Ubuntu + SSD = Awesome!

[mattlach]

Not familiar with 'Trim' can someone explain what it is? And some usage examples

Trim - while there are command line versions - is really more of a moun-time option than a command, or at least that is the smartest way to use it.

Here is my laymans explanation of why it is necessary.

The need for trim originated because of the way traditional hard drives delete files. They simply remove the reference to them from the file allocation table, rather than physically erasing the space they occupy. This works well for traditional hard drives as there is no performance penalty for overwriting something. With flash ram there IS adeletion and overwriting penalty. In the days before trim (or without trim enabled) users of SSD's would notice that their drives had really fast write speeds, up until they had filled every block on the drive once (so essentially, if you had a 128GB drive, once your total writes had reached 128Gb) after that the drives write performance would slow down A LOT as the flash drive was needing to erase cells before writing to them.

TRIM adds this erase cycle to the file deletion process. During drive idle times shortly after the deletion, it goes in and erases the flash, so that when it is time to write to it again, writes are fast.

There is a way to enable trim in /etc/fstab if using ext4, and it works really well, but it is not fresh in my mind right now. If you just google it, you'll find many examples.

For further reading I recommend this Anandtech article. He has done more to make complex SSD technical issues understandable to laymen like me than anyone else.

--Matt

[QIII]

Adding it to fstab is not recommended as it may be more inefficient than efficacious.

Trusty 14.04 has Trim enabled, but I still have a daily cron job running a script to trim for the moment while I wait to see what others are saying about how well it works.

[mattlach]

Adding it to fstab is not recommended as it may be more inefficient than efficacious.

Trusty 14.04 has Trim enabled, but I still have a daily cron job running a script to trim for the moment while I wait to see what others are saying about how well it works.

Interesting. Do you have a source for this? (not adding to fstab, that is) I'd like to read more details.

[QIII]

Using the "discard" option on mount in fstab combines the trim with the read/write operations and the overhead can diminish the speed advantage of the SSD.

A couple of places to look --

http://opensuse.14.x6.nabble.com/SSD...td3313048.html

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/enabl...te-drives.html

[irv]

SSD's are great, and I have been using one in an older Dell Laptop for over a year now. About two weeks ago I fixed up an older Dell Desktop. I added the max on RAM (4 gig) and installed a Hybried 1 TB drive. This combo give you the best of both worlds. A lot of storage and fast boot up with apps running fast. This drive cost under $100. The reason I went this way is because I got a new laptop with a Hybried drive and I like the performance. It a good way to get old computer to run like new ones.

[mattlach]

Using the "discard" option on mount in fstab combines the trim with the read/write operations and the overhead can diminish the speed advantage of the SSD.

A couple of places to look --

http://opensuse.14.x6.nabble.com/SSD...td3313048.html

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/enabl...te-drives.html

Interesting.

I have now read some more about this, and it seems SOME SSD's have trouble with delete performance when trim is enabled with the discard option in fstab, but not all.

I certainly noticed no difference in performance moving from discard disabled to enabled on my OCZ Vertex 4. Performance is a great as ever.

I - for one - would much rather have it done in small chunks as the delete operations happen, rather than in bulk all at once in a cron job, especially since my main desktop is always off when I am not actively using it, something which is not inconvenient at all when you have SSD boot times, and saves a lot of power, especially on my monster rig, with boosted voltage to reach a 4.8Ghz overclock.

I would still recommend that people add the discard option if running off of SSD's, and only disable it if they notice performance issues.

[Paqman]

turned off journaling

I have to echo the others here saying that's really not a good idea. Write endurance isn't an issue, your drive's wear levelling algorithms will take care of that. Disabling journalling puts your data at risk, and your data is probably worth more than your drive anyway.

[help_me2]

Disabling journalling puts your data at risk, and your data is probably worth more than your drive anyway.

I'm not an important person that has important things on my computer. I try not to keep much of anything on my computer, since I can view/do things on the web anytime I want. When I was younger, I was into "saving" things, but realize now those things mean very little in the grand scheme of life.

I uploaded all of my music to Google Music, and have a couple "important" things backed up on an external drive and thumbdrive. Not worried what happens to my SSD. All I want is speed.

If you have family photos or other irreplaceable things, they shouldn't be on your working machine anyway. Put them in the cloud or on an external drive, and have fun on your everyday computer.

[matt114]

I've just bought a Samsung EVO 840 250Gb from "PC World" (useless UK chain, but a good price, so...) based upon the reassuring summary found at the end of this extreme test review (below). I will say with utmost confidence that this has breathed a HUGE amount of digital life into my 3.5 year old, still very decent Acer X3950 (i3-550, 8Gb DDR3 ram, HD5450)

The loudest, if I'd even call them that, parts of this PC are now the CPU & PSU fans, and they're barely audible (the machine has never been noisy - Acer Desktops are generally almost silent).

Here's a superb and exhaustive test, upon which I made my purchase decision for the drive:

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4178...ate-2-april-17

I now know why Apple are migrating all their machines to NAND - rotating disks are cheap, but SO clunky and slow - my average access time is now 0.03mS!!

[Copper Bezel]

I've been very happy with my experience with SSDs on previous machines. My present laptop uses a HDD, and I lucked out that it's a very quiet one, but I've never had a magnetic drive in a portable last more than a year and a half or so of being tossed around in my bag, and I'll definitely be switching to an SSD when this one dies. I look forward to the little speed boost, too - since it's all about loading apps and interface elements, it applies more to responsiveness while not really affecting number-crunching power at all, but that's exactly where I feel the improvement the most.