Intel is not doing TRIM for their Gen 1 models :(

Azuricate

20-08-09, 15:30

Well to be honest, atleast in Sweden, the Intel G2 is cheaper than Vertex now so OCZ better come up with a new cheaper product if they want to compete :p

Andy

21-08-09, 11:06

To be honest an SSD guide is quite straightforward - Intel if money is no problem, OCZ/Samsung if it is.

Although I am quite annoyed that Intel is not doing TRIM for their Gen 1 models :(

The guide would not be to advise which sad to buy. It would advise on firmware upgrades and OS/registery tweaks to turn on and off in order to speed up the performance of an SSD and also prolong it's life. However I won't be finishing it just yet as I'm on holiday at the moment and I'm just about to go to the beach! :)

andrew@kobalt

21-08-09, 13:01

I'm on holiday at the moment and I'm just about to go to the beach! :)

That sort of thing should be kept to yourself :p ;) Booooo hissss :) Enjoy.

Ardbeg

22-08-09, 21:09

Ok, I have almost finished writing the guide now, however I have just discovered that some of it will soon be out dated as there is soon to be a new firmware release that will support "Garbage Collection" on the Vertex. And according to "Tony" from OCZ it should only take approx 8 mins of idle time to restore a drives performance. Therefore I will wait untill the new firmware is released and then update the guide and then post it on here. So watch this space over the coming month!

Cheers,

Andy

Maybe you could just post the guide in it's current form now. You can allways visit it later and edit it with new info. I am sure a lot of people would benefit from the info now judging by the problems some guys are having on here.

Andy

24-08-09, 08:34

Ok, I will post up the OS/Registery tweaks asap. But it will be next week because I'm on holiday at the moment and don't fancy retyping it on my iPhone! :eek:

Azuricate

24-08-09, 11:50

Take your time and enjoy your holiday Andy, will be nice to see it once you're back.

Also, offtopic, are you having any lag/delay on your iPhone since 3.0?

Andy

24-08-09, 12:16

Take your time and enjoy your holiday Andy, will be nice to see it once you're back.

To tell the truth I am back from my holiday now, however I wont be in work untill next week, and my only copy of the ssd guide is on my works computer (as my local copy got destroyed when my SSD failed!). I might pop into work and get it later in the week.

Also, offtopic, are you having any lag/delay on your iPhone since 3.0?

I havent noticed any lag, however I bought my iPhone on the day that 3.0 came out so I upgraded it straight away and therefore have nothing to compare too.

Andy

07-09-09, 23:24

The SSD Tweaks Guide has finaly been posted here: The SSD Tweaks Guide (http://www.kobaltcomputers.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1049). However this is far from a complete guide and is missing many sections, I will complete these sections one by one and add them over time. Anyway hope it helps some of you.

Cheers,

Andy