Vertex2: support for garbage collection under XP/Vista?

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Massimo

Hello,

I have Googled enormously but seem not to be able to find any clear
statement about the support of OCZ for their Vertex2 ssd's as to
garbage collection under other Windows versions than Windows7.

Since yesterday I use a Vertex2 on my xp-pc and I hope very much that
this has not been a expensive mistake!

Even 'Tony', a employee of OCZ who has written an article on their
forum about Vertex2 and inbuild TRIM is not clear about this.

Could someone please refer me to a statement that gives a definite
answer to my question?

Thanks in advance,

Massimo
 
Massimo said:
Hello,

I have Googled enormously but seem not to be able to find any clear
statement about the support of OCZ for their Vertex2 ssd's as to
garbage collection under other Windows versions than Windows7.

Since yesterday I use a Vertex2 on my xp-pc and I hope very much that
this has not been a expensive mistake!

Even 'Tony', a employee of OCZ who has written an article on their
forum about Vertex2 and inbuild TRIM is not clear about this.

Could someone please refer me to a statement that gives a definite
answer to my question?

Thanks in advance,

Massimo
Click to expand...

The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD
Impact of Idle Garbage Collection

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829/14

That says it's a feature on Indilinx controllers.

Vertex2 uses Sandforce. You'd need to see a "feature set"
for Sandforce, to know what it does.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/res/manuals/OCZ_SSD_Breakdown_Q3_12.pdf

If you go to the Sandforce site, you can see their capabilities.

http://www.sandforce.com/index.php?id=19&parentId=2&top=1

"DuraClass Technology:

* DuraWrite extends the endurance of SSDs
* Intelligent Block Management & Wear Leveling
* Intelligent Read Management
* Intelligent “Recycling” for advanced free space management
(Garbage Collection) <----------------------------------------------------
* RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements)
* Best-in-Class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life
* Power/Performance Balancing

I think the idea is, that goes on in the background. According
to the graph here, you do an IOPS test with 4K writes, and see whether
the result stays in the 30K IOPS range or not.

http://www.sandforce.com/index.php?id=146

There are a few comments about idle garbage collection here.

http://www.anandtech.com/print/2909

"Unlike Intel however, Micron does do garbage collection while
the drive is idle. The idle garbage collection works independently
of OS or file system.

TRIM is supported but only under Windows 7. There are no software
tools to manually TRIM the drive. Micron hopes that its write
placement algorithms and idle garbage collection will be enough
to keep drive performance high regardless of OS."

Since that feature is a feature of the internal firmware, to confirm
it is actually present, would be tough. The IOPS test with small writes,
may give you some idea. You would do random 4K writes, watch the IOPS
level drop, leave the device powered and idle overnight, then run
the random IOPS test again. If the IOPS level at the start of
the run, the next morning, is 30K, then garbage collection must
have occurred over night.

HTH,
Paul
 
The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD
Impact of Idle Garbage Collection

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829/14

That says it's a feature on Indilinx controllers.
Click to expand...
I know -read that- but thought that it could be a 'secretive' process
i.e. inbuilt in the Vertex2.
Vertex2 uses Sandforce. You'd need to see a "feature set"
for Sandforce, to know what it does.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/res/manuals/OCZ_SSD_Breakdown_Q3_12.pdf

If you go to the Sandforce site, you can see their capabilities.

http://www.sandforce.com/index.php?id=19&parentId=2&top=1

"DuraClass Technology:

* DuraWrite extends the endurance of SSDs
* Intelligent Block Management & Wear Leveling
* Intelligent Read Management
* Intelligent “Recycling” for advanced free space management
(Garbage Collection) <----------------------------------------------------
* RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements)
* Best-in-Class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life
* Power/Performance Balancing
Click to expand...
Ah! There it is and you found it. Great.
I think the idea is, that goes on in the background. According
to the graph here, you do an IOPS test with 4K writes, and see whether
the result stays in the 30K IOPS range or not.

http://www.sandforce.com/index.php?id=146
Click to expand...
Thank you Paul for leading me to a good way to test it.
There are a few comments about idle garbage collection here.

http://www.anandtech.com/print/2909

"Unlike Intel however, Micron does do garbage collection while
the drive is idle. The idle garbage collection works independently
of OS or file system.

TRIM is supported but only under Windows 7. There are no software
tools to manually TRIM the drive. Micron hopes that its write
placement algorithms and idle garbage collection will be enough
to keep drive performance high regardless of OS."

Since that feature is a feature of the internal firmware, to confirm
it is actually present, would be tough. The IOPS test with small writes,
may give you some idea. You would do random 4K writes, watch the IOPS
level drop, leave the device powered and idle overnight, then run
the random IOPS test again. If the IOPS level at the start of
the run, the next morning, is 30K, then garbage collection must
have occurred over night.
Perfect!

HTH,
Paul
Click to expand...

I thank you very much for your usefull commentaries and links. :-)

Massimo
 
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