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Joel K
Asked: 2010-01-23 15:13:58 +0800 CST

Linux tool to reset Intel X25 SSDs wear leveling tables?

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I'm aware of the DOS utility to "Reset" an Intel SSD to factory settings, but I'd rather not shut down my system to do this to my SSDs.

Supposedly newer kernels support TRIM, but I haven't found any utilities to actually run TRIM.

Has anyone found a way to do this?

linux ssd intel trim

4 Answers

  1. There isn't just a 'wear leveling table' that you can wipe and be merrily on your way.

    Without an OS that supports the TRIM command the drive does not know which subblocks are empty and so the data on the SSD becomes fragmented below the level that the OS sees. The only way to 'reset' it involves clearing all the data whether you use the proper utility or try and do it manually.

    If you want to avoid the hassle of backing up/ghosting regularly when it slows down then you need to use an OS that supports TRIM.

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  2. I found instructions for running an ATA security erase command here:

    https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

    I intend to try it myself, since I have been naively running my X25-M SSD on a laptop with suboptimal settings and I think the performance is falling.

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  3. From what I've been able to gather...

    TRIM is an OS command, you don't call it, the OS does. So there's no 'TRIM' utility.

    It's called (by a compatible OS) when you delete a file from an SSD drive. See Here and Here.

    The SSD drive firmware needs to support the TRIM command as well.

    If you want to "reset you wear leveling tables" then you're going to have to wipe the drive completely, as it requires either re-writing every block on the drive to one state; or by wiping the LBA tables by issuing a "SECURE ERASE" command (see here) - AKA 'low-leveling the drive'.

    All of which will blow away your OS (and anything else) if it's on that drive, effectively preventing you from doing it from within the OS. :)

    If your SSD is a COMPLETELY separate drive from your OS drive(s) you may be able to get some decent results by using a good 'secure hard drive eraser' app of some kind, but I wouldn't count on it.

    HTH.

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  4. This is not the whole story.

    For the X25 there is a toolbox, working under XP and Vista. You can activate it as a job. Intel says you should set it to an auto job for every week. There are some problems to get the thing working allright. Read Intel communities very carefull.

    My 160G X25 works like a charm, (I had to patch xp because I have no English version) it is worth the effort.

    I am not aware of a toolbox for linux.

    Does anyone know about the same efforts in linux?

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