Micron RealSSD C300 256GB SATA 6Gbps SSD Review

[spitter]

Mine is setup as a read only, so I guess that means unlimited!!!

[Major_A]

There is still reading and writing if you only have your OS on the drive.

[spitter]

No, I put a write filter on the os drive, all writes to that drive are put on to my ram, the only way something gets written to it is if I turn off the filter.

[johnmk]

Hi Nate,

Thank you for your review, it's greatly appreciated and was instrumental in my purchasing decision. I do have one question. I've seen a mention somewhere else that 1.0.0.1034 is the first driver version from Marvell that supports TRIM, while in your review you say 1.0.0.1031 is "said" to be the first one that does. These conflicting versions lead me to think one, or both, are mistaken. What I'm anxious to know is how you came across this information, and if it isn't fully definitive as a source, if you could perhaps speak to Marvell directly?

Thank you!

-John

[johnmk]

Hello folks,

I am pursuing this question on the Crucial forums as well, since they have an established relationship with Marvell (the reviewed SSD uses a Marvell controller). So far, no good information has been turned up. I will keep trying to make my case to Crucial that it's to their advantage to help us find out this information. Of course, Nate might be able to help us out too, no doubt he has contacts and maybe at least a little sway with Crucial.

Here's the thread I've started. If you could chime in and register your support that would be appreciated and might get our question on Marvell driver TRIM support at least noticed, and possibly answered.

http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S ... td-p/11109

Thank you,

-John

[Apoptosis]

John,

I asked my contact at Micron for you on March 22nd and I have not gotten a response either. I'll e-mail them again.

[johnmk]

Thank you -- I appreciate that very much!

[Apoptosis]

Thank you -- I appreciate that very much!

I also saw you read Anands recent update... not great news.

[johnmk]

Any updates, Apoptosis? Speaking of apoptosis, my brain cells are dying off with the frustration of not getting an answer on this question from Marvell or Crucial. I can't believe between those two companies they can't address this. ;)

[johnmk]

Apoptosis:

I received a most discouraging reply from Crucial Guru in my thread today on the Crucial SSD forum, whose gist is basically: we won't tell you this information. I am confident that they know it, but deliberately refuse to share it. That is some of the most pathetic customer service policy I've heard of in a long time and quite sours my opinion of Crucial.

If it became known that the C300 does NOT support TRIM when connected to any of the commercially prevalent SATA 6Gb/s controllers, I'm sure this information would spread and influence purchasing decisions. Do you think it's possible this is the reason behind the black out?

My message left at Marvell in voice mail has not yet been returned, as well. I left that Tuesday early afternoon. I'll give them a little more time before deciding that they a) won't answer my question and b) won't communicate by calling me back to let me know a).

Really disappointed.

Thank you for your effort though, Apoptosis.

[Apoptosis]

John,

I'm on the road traveling right now and am typing this from AMD's HQ in Santa Clara... let me try to find out again, but I've been crazy busy and getting no response.

[johnmk]

Any word yet?

[johnmk]

It seems that the Marvell 6Gb/s controllers do NOT support TRIM.

http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S ... 1648#M4094

[johnmk]

Let's amend that statement above.

Speaking of Marvell SATA III hardware, it appears Marvell drivers do not support TRIM, while the generic Microsoft AHCI driver apparently does:

http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S ... 1659#M4101

-John

[Apoptosis]

It took a couple dozen e-mails and more than a month of waiting, but here are some answers from Marvell:

1) Where do I tell my readers to go to download the latest Marvell 9123 and 9128 drivers?

Since Marvell provides its chips to OEMs, and since the drivers could be modified by the OEM, the best place to get the latest versions that are certified for the system configuration is from the system manufacturer.

2) I found driver 1036 for the Marvell 9123 controller... Is this the latest? It's dated March 2010

This is the latest version to complete Microsoft's DTM test.

3) Does the Marvell 9123 and 9128 controllers both pass the TRIM command in Windows 7? I recently heard they don't.

First there is not a HW issue with passing the TRIM command through the 912X. Also keep in mind that there are two modes that the 912X can operate. The first mode is RAID mode, which means that the 912X internal processor is running RAID FW and is performing the functions of a ROC. The second mode is Bypass mode, which is the 912X is running as a simple IO Controller.

In Bypass mode you can use the Windows/Linux AHCI inbox driver. When using this driver the TRIM command will be pass through to the drives. Provided the version of the driver being used supports TRIM. In the case of Win 7 the driver contained within SP1 does support TRIM.

In RAID (CPU) Mode the RAID FW is involved with the commands that are passed to the drives. In older versions of the FW the TRIM command was not being passed through. This was noted and the fix is in process.