SSD TRIM and MacBook Pro

[Jay_Jay]

Hi there!

I know there have been a load of threads about SSDs and MacBook Pro and TRIM - but my question and situation is slightly different.

I am a travel photographer and have had my MBP (mid-2012) since it was first released. Last week, the HDD began to show signs of mechanical failure (the continuous loud clicking noise etc.) so I decided to back up (and clone, just in case) my HDD and replaced it with a Crucial MX300 275GB SSD.

So far, everything has been installed smoothly, both the SSD and mac OS Sierra as well (its quick!) I am off to Japan for 2 months on a photo assignment (usually they last 2 weeks, but this is a big one!) and I will be doing a lot of photo editing in Adobe LightRoom, as well as backing up photos and deleting them. Speed is not such an issue for me, it is more the fact of ensuring that a block on the SSD is actually freed to be written to once deleted, and ensuring there is no data loss.

The question is; do I need to enable TRIM via Terminal, or will the Garbage Collection function in the SSD firmware work just as well? Bear in mind that I will be doing a lot of deleting of photos (getting rid of the rubbish photos ), before backing them up, as well as photo editing.

If it is the case of GC working just as well without TRIM enabled, then UNticking "put hard disks to sleep" in energy preferences and leaving the MBP on the login screen overnight will allow GC to function during idle time?

Thanks for your help and input!
JJ.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Hi there!

I know there have been a load of threads about SSDs and MacBook Pro and TRIM - but my question and situation is slightly different.

I am a travel photographer and have had my MBP (mid-2012) since it was first released. Last week, the HDD began to show signs of mechanical failure (the continuous loud clicking noise etc.) so I decided to back up (and clone, just in case) my HDD and replaced it with a Crucial MX300 275GB SSD.

So far, everything has been installed smoothly, both the SSD and mac OS Sierra as well (its quick!) I am off to Japan for 2 months on a photo assignment (usually they last 2 weeks, but this is a big one!) and I will be doing a lot of photo editing in Adobe LightRoom, as well as backing up photos and deleting them. Speed is not such an issue for me, it is more the fact of ensuring that a block on the SSD is actually freed to be written to once deleted, and ensuring there is no data loss.

The question is; do I need to enable TRIM via Terminal, or will the Garbage Collection function in the SSD firmware work just as well? Bear in mind that I will be doing a lot of deleting of photos (getting rid of the rubbish photos ), before backing them up, as well as photo editing.

If it is the case of GC working just as well without TRIM enabled, then UNticking "put hard disks to sleep" in energy preferences and leaving the MBP on the login screen overnight will allow GC to function during idle time?

Thanks for your help and input!
JJ.

To be honest all reports suggest inbuilt garbage collection is just not that good, enable trim its pretty easy.

http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/29/use-trimforce-trim-ssd-mac-os-x/

 

[Weaselboy]

There really is no good reason not to enable TRIM, so just do it.

 

[TonyK]

As above, enable TRIM. On an older MBP with a Crucial drive, it just rocks.

 

[ZapNZs]

I assume that Sierra still use sequential TRIM like Yosemite & El Cap, right?

IIRC Crucial themselves advises TRIM to OS X Users as being optional, and potentially more useful to people constantly creating/deleting files.

In my non-professional opinion, you will benefit from TRIM, even though you have a SSD that is probably already reasonably effective at managing speed/wear. The Marvell controlled SSDs I have owned (constituting all of the specific Crucial/Micron products I've purchased) have fared well without TRIM with my own usage that gave them periods of inactivity (which I assume is when the SSD's controller goes through and starts clearing cells.) I had one SSD with another controller that slowed to HDD write speeds without TRIM, and, after enabling TRIM the write speeds returned to normal the next day and stayed that way since - this computer was constantly downloading, filling, and deleting and I believe the way I used it played a significant role in the decreased write speeds without TRIM. So I've chosen to enable TRIM on all my Macs with hopes for both performance and longevity improvements, even if only smaller in significance - as I use eSATA and TB2, my externals also now have TRIM support. In regards to the external SSD I use to store some of my VMs where many small files are constantly being created, modified, and deleted, I have seen what I feel is a significant difference in its ability to maintain its write speed over time.

 

[TonyK]

In the course of 6 weeks I've moved from a 2007 MBP to a 2015 MBP. The 2015 MBP has the Apple supplied SSD.

I do not see trim enabled when in Disk Utility. Can someone advise how I can see this or if trim is enabled by default on Apple installed SSDs?

Thank you,

 

[Weaselboy]

Can someone advise how I can see this or if trim is enabled by default on Apple installed SSDs?

Yes it would be. You can see it here in System Information.

 

[TonyK]

Thank you

 

[cynics]

On board controllers do something? You don't say....

Obviously not MacOS....