Hello Members of Overclock.Net
As some of you will be aware the Kingston 40GB SSDNOW Drives do not support TRIM by default as Intel decided not to supply Kingston with a firmware for these drives to allow TRIM functionality and Kingston has cut off support of this drive as its reached End Of Life
Your probably asking why we are talking about Intel. Well in a nutshell. The Kingston 40GB SSDNOW drives feature Intel flash chips and an Intel memory controller. The Kingston V series Boot drives are pretty much identical to the Intel X-25-V SSD drives. Thus why this Intel firmware fix for trim is possible. As such Only Intel firmwares will work with this drive. As Intel gave Kingston the shaft it is up to the consumers to mess around and mod the Intel firmware to support TRIM
Thanks Intel...Thanks
However there is a FIX for all the disappointed Kingston owners. Thanks to User '' Telnet ''' on OCN and his in-depth research, he has discovered that we can indeed enable TRIM on the Kingston 40GB SSDNOW drives.
All credit goes to Telnet for his amazing findings, effort and providing us with this modified update utility. I am simply compiling a simple guide for the newbies out there to follow
This guide was inspired from this thread : http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives...b-ssds-fw.html
While this is a very simple procedure. Myself and Telnet will not take any responsibility for damage done to your drive by either negligence or failure to follow this guide properly. I would advise backing up your SSD drive before performing this procedure. While it should not effect the data, it is better to be safe than sorry. I did this on my SSD drive while my OS was installed and it had no ill effects. This guide is only for the Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV125-S2/40GB and SNV125-S2BD/40GB. Please do not attempt this guide on any other variant SSD
Here we go:
PART 1
Firstly you have the option to use the latest Intel Firmware on your Kingston SSD. However it is NOT a pre-requisite for TRIM as the stock Firmware 02HA is TRIM capable, If you wish to keep your stock firmware then please skip to PART 2 . However if you wish to update the SSD Firmware you have to use a modded version of the Intel Updater as the stock Updating Utility will not recognise the Kingston drive as a compatible drive to flash ( As its not branded Intel ).
1ST Method
1. Download the Modified Intel Updater Utility attached to this thread below.
2. Create a standard bootable Flash drive or DVD/CD ROM.
3. Place the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' on the bootable Flash drive Or DVD/CD ROM ( Before burning of course )
For help on creating a bootable USB flash drive please take a look Here : http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm
2ND Method
1. Download my Intel Updater ISO from here : http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...&DwnldID=18363 I have also attached the ISO at the bottom of this thread.
2. Use an ISO editor such as ''MAGIC ISO'' to edit the downloaded ISO.
3. When using the ISO Editor replace the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' in the ISO with the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' attached to this thread. Save the ISO and Burn it using your Burning software.
3RD Method ( Recomended )
1. I have created a CD Boot image with the ISSDFUT update utility on it. Download the ISO from here : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MTXIA2IG
( I have also uploaded the ISO in RaR format here. Look to the bottom of this thread ''ISSDFUT UPDATER'')
2. Extract the ISO image from the RaR File.
3. Burn the ISO to disk.
4. Reboot your PC and make sure its set to boot from your optical drive first.
5. Your system will boot into the disk. Once it has completed booting type ''iSSDFUT'' without quotation marks. Hit ENTER
6. The Update utility will start. Follow the on-screen prompts.
Once you have created your bootable medium with the updating utility. Restart your PC and amend your BIOS settings boot either from your USB or DVD/CDROM drive first. You MUST also set your SATA mode to IDE. If you have it set to AHCI, the updating may fail to find your SSD. Please see below an extract from the Intel readme,
Quote:
( In short. If in AHCI mode nothing is detected, Try IDE mode )
Once your PC boots into DOS on your USB or DVD/CDROM you will need to enter the flash utility by typing ''iSSDFUT'' and hit ''ENTER''.
You will now have entered the Intel SSD flashing utility. Follow the onscreen instructions and accept all the various disclaimer agreements etc. Very simple and straight forward process. Once you have done this it will move onto the SSD detection phase. With Telnet's modified utility it will now successfully detect our Kingston drives as viable for flashing.
During this process it will update your stock Kingston firmware of 02HA to the newer Intel firmware of 02HD
Please be aware that the flashing process is not instant. With me it took up to 60 seconds. Please be patient and DO NOT interrupt the process.
