Important for SSD users-enabling TRIM!

[VRW]

Hi there, there´s another thing I wanted to share.
I´m aware of that all the Pros here will know about that but if there are Newbies
who are not that technical minded, using SSDs for the 1st time or also experienced users who haven´t just heard of it,
it will be an important thing to know!

I´m talking about "enabling Trim support" for SSDs.
As one can read on the web, Apple does not enable "Trim support" for 3rd party
SSDs (the ones you buy separately, not from Apple) since Mac OS 10.8.
and therefore neither with Mac OS 10.9. Mavericks.

So, what is "Trim support" and is it important to have it enabled?
About the 1st - to be honest, I don´t know actually as I´m not at all a technical guy...
About the 2nd - definitely "yes"... just because without having this enabled
your super fast SSD will perform at speed rates comparable to a very fast HD, not any faster.
And, "Trim support" will extend the "life time" and "health" of your SSD crucially (even if it´s working at higher speeds).

For example, my Samsung 840 Pro 128GB performed at about 150-180 MByte/s without Trim enabled,
which is ridiculous as they advertise it with 500+ MByte/s. After having Trim enabled it now performs at 480-500 MByte/s.
Both, read and write. Quite a difference.

So, the first step for everyone who haven´t known about it will be to check out
if Trim support is enabled on one´s Mac.
Go to
About This Mac>More Info>System Report, then scroll down to "SATA/SATA Express", click it and you will see at the right a list which should include
"Trim Support".
If it says "yes", it´s alright, then there´s no further action needed.
If it says "no", you should get this to change.

There are 2 ways to get it changed.
1. envolves the use of terminal commands
2. uses a small 3rd party app to do it

Me personally would NOT recommend using no.1 (terminal commands) unless
one is an experienced computer guy who knows exactly what to do if something goes wrong with it as using
terminal commands can completely confuse and damage the whole system!

As I´m not such a guy indeed (using computers for decades but never got into
the deep of programming or anything like that) I didn´t want to go this way
and have been using no.2 -the little app.

Actually it´s a very small app, completely save and it just disappears out of one´s perception once used and closed again.
The only thing I have noticed is that you have to "enable" it (use the app) again every time after you have installed
a new Mac OS update which on the other hand is no big deal as it´s just 1 click to get it done.

As I have not used "terminal commands" I cannot say if this method will last forever.
Me rather think not, as it is a default setting from Apple to "disable Trim support" for 3rd party SSDs.
So, it´s my guess, it always will just be overwritten by any OS update-but as I said,
that´s just my guess, I actually don´t know.

Anyway.
What I can confirm is that this little app works simply great and is recommended even by experts.

There you can find info about "enabling Trim support".
http://www.nick-p.info/enabling-trim...s-x-mavericks/

Here´s another site.
http://www.mactrast.com/2011/07/how-...-in-os-x-lion/

This is the link for this little app called "Trim Enabler" that will do it for you automatically
by just 1 single click (you can find the link on both sites above too).
http://www.cindori.org/software/trimenabler/
...you don´t need to use the Pro version, it just works with the free one!

Well, that´s it actually.
Many of you may have known this for a long time, but maybe it helps some Newbie
out there as it can be frustrating to spend much money to get this extra speed
from a SSD and then notice it´s not working as it should.

All the best again, everybody,

VRW




MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MBP Mid 2012 i5, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.2, Apogee Quartet+Duet 2, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10,
Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP, Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[bluebravo]

Thank you!

I'm a newbie and SSD-er and your walkthrough was most welcome and helpful.

[RegenerationMix]

I tried the terminal instructions first. On my Mac 10.9.2, I could paste in the first lines of code, but terminal would not let me put in my password to run a SUDO code line.

Then i tried trim enabler. I downloaded it, and tried to run it, but i got an error message that said, the Apple OS was unable to open it/run it because the software was from an unidentified developer.


Chris

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by RegenerationMix

and tried to run it, but i got an error message that said, the Apple OS was unable to open it/run it because the software was from an unidentified developer.

That should be a preference in your system prefs - to enable installation of any programs - I remembered doing that

[VRW]

Hi, I´m on 10.9.2 Mavericks too and you of course will have to change the security settings only for the short amount of time
of installing TrimEnabler to "No Restrictions/Anywhere".
Go to
System Preferences>Privacy&Security>General Tab>Allow Applications Downloaded from>
change it from "Mac App Store" to "Anywhere"

You can put it back to "Mac App Store " immediately after the app is placed within the applications folder
(it then will work without having to change anything again).

It´s absolutely safe if you download it from the original site but of course it will not work to install it without setting
the security settings to "Anywhere" as it is a product obviously from a very small company which Apple has not got
on it´s "allowed"-list (...btw Apple has disabled Trim support for any 3rd party SSDs since 10.8.
while it will be enabled by default for the ones you buy in the Apple Store... does this tell one something...)

On the other hand one can search the web, Trimenabler is generally accepted even by professionals.
If you may want to download it, do it only from there (it´s the developer´s site).
http://www.cindori.org

It´s really convenient, super easy to use and for most of the people much safer than using the terminal indeed.

