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I want use SSD drives in RAID 1 setup. Although performance is important, reliability comes first, so I'm going with Intel drives (either the 320 or 510 series).

This will be installed in a Dell 435T/9000 that has the Intel Matrix Storage ROM on the motherboard. The PC is about 1.5 years old, so it is SATA II, not SATA III.

From what I have read, TRIM is not supported in RAID setups for SSD drives.

Here are my questions:

  1. What issues will I run into using these SSD drives in RAID 1?
  2. Is there a substitute for TRIM for RAID 1?
  3. Does read or write performance decline in RAID 1, if so, by how much?
  4. Am I better off using Windows 7 software RAID 1 because that would allow TRIM support?

1 Answer 1

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Trim is not normally support by hardware RAID controllers, because it's a command that has to come from the operating system level. But you might have luck with a software raid setup, because then the operating system still sees and knows about the individual disks first, and the raid array second. I wouldn't hold my breath, though, and I don't know how you'd test it.

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  • Any idea on the performance hit going to software vs hardware RAID 1? I'm assuming since TRIM would be supported that there is performance gain for SSD using software RAID.
    – Josh
    Sep 22, 2011 at 16:09
  • Very, very little performance hit for software RAID nowadays.
    – BBlake
    Sep 22, 2011 at 17:20
  • Testing if TRIM is enabled "should be" easy, Intel has the SSD Toolbox that tests if TRIM is turned on. This assumes that it can see both drives of course.
    – Josh
    Sep 22, 2011 at 18:09
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    @Josh did you find out if TRIM was enabled?
    – oleschri
    Apr 16, 2012 at 12:38

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