This is what you should see during the flashing process:
Done. This is the flashing procedure complete. You have successfully completed the first part to this 3 Part process.
.................................................. .................................
PART 2
Now we have to restore the the newly flashed firmware to defaults which in turn activates the TRIM functionality on our Kingston drives. When the Intel Firmware is flashed onto the Kingston drive it keeps the drives current configuration data. This is no good as with this configuration data TRIM is disabled. We need to restore the firmware configuration to default to allow a new configuration to be put in place enabling TRIM.
To do this you will need a DOS utility called ''HDAT2''. You can download this Utility in an ISO format here : http://www.hdat2.com/ . Go to the Download section and download the ''CD BOOT ISO IMAGE''.
Once downloaded Burn the ISO using your favourite DVD/CD burning software. I use CDBURNERXP. The ISO is already set as bootable so there is nothing else you need to do but burn the ISO as it is !
Once again amend your BIOS if you need to, so your system boots from your DVD/CD ROM drive and boots into the HDAT2 utility. Once within the utility you will be prompted with a blue screen with 4 options. Select option 1 and hit ''ENTER''.
Your system will now load into the HDAT2 utility. Follow the simple on screen prompts. You may get error messages but do not be alarmed. This is just due to HDAT not finding some devices in your system it may be accustomed to. Just hit ENTER or ANYKEY when prompted to.
Once loaded into the Utility you will be at the Device list main menu screen for HDAT2. You should see the below :
Within the Device list main menu you should see your Kingston SSD listed in the device list.
Highlight your Kingston SSD drive and hit ''ENTER'' You will then see this screen below which is the ''Device main menu''
From here you will want to select and highlight the 6th option on the list. '' Device configuration overly (DCO) Menu '' Hit Enter
Once within the Device configuration menu you will see the below screen :
From here select and highlight ''Restore''and hit Enter. You will enter the restore utility and from here follow the on-screen instructions for restoring the configuration on your drive. You will also be prompted to confirm your RESTORE command by pressing ''Y''. Now sometimes it will say the operation was ''Aborted''. However it would seem it does not matter in some instances. While with me it worked normally, I did try again just to make sure it was restored and it then I got the ''Aborted'' message. If it comes up aborted do not worry too much as it seems to work anyway.
Once you have cleared the configuration from your drive. ( I did it twice just to be sure ). Hit ESC multiple times until you get back to the blank DOS screen and simply restart your machine and remove the USB flash drive or DVD/CDROM from your system as you now want to boot back into you OS.
You have now completed Part 2. All the technical stuff is now out of the way. Congrats
.................................................. .................
PART 3
Now that we have flashed and configured the drive we now want to make sure that TRIM is enabled and functioning.
You will need to do two things.
Firstly we will want to download and install ''CrystallDiskInfo'' which you can obtain from here : http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html
Once installed run CrystalDiskInfo. You will see the below:
You will notice that by ''Supported Features'' that the ''TRIM'' function is highlighted in black. This means it is enabled and functioning !
You can also tell if Windows 7 has correctly enabled the TRIM service. This does not mean however that your drive is supporting TRIM. CrystalDiskInfo is the defining answer to whether your SSD is performing TRIM or not.
Open up a Command Prompt window and type the following without quotation marks:
''fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify''
If TRIM is enabled Command prompt will issue the following statement:
''DisableDeleteNotify = 0'' This means TRIM is Enabled.
Below is an example of what you would see :
.................................................. ............................
Congratulations. Your Kingston SSDNOW 40GB SSD now has TRIM !
You may also be interested to know that you can now use the Intel SSD Toolbox application with your Kingston drive because of this firmware flash. Take a look at this guide : Using your Kingston 40GB SSD with Intel SSD Toolbox
Thanks again to Telnet's hard work in discovering this fix. Once again all Credit goes to him. I simply compiled this guide to make the process more understandable. I hope you find my guide useful
If you are a GUEST viewing this guide and need help then please do not hesitate to join Overclock.Net and we will endeavour to help you as much as possible.