Anyway.
I use it myself and it´s completely "invisible" now and doesn´t mess with
PT or any other software at all.
I really love it.

Best of success everybody,

VRW



MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MBP Mid 2012 2,5GHz i5, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.2, Apogee Quartet+Duet 2, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10,
Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP, Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[VRW]

I´m aware of that most of the people here know that already,
anyway I want to post it for the ones who don´t.
That´s the 2 most reliable and most used speed test applications you will find out there.
And it´s free stuff.
Whoever will want to find out about the speed of his drives, HDs, SSDs, whatever may install these 2 apps.
They are very small, save and approved by millions of users.

1. Black Magic Speed Test ... can be downloaded directly from the Mac App store
for free.
https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/blac...25264550?mt=12

2. AJA System Test ... just scroll down the site to "AJA System Test" and download it, it´s for free too.
https://www.aja.com/en/software

If you run both, one after the other, you will get a good average of the speed of your drives.

Regarding internal drives the most crucial parameter is it´s rotation speed.
Regarding external drives there will be the rotation speed of the drive and the
way you connect it.

With a 7200rpm drive the average data are:

USB 2 will be about 25-40MB/s Read/Write
FW800 will be about 50-80MB/s Read/Write
USB3 will be about 90-130MB/s Read/Write
SSDs will be about 300-500MB/s Read/Write

That´s of course just average data found on the web which can definitely differ at particular setups!

For more detailed informations one may search the web.

All the best,

cheers, VRW


MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MBP Mid 2012 2,5GHz i5, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.2, Apogee Quartet+Duet 2, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10,
Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP, Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[VRW]

Hi, I was asked if Trim support for SSDs is only a Mac thing or if it has as well
to be enabled at Windows PCs?

Actually it is something which concerns the SSD itself more than the OS as
Trim support does manage how the SSD sets free already used storage space
and so on...I´m actually no technician .

Fact is that Trim support needs to be enabled for any SSD on Mac systems as well
as on Windows computers.
Sometimes it is enabled already within the OS, sometimes it is not.

As I haven´t been on Windows for a long time I actually can´t say anything about
it from a personal (experience) point of view but I have searched the web and want to provide people
who are on Windows PCs all these infos too.

Please, read and check everything very carefully before going into that whole
thing and applying it to your system!
As I haven´t used this myself (as I´m on Mac) I definitely cannot guarantee anything about it
and it´s all at your own risk!

What I´ve found is that Windows users obviously will have to use terminal/command entries to achieve Trim support.
And Trim support on Windows will not be accessible before Windows 7.
It seems that it only can be done with systems from W7 upwards (means on W7 and W8).

I will post some links where you can find detailed info about Trim support
generally and at Windows systems particularly.

I start with 2 you tube-videos which exactly show how to check at first if
Trim support has been enabled already on ones system and if not, how to do it then.

For Windows 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg96QVcOMMY
For Windows 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWPjFZv_eII


Here´s more info.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...e-disable.html
W7/W8

http://www.buildcomputers.net/trim-support.html
W7/W8

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=86403

http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/wind...ndows-7-a.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...32-enable-trim

http://blogs.computerworld.com/ssd/2...hings-look-out

So this is actually what I´ve found and I hope it will be helpful.
But, please, again, check everything carefully before starting to do it
as it has to be done correctly and step by step as using terminal/command
entries can cause massive problems with the whole system if done not right!
Just take care, please!

I have not found any app for Windows to do this instead unfortunately (like there is one for Mac actually),
but however it is crucial for every SSD user to make sure he has got Trim support enabled as the SSD
does need it to work properly and as fast as it is advertised. Otherwise it´s "lost money" to buy one.


Wishing everybody best of success and good luck and have fun everybody,

cheers, VRW





MacMini i7Quad, 16GB Ram, MBP Mid 2012 i5, 16GB Ram, MacOS 10.9.2, Apogee Quartet+Duet 2, Genelec Active, Yamaha NS10,
Pro Tools 11.1.2, Logic 10.0.6, Waves, MCDSP, Duende Native, Softube, HOFA, IK Multimedia etc

[mateojones]

"Hi, I´m on 10.9.2 Mavericks too and you of course will have to change the security settings only for the short amount of time
of installing TrimEnabler to "No Restrictions/Anywhere".
Go to
System Preferences>Privacy&Security>General Tab>Allow Applications Downloaded from>
change it from "Mac App Store" to "Anywhere"

You can put it back to "Mac App Store " immediately after the app is placed within the applications folder (it then will work without having to change anything again)."


Great discussion and great information on this thread... thanks to all involved!

Another way to bypass this security setting (Gatekeeper) in Mac OS 10.7 and above is to right click or Control + click on the installer file and choose "Open" instead of just double clicking on the file. Then you will get the option to open that file even though it is not from an identified developer, and your security settings have not been changed permanently.

[lukeyy]

I just installed trim and checked the speed before and after and it was both times around 250kb/s read and write - anything I can change to get the full speed..?

[VoltageControl]

This guide is quite helpful.

Trim Enabler is strongly recommended.