RAID0 on SSD of just use AHCI as standard

[SYBINX]

Hello,

For decades I have been a stubborn, Cough! Bar steward when it came to computers I have always stuck with a HDD. Last year I bought two very slim Seagate SATA3 500GB HDD on Thursday I decided to splash on a set of SSD drives and use the HDD?s for storage and other things. I have always used RAID0, so I decided to do some research with regards to RAID0 on SSD.

What I found was conflicting reviews about using RAID0 on SSD drives. Some people say it?s very fast, and then you got the experts saying?? ?You must not use RAID0 on SSD because it disables TRIM?? But I found that RAID0 on SSD drives did make a difference. The OS installed within 15 minutes, to the desktop was 11 seconds and shut down was pushing the button and it?s off within a couple of seconds.

Because of the conflicting views about RAID0 and AHCI I?m stuck with do I use RAID0 or stick with what everybody else is telling just about everybody on various forums on the Internet to stay clear of using RAID0 because you won?t have TRIM.

With my M/B I can split the SATA connectors in two so I ran one on RAID and another on AHCI and the different between the two was quite a significant difference. Windows 7 rated the SSD as 7.9 and the AHCI was 7.1 which left a burning question that RAID0 does improve performance and speed but OCZ are advising not to use RAID0 and to stay well clear of using this on SSD drives?? I am a little flummoxed and I need a little guidence.

I tested the SSD with some software and there was a 30% increase in Read and Write to the SSD with RAID0 compared with AHCI...?

[+Fahim S. MVC]

The next version of the Intel RST drivers support TRIM in RAID configurations, IIRC - so if you were using a motherboard that is compatible with these drivers you could happily use RAID.

The benefits of TRIM aren't exhibited immediately - after a fresh install, the drive should perform well, TRIM or not. It's later on that you'll notice the difference.

Now, most drives also offer some decent Garbage Collection capability which is meant to negate the effects of not having TRIM - I am not sure how well this works though.

[Japlabot]

TRIM is a feature that affects long term performance and reduces long term wear on the drives (as they have a finite lifespan of read/writes) so it will be blazing fast now, most experts say that an SSD is "fast enough" anyway, hopefully in the future you will be able to enable TRIM with RAID

[Kronir]

If your SSD(s) are themselves in a RAID array, TRIM will be disabled (for now until the new drivers come along).

If your SSD(s) are *not* part of any RAID array, it doesn't matter if you use the RAID or ACHI setting in your BIOS; you can use TRIM either way. The RAID setting in of itself works the same as ACHI other than it also turns on RAID capability.

I used to have a RAID0 array before I got my second 2TB drive and my SSD. Now, I don't use a RAID array at all, but I left the drive setting in my BIOS set to RAID in case I ever need it again. I've had no problems with this and TRIM works just fine. But for what it sounds like you're doing, you'll need to wait for the new drivers so you can use your SSDs in a RAID config and still have TRIM. :)

[TEX4S]

WTF is a stubborn bar steward ? and what does it have to do with not adopting the latest tech ?

confused