HDAT2 Images obtained from http://www.hdat2.com/
ENTERPRISE
As some of you will be aware the Kingston 40GB SSDNOW Drives do not support TRIM by default as Intel decided not to supply Kingston with a firmware for these drives to allow TRIM functionality and Kingston has cut off support of this drive as its reached End Of Life
Your probably asking why we are talking about Intel. Well in a nutshell. The Kingston 40GB SSDNOW drives feature Intel flash chips and an Intel memory controller. The Kingston V series Boot drives are pretty much identical to the Intel X-25-V SSD drives. Thus why this Intel firmware fix for trim is possible. As such Only Intel firmwares will work with this drive. As Intel gave Kingston the shaft it is up to the consumers to mess around and mod the Intel firmware to support TRIM
However there is a FIX for all the disappointed Kingston owners. Thanks to User '' Telnet ''' on OCN and his in-depth research, he has discovered that we can indeed enable TRIM on the Kingston 40GB SSDNOW drives.
All credit goes to Telnet for his amazing findings, effort and providing us with this modified update utility. I am simply compiling a simple guide for the newbies out there to follow
While this is a very simple procedure. Myself and Telnet will not take any responsibility for damage done to your drive by either negligence or failure to follow this guide properly. I would advise backing up your SSD drive before performing this procedure. While it should not effect the data, it is better to be safe than sorry. I did this on my SSD drive while my OS was installed and it had no ill effects. This guide is only for the Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV125-S2/40GB and SNV125-S2BD/40GB. Please do not attempt this guide on any other variant SSD
Here we go:
PART 1
Firstly you have the option to use the latest Intel Firmware on your Kingston SSD. However it is NOT a pre-requisite for TRIM as the stock Firmware 02HA is TRIM capable, If you wish to keep your stock firmware then please skip to PART 2 . However if you wish to update the SSD Firmware you have to use a modded version of the Intel Updater as the stock Updating Utility will not recognise the Kingston drive as a compatible drive to flash ( As its not branded Intel ).
1ST Method
1. Download the Modified Intel Updater Utility attached to this thread below.
2. Create a standard bootable Flash drive or DVD/CD ROM.
3. Place the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' on the bootable Flash drive Or DVD/CD ROM ( Before burning of course )
For help on creating a bootable USB flash drive please take a look Here : http://www.bootdisk.com/pendrive.htm
2ND Method
1. Download my Intel Updater ISO from here : http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...&DwnldID=18363 I have also attached the ISO at the bottom of this thread.
2. Use an ISO editor such as ''MAGIC ISO'' to edit the downloaded ISO.
3. When using the ISO Editor replace the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' in the ISO with the ''iSSDFUT.Exe'' attached to this thread. Save the ISO and Burn it using your Burning software.
3RD Method ( Recomended )
1. I have created a CD Boot image with the ISSDFUT update utility on it. Download the ISO from here : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MTXIA2IG
( I have also uploaded the ISO in RaR format here. Look to the bottom of this thread ''ISSDFUT UPDATER'')
2. Extract the ISO image from the RaR File.
3. Burn the ISO to disk.
4. Reboot your PC and make sure its set to boot from your optical drive first.
5. Your system will boot into the disk. Once it has completed booting type ''iSSDFUT'' without quotation marks. Hit ENTER
6. The Update utility will start. Follow the on-screen prompts.
Once you have created your bootable medium with the updating utility. Restart your PC and amend your BIOS settings boot either from your USB or DVD/CDROM drive first. You MUST also set your SATA mode to IDE. If you have it set to AHCI, the updating may fail to find your SSD. Please see below an extract from the Intel readme,
Quote:
2. "Drive not recognized" in AHCI SATA mode ISSUE: Some platform BIOS implementations of SATA port settings are not compatible with the update program's process for locating the SSD within the system in AHCI mode. WORKAROUND: For best compatibility, configure the BIOS SATA port mode to The "Legacy" or "Compatibility" mode to perform the firmware upgrade |
Once your PC boots into DOS on your USB or DVD/CDROM you will need to enter the flash utility by typing ''iSSDFUT'' and hit ''ENTER''.
You will now have entered the Intel SSD flashing utility. Follow the onscreen instructions and accept all the various disclaimer agreements etc. Very simple and straight forward process. Once you have done this it will move onto the SSD detection phase. With Telnet's modified utility it will now successfully detect our Kingston drives as viable for flashing.
