Introduction

If I could sum up all of 2012 in one word I would say: TRIM. For the last six months we fought a TRIM issue on LSI SandForce based drives and from this point going forward TRIM is going to play an even more significant role for enthusiasts. The SanDisk Extreme was the first drive we found the TRIM condition with, but that story that has played over and over again. It's time to move on and with working firmware in house, getting past broken TRIM is much easier.

This week we started writing the next chapter in the 2012 TRIM saga. Under my direction, Jon from RWLabs.com wrote the world's first working TRIM in RAID 0 article. While Jon was proving RAID 0 TRIM works with a complicated mix of RAID Option ROMS and drivers, I was putting PCIe 3.0 RAID to the test and breaking the highest possible score in ATTO. How long before we get RAID TRIM from Areca, LSI or PMC Sierra in advanced RAID array like 5 and 6? I don't know, but that'll be quite an exciting chapter to write. You can bet that any company remotely serious about RAID is taking a very close look at what modifications Intel made to accomplish this significant step forward with RAID 0 TRIM.

Before you can RAID 0 TRIM you first need an SSD with TRIM to start with and that is why we are here today. We've already looked at the SanDisk Extreme 240GB in our first article and then again in the 24nm Toggle Mode Flash Faceoff between the Extreme and the Plextor M3 Pro. Sadly I have to admit my arrow landed off the mark in both of those articles, but we have our facts straight now - sorry about that. I'm not perfect, but I'm here to set the record straight, you don't find that on the web much these days.

Today we're re-testing the SanDisk Extreme 240GB SSD with the new 5.0.3 firmware that fixes TRIM and keeps the drive running at extreme speeds. Like many Team SandForce manufacturers, SanDisk is not releasing 5.0.3 to the general public. A very small issue was found in 5.0.3, but 5.0.4 will fix the issue and we have confirmation that 5.0.4 will be ready for your flashing pleasure in less than a month.

Both firmware revisions deliver the same performance so there is no reason to wait. Let's get this party started.