Should I enable TRIM support in Mac OSX 10.6.7 for SSD with SandForce SF-2281 controller (Vertex 3)?

Recent articles in Mac Rumors and Life Hacker (which actually reference this question on SU) say that using TRIM will prolong the life and increase the performance of an SSD.

I just got an OCZ Vertex 3 with the SandForce SF-2281 controller. Does this drive need TRIM support to operate at max performance? What about longevity? Isn't the built in Sandforce garbage collection enough?

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Edit for clarity:

I'm aware of the the various methods of enabling TRIM support on my MacBook Pro. The question is whether or not the new Sandforce Controllers need TRIM?

Chris_O

Posted 2011-05-19T12:03:55.510

Reputation: 744

Answers

Apple only supports TRIM on their own SSDs, but there are ways around this.

The AnandTech review of the OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 shows that, in the worst possible case of writing lots of incompressible data to the drive, there can be a substantial drop in performance without TRIM.

sblair

Posted 2011-05-19T12:03:55.510

Reputation: 12 231

Yes, you will get more out of the SSD enabling TRIM. Several people have experienced performance issues without it on OS X.

You don't need any firmware update to do this, but still OS X Snow Leopard doesn't have it built in yet (10.7 will however).

You can download TRIM Enabler which does exactly that. I've been running a Macbook Pro with an SSD for several months now using it, no problems at all.

slhck

Posted 2011-05-19T12:03:55.510

Reputation: 182 472

@slhck What drive do use? Enabling TRIM caused lots of problems and short freezes. – Chris_O – 2011-05-23T07:32:43.793

@Chris_O I know, I recall seeing your other question. Glad you got it fixed. I have one designated as "Apple SSD T5128C", although I don't remember having heard of practical differences between Apple and non-Apple drives - a friend of mine uses some OCZ without issues. – slhck – 2011-05-23T08:12:54.920

Do you know which OCZ model? – Daniel Beck – 2011-06-07T06:25:07.617

@Daniel No, haven't seen him in a while. Why? – slhck – 2011-06-07T07:52:22.910

I'm in the market for an SSD (Vertex 3 possibly) and am a bit skeptical regarding TRIM on OS X. Known good experiences would be useful. – Daniel Beck – 2011-06-07T07:54:34.547

@Daniel It's a Vertex 2, so that won't really help I guess... But they should make it work, at least with 10.7? OCZ aren't that uncommon. – slhck – 2011-06-08T17:38:22.050

Yeah, with a release within two months I can probably go that long without TRIM on 10.6. Thank you! – Daniel Beck – 2011-06-08T17:46:37.083