During this process it will update your stock Kingston firmware of 02HA to the newer Intel firmware of 02HD
Please be aware that the flashing process is not instant. With me it took up to 60 seconds. Please be patient and DO NOT interrupt the process.
This is what you should see during the flashing process:
Done. This is the flashing procedure complete. You have successfully completed the first part to this 3 Part process.
.................................................. .................................
PART 2
Now we have to restore the the newly flashed firmware to defaults which in turn activates the TRIM functionality on our Kingston drives. When the Intel Firmware is flashed onto the Kingston drive it keeps the drives current configuration data. This is no good as with this configuration data TRIM is disabled. We need to restore the firmware configuration to default to allow a new configuration to be put in place enabling TRIM.
To do this you will need a DOS utility called ''HDAT2''. You can download this Utility in an ISO format here : http://www.hdat2.com/ . Go to the Download section and download the ''CD BOOT ISO IMAGE''.
Once downloaded Burn the ISO using your favourite DVD/CD burning software. I use CDBURNERXP. The ISO is already set as bootable so there is nothing else you need to do but burn the ISO as it is !
Once again amend your BIOS if you need to, so your system boots from your DVD/CD ROM drive and boots into the HDAT2 utility. Once within the utility you will be prompted with a blue screen with 4 options. Select option 1 and hit ''ENTER''.
Your system will now load into the HDAT2 utility. Follow the simple on screen prompts. You may get error messages but do not be alarmed. This is just due to HDAT not finding some devices in your system it may be accustomed to. Just hit ENTER or ANYKEY when prompted to.
Once loaded into the Utility you will be at the Device list main menu screen for HDAT2. You should see the below :
Within the Device list main menu you should see your Kingston SSD listed in the device list.
Highlight your Kingston SSD drive and hit ''ENTER'' You will then see this screen below which is the ''Device main menu''
From here you will want to select and highlight the 6th option on the list. '' Device configuration overly (DCO) Menu '' Hit Enter
Once within the Device configuration menu you will see the below screen :
From here select and highlight ''Restore''and hit Enter. You will enter the restore utility and from here follow the on-screen instructions for restoring the configuration on your drive. You will also be prompted to confirm your RESTORE command by pressing ''Y''. Now sometimes it will say the operation was ''Aborted''. However it would seem it does not matter in some instances. While with me it worked normally, I did try again just to make sure it was restored and it then I got the ''Aborted'' message. If it comes up aborted do not worry too much as it seems to work anyway.
Once you have cleared the configuration from your drive. ( I did it twice just to be sure ). Hit ESC multiple times until you get back to the blank DOS screen and simply restart your machine and remove the USB flash drive or DVD/CDROM from your system as you now want to boot back into you OS.
You have now completed Part 2. All the technical stuff is now out of the way. Congrats
.................................................. .................
PART 3
Now that we have flashed and configured the drive we now want to make sure that TRIM is enabled and functioning.
You will need to do two things.
Firstly we will want to download and install ''CrystallDiskInfo'' which you can obtain from here : http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html
Once installed run CrystalDiskInfo. You will see the below:
You will notice that by ''Supported Features'' that the ''TRIM'' function is highlighted in black. This means it is enabled and functioning !
You can also tell if Windows 7 has correctly enabled the TRIM service. This does not mean however that your drive is supporting TRIM. CrystalDiskInfo is the defining answer to whether your SSD is performing TRIM or not.
Open up a Command Prompt window and type the following without quotation marks:
''fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify''
If TRIM is enabled Command prompt will issue the following statement:
''DisableDeleteNotify = 0'' This means TRIM is Enabled.
Below is an example of what you would see :
.................................................. ............................
Congratulations. Your Kingston SSDNOW 40GB SSD now has TRIM !
You may also be interested to know that you can now use the Intel SSD Toolbox application with your Kingston drive because of this firmware flash. Take a look at this guide : Using your Kingston 40GB SSD with Intel SSD Toolbox
Thanks again to Telnet's hard work in discovering this fix. Once again all Credit goes to him. I simply compiled this guide to make the process more understandable. I hope you find my guide useful
If you are a GUEST viewing this guide and need help then please do not hesitate to join Overclock.Net and we will endeavour to help you as much as possible.
HDAT2 Images obtained from http://www.hdat2.com/
ENTERPRISE