Intel has introduced a solid-state drive toolbox that optimizes 34nm X25-M SATA SSD performance in Windows 7. According to Intel, both the optimizer and accompanying firmware update use a Windows 7 attribute – not an acronym – known as Trim to ensure “continued” high performance.
“Trim, which is part of the Windows ATA Data Set Management Command, synchs the operating system’s view of deleted files with those that are deleted, but not erased on the drive,” Intel explained in a statement.
“Trim tells the SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. This helps stabilize the performance and health of the SSD over time.”
Intel spokesperson Peter Hazen added that the firmware update provides a significant performance boost for 34nm X25-M 160GB SSD’s by delivering sequential write speeds of up to 100MB per second. In addition, the toolbox offers system performance “enhancements” for both Windows XP and Vista users.
However, John Savill of WindowsITPro notes that Trim only improves performance when files are deleted.
“If you are overwriting an existing file, Trim doesn’t help and you’ll get the same write performance degradation as without Trim,” said Savill.
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