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TRIM Support Enabler

Cindori said:
trim driver maybe doesnt check ODD sata (optical drive), try moving it to drive bay.
Click to expand...

Thanks Cindori,

This is what I am thinking too, maybe because it is a PATA connection because I have seen other people have success with their Optibays, though with different drive manufacturers.

Trouble is that with the SSD in the normal drive bay, it runs a lot worse. I may just leave it for now, and maybe the next time I open her up I'll make the swap.

If I erase free space once a month or so, will this help keep the SSD running well?

Thanks to you and everyone for their time.

Take it easy,
H
 
Hi all,

I don't really have much free time now to read the last x pages of the thread, so please pardon me if I am asking again something that may already have been discussed.

Weeks ago, after reading part of this thread, I installed the TRIM enabler on SL 10.6.7 for my mid 2010 MBP. I haven't had any problems since, and I am not even sure of whether there has been any difference regarding the performance since I haven't had a chance to run proper benchmarks before and after installing the patch, so to compare the results.

All has worked normally for me, however I have just read this article on Lifehacker which says this patch should not be installed for SSD drivers with built in garbage collection.

So this sounds quite different from what seemed to be the common understanding on this thread weeks ago on the "it doesn't matter" line.

I have an OWC Mercury bought quite recently which is supposed to have built in garbage collection. What should I do now? Would you recommend I keep the patch installed or that I remove it?

In both cases: why? I mean why would you recommend the one or the other action?

Thanks!
 
Vito Botta said:
Hi all,

I don't really have much free time now to read the last x pages of the thread, so please pardon me if I am asking again something that may already have been discussed.

Weeks ago, after reading part of this thread, I installed the TRIM enabler on SL 10.6.7 for my mid 2010 MBP. I haven't had any problems since, and I am not even sure of whether there has been any difference regarding the performance since I haven't had a chance to run proper benchmarks before and after installing the patch, so to compare the results.

All has worked normally for me, however I have just read this article on Lifehacker which says this patch should not be installed for SSD drivers with built in garbage collection.

So this sounds quite different from what seemed to be the common understanding on this thread weeks ago on the "it doesn't matter" line.

I have an OWC Mercury bought quite recently which is supposed to have built in garbage collection. What should I do now? Would you recommend I keep the patch installed or that I remove it?

In both cases: why? I mean why would you recommend the one or the other action?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Just asking outloud, if you don't have the time to find your answer (which is here, answered many times and very recently, why should others take the time to re-answer it?
 
wow, what a great article! will post it on first page.


My final statement on GC drives and this TRIM patch:

GC and TRIM should not interfere with each other. And it should not matter if you are using them both at the same time, although your performance won't benefit that much from running both.

However, it has shown with this patch that people with drives that use GC have experienced some slower speeds, and even beachballing in apps like web browsers, when using this patch.

My recommendation? If your drive already uses GC:
  • Search this thread for notes of other users with same drive
  • Wanna try the patch anyway, just remember to backup your driver
  • Should you get problems, it's not any harder then just hitting that Restore button

Try it, if problems, restore, continue with your life ;)
 
Cindori said:
Boot time can again increase if you installed some software that installs kext drivers. you should then try running the terminal commands in the first post to maintain the kext library in perfect shape and minimize boot time.
This is just generally and not anything to do with trim really.
Click to expand...

Actually I installed Xcode. It change any kext library?

Every time I disable and reenable trim, I need to erase free spaces again?

Does Intel 320 Series have built in garbage collection?
 
sjm300 said:
I had to reformat :( repairing disk permissions didnt fix my issue.
Click to expand...

Well of course not, you still had that tmp file, which I was going to guide you through deleting once you had repaired your permissions. But oh well.


ZeD X said:
Actually I installed Xcode. It change any kext library?

Every time I disable and reenable trim, I need to erase free spaces again?

Does Intel 320 Series have built in garbage collection?
Click to expand...

Yes

No

Yes
 
Thank you, So the wipe free spaces aren't necessary at all... great.

And it seems that the system is faster with Trim + GC than with GC only.

When I use sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel, i get this error:
/System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/InternalModemSupport.kext doesn't support architecture x86_64; omitting from prelinked kernel.

I am using x64 kernel, this is not compatible?

Oh, and I tried again (wipe, I did it before your message) and it's running normal again (full speed).
 
Cindori said:
wow, what a great article! will post it on first page.


My final statement on GC drives and this TRIM patch:

GC and TRIM should not interfere with each other. And it should not matter if you are using them both at the same time, although your performance won't benefit that much from running both.

