Performance Over Time and TRIM

Performance Over Time and TRIM

There was a lot more to this testing than can be shown here, primarily because the only real thing we can show you is get a snapshot of the entire drive (HDTach). With that, here are before and after shots of the 128GB model (64 and 256GB models behaved similarly).

Initial, fresh out of the box condition:

HDTach:

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Condition after a full span of our test suite (the benches seen in this article), an OS install, various application installs/uninstalls, bulk file copies, and a stern talking to:

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Without giving the drive a chance to breathe, we then re-run the same HDTach pass over again. The sequential writes of the previous pass should theoretically ‘clean up’ the fragmentation caused by extensive testing in absense of TRIM. Here we see the 830 performs optimally, showing that it can maintain its composure without TRIM, so long as it is not abused too badly.

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…and now for the TRIM test, which is accomplished by a simple format and repartition performed from within Windows 7. Since the drive was ‘cleaned up’ by the last test, I hit it with a heavy dose of 4K random writes. I ran an additional HDTach pass to show you what the drive would look like in the pre-TRIM condition:

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Note how the 830 makes significant efforts to self-heal, evidenced by the climb towards full write speeds near the end of the plot.

I then re-fragmented the 830 using the same method as before, but this time I issued the SSD-wide TRIM before running the HDTach pass:

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…and there you have it, a brandy-new 830. Constant operation under a Windows 7 or other TRIM-enabled environment should maintain performance very close to new condition, especially in light of how well the 830 handled our non-TRIM scenario.

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