Samsung EVO 120 GB - Help needed

[anandrkris]

Hi _ As I noted here, I have ordered a Samsung EVo 120 GB SSD and would like to know if there is anything *special* I need to do / understand before I install Mint 17 (Cinnamon). I keep hearing about TRIM, OP, etc. Any manual intervention is required to optimize SSD? Note, am just a regular desktop user, so would be happy if I dont have to do anything at all.

Also, later came to know of an issue1 on slow speed reads on old files. Thankfully, firware update is available currently for Windows and expected at end of October for Mac / Linux. 1
Can I use Windows to upgrade firmware and later partition as 'ext4'? Or did I got that wrong!
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... loads.html

Samsung is releasing a new firmware and performance restoration software package for the 840 EVO and 840 EVO mSATA.
The firmware update is recommended to users who may have experienced any drop in read performance of the mentioned drives.
Running the software packages provided will first update the firmware(840 EVO : EXT0CB6Q, 840 EVO mSATA : EXT42B6Q),
then scan and calibrate all existing data on the drive.

1 - http://techreport.com/discussion/27212/ ... h-old-data

[jazz.h]

I have this ssd, everything is fine in multiboot env. Make trim on every startup with script.
Unfortunately, now it's full so I'll have to risk with restoration sw...

[anandrkris]

I have this ssd, everything is fine in multiboot env. Make trim on every startup with script.
Unfortunately, now it's full so I'll have to risk with restoration sw...

Are you using it along with Windows? May I know the file system is it formatted as...?

[jazz.h]

Are you using it along with Windows? May I know the file system is it formatted as...?

Off course...

sda1 - primary, 30gb, ntfs, win7
sda2 - primary, 20gb, ntfs, for future win8
sda3 - primary, 20gb, ext4, for future Linux
sda4 - extended
- - - - sda6 - ext4, 14gb, Mint17 (writting from here )
- - - - sda7 - swap, 4gb
- - - - sda8 - ntfs, 24gb, data partition

[anandrkris]

Thanks for sharing. Cool, tight now, my plans are pure Linux...Have another Windows based laptop...

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Can I use Windows to upgrade firmware and later partition as 'ext4'? Or did I got that wrong! :wink: 

So, seems it is possible to do....

[jazz.h]

I don't see why not...

[anandrkris]

Now, I have my Samsung SSD up and breathing fire on Mint 17. And, I saw that Samsung has released performance fix now for Mac and Linux.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... loads.html Anyone tried this yet on Linux?

There is an ISO file (for CD) and zip extract (for USB). My Mint Box does not have a CD drive, so need to use USB boot for this. I tried writing the ISO file using Mint Stick to USB and it does not boot. I suppose, ISO would work only in case of CD and for USB, i guess, first I need to download Freedos? and then extract the zip contents to it.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... OS_v10.pdf

If you use a USB device
1) Please set your USB drive into a “bootable” state before starting the Performance
Restoration software.
2) For assistance on completing this step, please refer to USB boot utilities from a
trusted internet site.
3) Extract the provided zip file into the bootable USB drive you created (extract to the
root directory).
4) Boot the target system from the bootable USB created in the previous step. Please
run perf.exe.

It does not mention about putting DOS in USB wherein for CD / DVD, it is mentioned. Am total noob to all this, can someone help me here? Will be glad to see any guides / pointers on creating the bootable USB DOS system. Thanks

[konrad]

@anandrkris
http://chtaube.eu/computers/freedos/bootable-usb/

All the instructins on how to make bootable usb freedos drive are there.

[anandrkris]

@anandrkris
http://chtaube.eu/computers/freedos/bootable-usb/

All the instructins on how to make bootable usb freedos drive are there.

Thanks, will check it out.
Samsung's instructions are not that clear one has to install FreeDOS. I also wonder, why not share an ISO for USB as well, if they could do it for CD...
Anyways, end of rant...

[konrad]

You could also install UNetbootin. I totally forgot about it. This lets you make bootable usb easy.

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sudo apt-get install unetbootin

[anandrkris]

@anandrkris
http://chtaube.eu/computers/freedos/bootable-usb/

All the instructins on how to make bootable usb freedos drive are there.

This helped me install FreeDOS and now have update Samsung firmware. Thanks a bunch.

[rbmorse]

Well, the Samsung docs say the user should copy the utility files to a _bootable_ USB drive, implying that the bootable part is the user's responsibility. at least to me. Glad you got it working.

Notice any difference?

[anandrkris]

Well, the Samsung docs say the user should copy the utility files to a _bootable_ USB drive, implying that the bootable part is the user's responsibility. at least to me. Glad you got it working.

Notice any difference?

Yeah, agree. Bootable USb with DOS would ahve made it clearer. No, mine was anyways a couple of days old SSD, so didn't expect it to show any improvements except not to see the problem occur in future...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8617/sams ... rmance-bug More details on the issue, fi you're interested.