However, it has shown with this patch that people with drives that use GC have experienced some slower speeds, and even beachballing in apps like web browsers, when using this patch.

My recommendation? If your drive already uses GC:
  • Search this thread for notes of other users with same drive
  • Wanna try the patch anyway, just remember to backup your driver
  • Should you get problems, it's not any harder then just hitting that Restore button

Try it, if problems, restore, continue with your life ;)
Click to expand...
Some drives have much more aggressive GC than others but it shouldn't make a difference. TRIM should work on a OS X no different than in Windows or elsewhere. It erases blocks for future program/writes. Garbage collection consolidates partially written blocks (leaving the old blocks "dirty") and occurs when the machine is IDLE. Therefore, they work in tandem and there's really no opportunity for conflict - especially on boot. If peeps are having trouble, there are other factors.


EDIT:
BTW - thanks for the utility. Made a big difference on my MBP using a Corsair Force drive. I had completely filled the drive with video on a trip twice and it slowed waaaaay down. Very noticeable on boot and shutdown. After enabling TRIM all was good again.
 
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ZeD X said:
Thank you, So the wipe free spaces aren't necessary at all... great.

And it seems that the system is faster with Trim + GC than with GC only.

When I use sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel, i get this error:
/System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/InternalModemSupport.kext doesn't support architecture x86_64; omitting from prelinked kernel.

I am using x64 kernel, this is not compatible?

Oh, and I tried again (wipe, I did it before your message) and it's running normal again (full speed).
Click to expand...


That kext has nothing to do with trim enabler.
 
I can confirm that this patch works for an 160GB Intel SSD G2 (SSDSA2M160G2GC) on a 2009 Macbook Pro.

My SSD has about 3 months of use on it. Enabling trim and erasing free space significantly improved performance for me. My XBench numbers went up by about 80 points! Boot time is cut as well by about 10-15 seconds. Applications load up noticeably faster.

FYI, my drive has both GC and trim.
 
Every now and then my boot time is around 22 seconds.
When I disable and enable trim support via this enabler (not rebooting between restore and patch) it reverts back to the 12 seconds boot time.

Can anyone here tell me what the enabler does except patching the kext files?
It seems there is more going on so it reverts by boot time back to 12 seconds?

Anyone any idea?

After looking inside the enabler it seems it caches the kext again (via the 3 commands).
But does the trim enabler also erase free space on patch? (I hope not!)
 
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Ger Teunis said:
Every now and then my boot time is around 22 seconds.
When I disable and enable trim support via this enabler (not rebooting between restore and patch) it reverts back to the 12 seconds boot time.

Can anyone here tell me what the enabler does except patching the kext files?
It seems there is more going on so it reverts by boot time back to 12 seconds?

Anyone any idea?

After looking inside the enabler it seems it caches the kext again (via the 3 commands).
But does the trim enabler also erase free space on patch? (I hope not!)
Click to expand...

TRIM enabler:

  1. Installs a hacked TRIM kext
  2. Repairs kext cache (aka: "the 3 commands")

Number 2 can improve boot time alot if kext cache is not built properly (like, after installing a bunch of apps)
 
Cindori said:
TRIM enabler:

  1. Installs a hacked TRIM kext
  2. Repairs kext cache (aka: "the 3 commands")

Number 2 can improve boot time alot if kext cache is not built properly (like, after installing a bunch of apps)
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I will try those commands the next time it gets a little slow again.
Much appreciated, keep up the great work.
 
Cindori said:
trim driver maybe doesnt check ODD sata (optical drive), try moving it to drive bay.
Click to expand...

Just an update...

I moved the SSD to the SATA drive from the Optical Drive and the Enabler worked. Unfortunately, this set up works very poorly for me, so, I moved the SSD back to the Optical, and the Momentus XT to the SATA. Start up was up from 25 secs to 35 secs (button to desktop) - so I think TRIM was working though the System Profiler did not tell me so. I restored the driver settings to default, and startup was back to 25 secs.

So, it seems that the Enabler will not look at the Optical drive when setting up, but can restore it...

Not sure what is going actually, but, maybe this will help someone else.

Thanks Cindori, and best of luck.
 
sjm300 said:
I had to reformat :( repairing disk permissions didnt fix my issue.
Click to expand...

You should have simply reinstalled Snow Leopard from the Software Restore disc that came with your computer. Doing so, by default, replaces your system files (including the kext that TRIM Enabler modifies) while leaving your user account, settings and files all intact. Then simply run software updates and you'd have been back to the point where you started before running the patch.

