2

It seems that installing AMD's AHCI drivers prevents the SSD "trim" command from working. Users are being encouraged to use of the default AHCI drivers that ship with Windows 7 because those support "trim".

This brings up the question: what's the benefit of using AMD's AHCI drivers instead of the default drivers? Do they provide any extra functionality?

1 Answer 1

2

link textLooking at this page AMD's forums it seems to be quite a mixed bag of oppinions.

One statement :-

I don't see the reason people here are asserting that AMD AHCI driver lacks of TRIM support. Has any of you checked this at least on single drive configurations?

The simpliest mode to test TRIM presence is running undelete tools. More accurate mode is using a sector and a file clusters viewer. You will see, when you read a sector that contains TRIMed data, it should contain some data replaced with zeros after you delete a test file (this operation can be delayed for some seconds) instead of getting that file just marked as deleted.

I tested it on a Crucial SSD C300 drive using May release of AMD AHCI driver for Windows 7, and all has gone as expected.

So that seems to show that it works.

However another statement:-

TRIM works in IDE mode, it's just a matter of what storage driver you are using

msahci.sys --> Working TRIM pciide.sys --> Working TRIM intelide.sys --> Working TRIM iaStor.sys --> (v9.6.1014 or higher) Working TRIM

ANYTHING ELSE (AS OF 2010-08-20) --> NO TRIM

I would test the AMD drivers with your configuration first. It seems some people have had some success with them. If you don't have any success then you can roll back the drivers to the Default Windows 7 ones.

Edit - On another Forum people are clearly stating that AMD's updated drivers support Trim :-
The newest AMD drivers "support trim", although they may (and probably aren't updated on the manu site) or may not work properly.

Edit 2 - Can't find the link for that forum, thought I'd attached it. (Obviously not) This should do instead though.
I've also found a problem with the default Windows 7 Drivers too, at this site:
"Win 7 has its AHCI drivers that install automatically and they are better at performance but don't allow for hotswapping."

Edit 3 - At least by late 2012 they greatly improved though

5
  • Please provide a link to the forum where people assert that the newst AMD drivers support trim.
    – Gili
    Dec 4, 2010 at 4:02
  • Sorry, I thought I did, will ammend answer
    – Joe Taylor
    Dec 4, 2010 at 9:25
  • This link indicates TRIM works: hardwarecanucks.com/forum/450343-post35.html
    – Gili
    Dec 4, 2010 at 16:33
  • This link indicates TRIM doesn't work: forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?p=12622420
    – Gili
    Dec 4, 2010 at 16:38
  • Looks like it's too early to tell whether the new AMD drivers work. I'm waiting for an objective 3rd-party to run their own tests and issue their own results.
    – Gili
    Dec 4, 2010 at 16:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .