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SSD trim issues, tried a few things...


lenny11
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1) My SATA controller shows up blank in the device tree, don't know if that is a big deal

2) I tried two different clover patches for enabling trim, neither worked (is there one for El Capitan?)

3) Tried some utilities to start trim, no luck there.

4) Not many options in the BIOS (no raid)

5) Obviously not being recognized as an SSD :(

3eqxM0a.png

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Ok, this is what I did so far:

 

It is an Intel IHC7, and it is definitely something that should be supported. 

 

I added a match string to info.plist in S/L/E AppleAHCIPort.kext

 

Got the info from Windows 
 
<string>0x27c08086</string>
lspci:
00:1f.2 0101: 8086:27c0 (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
 
I've also found a site that lists another possible address for SATA, may try that too: (Windows says 27c0)
 

27c0 NM10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [iDE mode]   27c1 NM10/ICH7 Family SATA Controller [AHCI mode]

 
They actually have a controller there which is very similar (off by a few address bytes, called ICH7-M).

 

No luck. I'm wondering now if clover is injecting something generic just to make it work.


Several comments on all this and my apologies if this will appear pretty negative:

  • the above thread only applies to SATA controllers in SATA/AHCI mode and your I/O controller is not reported as such. To me, the described fix is just cosmetic.
  • you need AHCI capability to be able to enjoy proper SSD recognition + Trimming. AHCI is only available when controller operates in SATA mode, defintiely not in IDE mode.
  • as shown in your lspci info + SATA SysProfiler info (Protocol = ata), your controller appears to operate in IDE mode. On some (many?) computers, BIOS does not even provide the ability to set the controller to SATA mode, even if the controller can support it.
  • unfortunately for you, not all Intel ICH7 I/O controllers support AHCI. For instance, the Base ICH7 version does not; you may have that particular version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I/O_Controller_Hub#ICH7
  • You may also come across posts/threads related to attempts to force ICH7 controller to SATA mode through DSDT patches but this has had only very limited success throughout.

 

All in all:

  • no SATA mode for disk controller means no AHCI
  • no SATA/AHCI means no SSD recognition
  • no SSD recorgnition, means no trimming

 

You may have to live with this and the knowing that you run your SSD with its current performance limitations (no trimming, max. PATA/IDE transfer speed of 133MB/s only vs. 150/300/600MB/s for SATA I/II/III) but they may not be necessarily very noticeable.

 

Some useful info here.

 

 

Thank you! I think this is the end of the road for this project. The speed maxes out about 140Mb. Even so this is one of the fastest macs I've ever used.

My bios definitely has a SATA mode but I realize now AHCI is not in windows either.

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If your Hackintosh is the desktop listed in your signature, you may want to consider the installation of a reasonably cheap (20/30-ish $/€) PCIe SATA controller. For instance, there are tiny little PCIe x1 cards based on Marvell 88SE91xx / 88SE92xx chip that provide 2 or 4 (or more) SATA ports with full SATA I/II/III + AHCI support. These work totally OOB without the need of any additonnal kexts. Funnily enough, yesterday I installed one of those in my 2005 ICH5 (! :shock: ) old dinosaur desktop and I now enjoy full AHCI/SATA III 6.0Gb/s speed on my SSD with Trim enabled.  :yes:

 

Example:

attachicon.gifMarvell_88SE9128.JPG

 

http://forum.osxlatitude.com/index.php?/topic/8701-marvell-88se91xx-88se92xx-based-pcie-sata-iii-controllers/

 

If you're with a laptop however...  :no:  :bye:

 

Thanks again! Can you boot from that?

Yes, the biostar. I could see using this PC for another year or two. I was using android studio and Xcode all day on it and it is not that much worse than a macbook I had at my last job (had a spinning drive). I also have a Q9550 Quad core I may drop in. That should make multitasking go smoother, but this machine is definitely fine as it(It won't set any records but it is very useable). 

Problem is I have 2 pcies 1 is the GT 720 with my 3 monitors. I have my heart set on USB 3, so I have to make a decision with that last slot. The other slot is legacy PCI :(.

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If you have a PCIe 2.0 bus, you could expect twice your current speed. PCIe 1.0 operates at 250MB/s per lane, 2.0 operates at 500MB/s.

 

There is a DeLock PCIe x4 SATA III Controller with 2 x SATA ports + 2 x USB3.0 ports: DeLock 8299. Not sure if it'd be bootable and compatible OS X... It's based on an Asmedia chipset, but which one? Asmedia ASM1061 is compatible OS X.

 

Failing that, SYBA appear to have PCIE x4 SATA III controllers that are compatible OS X: Marvell 88SE9230-based SATA-only controllers and Asmedia ASM1601-based SATA controllers with USB3.0. Again, PCIe x4 models are a must enjoy full SATA III speed (or x2 on a PCIe 2.0 computer). Apparently available under $30 in the US.  :)

I can't have pcieX4. I have the very short slot. This is all I could get: (it is the only X2 in that size, and I believe i have pcie 2.0)

http://www.sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=1513&currentPage=0

 

Its cheap,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124148

 

 but with x2 I'm wondering if I'll beat those numbers. I read in reviews people get around that.

 

Renesas uPD720202 / ASMedia 1061

 

I read those chipsets are compatible... What do you think?

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Found this article: (and these boards are newer than mine)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2973/6gbps-sata-performance-amd-890gx-vs-intel-x58-p55/5

 

Using one of the x1 slots on a P55 motherboard limits us to a disappointing 163.8MB/s. In other words, there’s no benefit to even having a 6Gbps drive here. ASUS PLX implementation however fixes that right up - at 336.9MB/s it’s within earshot of Intel’s X58.

It’s also worth noting that you’re better off using your 6Gbps SSD on one of the native 3Gbps SATA ports rather than use a 6Gbps card in a PCIe 1.0 slot. Intel’s native SATA ports read at ~265MB/s - better than the Marvell controller on any PCIe 1.0 slot.

 

Well, you were right!

I ran that test again with nothing else running and I got in the 240s, so I guess that is about the fastest you could ever see for the board.  I may add a usb 3.0 card because usb 2.0 is like crazy slow. Flash drives aren't that fast anyway. Going to go with a Fresco FL1100. Everyone says they work.

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  • 9 months later...

I have the same problem on my Sony laptop (see signature): "protocol: ata" in System Information and Corsair CSSD-F120GB2 is not recognized as SSD, "trimforce enable" say everything is ok, but after reboot nothing changes.

SSD is connected via Intel® ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller. in Win TRIM is enabled and works.

 

P.S. Also strange that I'm not able to change volume type (Apple_Boot) for "Recovery HD" as after restore it has Apple_HFS on this SSD. Filesystem is OK - I've checked.

post-1833925-0-83513300-1477242481_thumb.jpg

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Did you check that disk mode is set to AHCI in BIOS? Or maybe you do not have that option. OS X will not recognise a SSD as such in non-AHCI mode, i.e. it'll considers it as a plain old regular hard disc and you'll therefore not have Trim enforced.

 

Sony bioses are really easy-to-use :) , but I was able to change settings in NVRAM and have enabled AHCI, so in Windows this SSD works fine: in AHCI and with TRIM.

I have a Hackintosh PC with Vertex SSD and TRIM works fine (see attached picture).

Looks like that MBR/GUID don't affect TRIM.

 

The only thing can affect TRIM in my case is that I had have installed El Cap on an external USB flash first and then have cloned it to my internal SSD (done it to avoid patching of OSX installer for MBR installation and for test drive, as I have Win installation which I use on a regular base on SSD). Looks like OSX used ata mode in that case (installation on USB flash, but not sure). Will try to reinstall on internal SSD directly.

post-1833925-0-96795600-1477296065_thumb.jpg

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[FIXED]

 

Something has cleared AHCI settings in NVRAM, which I've changed long time ago and I haven't noticed it in Windows as it worked as usual. Dumped NVRAM values today and have found out that AHCI was disabled (also no AHCI in Win device manager). Changed NVRAM AHCI setting back to 1 -> reboot -> AHCI and TRIM work OOB even w/o "trim force enable". And in Win I also have AHCI, but again - no visual signs that I've enabled AHCI as drivers were already installed. Nice :)

post-1833925-0-79793100-1477300972_thumb.jpg

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