Repairing disk permissions does nothing other than reset the ownership and permissions on certain application resource files to their original state based on install package receipts that are placed on your system whenever you install new software or install an update. Kernel extensions are not touched.

Alternatively, visiting support.apple.com/downloads and downloading the most recent 10.6.7 Combo Update and then installing that would likely have replaced the kernel extension that the TRIM Enabler modified.

If you don't know what you're doing, at least create a backup copy of any file that you are going to edit so that you can just replace the damaged file if things go awry.

Lastly, is there any data recovery software on the market that works on SSDs?
 
daneoni said:
Ah seen. That makes sense. So in essence drives with built in GC might want to steer clear?
Click to expand...
Anandtech's review of the Kingston V+100 indicates that not only does it have garbage collection ("aggressive garbage collection"), it's basically the same SSD as Apple uses/used in the Air.

The aggressiveness of the garbage collection in the V+100 makes TRIM pretty much unnecessary, and Anandtech felt that explains why Apple chose that Toshiba controller for OS X. So, which is it -- do Apple SSDs not have garbage collection or do they have aggressive garbage collection? Or, does it depend upon the model?

And, is it true, as one person recently said in this topic, that GC doesn't conflict with TRIM?
 
Thought I'd add a comment for my Intel 320 series. I just got done doing the fsck TRIM method noted HERE on Hardmac. I installed the patch and booted in single user mode, and sure enough, it showed that unused blocks were being trimmed, just like this:
fscktrim.jpg

Whether it actually did anything, I do not know. I hadn't noticed a lack in performance. I just wanted to do an experiment on it and thought I'd report back. Afterward I restored to pre-TRIM patch state, and rebooted. Reboot was a little slow, so I ran the terminal commands and rebooted again. Back to normal now.
 
Having been keeping up with the forum of late due to work, only just came across this today.

Thanks Cindor, my SSD has started feeling a wee bit sluggish of late so hopefully this will stop me having to secure erase and reinstall.
 
bozz2006 said:
Thought I'd add a comment for my Intel 320 series. I just got done doing the fsck TRIM method noted HERE on Hardmac. I installed the patch and booted in single user mode, and sure enough, it showed that unused blocks were being trimmed, just like this:
Image
Whether it actually did anything, I do not know. I hadn't noticed a lack in performance. I just wanted to do an experiment on it and thought I'd report back. Afterward I restored to pre-TRIM patch state, and rebooted. Reboot was a little slow, so I ran the terminal commands and rebooted again. Back to normal now.
Click to expand...

I have an Intel 320 too, but I did not received this Trim message.
 
Enabling TRIM on my MacBook Air killed the disk. This was not immediately, but it took only 2 days to happen. The MBA starting booting showing a folder with a question mark icon, instead of the Apple logo.

I was able to repair the disk successfully, but only an erase and OSX reinstall was able to get my system to boot. Using TM so no huge deal, but use TRIM on your MBA with caution.
 
neko girl said:
Enabling TRIM on my MacBook Air killed the disk. This was not immediately, but it took only 2 days to happen. The MBA starting booting showing a folder with a question mark icon, instead of the Apple logo.

I was able to repair the disk successfully, but only an erase and OSX reinstall was able to get my system to boot. Using TM so no huge deal, but use TRIM on your MBA with caution.
Click to expand...

So, let me get this right: you applied this hack on a device/ssd which has native trim support?
 
I am new to the orchard, having come through the windows recently.

Got a MBP 13" 2.7GHz i7 8GB ram and just bought a 120GB OCZ Agility 3 + 500GB Momentus XT and optical bay caddy.

I reduced the contents of my Apple 500GB HDD to fit onto the SSD, and cloned it. I then enabled TRIM, which is how I came to be here. THANKS a MILLION for the utility and info.

I am about to install the Momentus into the optical bay and need advice on how to set up OS X so that my "home" folder and the Downloads folder will reside on the 2nd drive and apps will continue to work correctly.

I presume that this is described somewhere, so I would be most grateful if I could be pointed to some existing documentation.

Thanks again...
 
neko girl said:
Enabling TRIM on my MacBook Air killed the disk. This was not immediately, but it took only 2 days to happen. The MBA starting booting showing a folder with a question mark icon, instead of the Apple logo.

I was able to repair the disk successfully, but only an erase and OSX reinstall was able to get my system to boot. Using TM so no huge deal, but use TRIM on your MBA with caution.
Click to expand...

I've enabled it on my 2010 MBA with no issue and has been running since a week after Cindori made the original post.
 
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