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Problem: Because defragmenting is detrimental to SSDs and decreases their performance/lifespan, its important that modern OS's use TRIM instead of defragmentation. If an SSD is incorrectly recognized as an HDD in WS 2012, TRIM will not be used.

Question: In Windows Server 2012, is it possible to modify disk types from what is selected as default by the OS?

Insights: I've recently assembled and configured a server for work and ran into a troubling issue with Windows Server 2012 recognizing SSDs configured in RAID 1 as an SSD post installation. The RAID controller's drivers were installed prior to 2012's installation. The Controller is recognized fine by 2012 (Marvel). Both disks are even correctly recognized as a Marvel RAID disk, yet recognized as an HDD instead.

chuk2bp
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Just disable defragmenting for that drive. You can't enable TRIM for a RAID, that will instead be handled internally by the drive's own garbage collection/wear levelling.

JamesRyan
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  • Thanks for the response. I'm aware that you can disable defragmenting, and will do so if I can't solve the problem. But the problem is more extensive than that. File operations (like delete for instance) should be sent with TRIM commands if its supported. – chuk2bp Aug 01 '14 at 15:28
  • My answer already addressed this issue. You are overthinking a) you cannot use TRIM in a RAID b) you don't need to – JamesRyan Aug 01 '14 at 15:44
  • Thanks again James. I hear what you are saying-- most RAID controllers don't support TRIM. But allow me to clarify that the intended purpose for the drives is for database storage. Were doing a raid 1 configuration for testing, with plans to move to raid 10 eventually. Garbage collection would be fine if we didn't expect consistent load on the drives. But we don't expect there to be a lot of idle time, which makes me think that if commands can be sent as TRIM its at least some form of damage control. Am I incorrect on this? – chuk2bp Aug 01 '14 at 16:17
  • TRIM won't do much with databases anyway because they write sequentially and do not deallocate files. Garbage collection will occur even if your drives are in constant use, remember SSDs do not have a write head, they can parallelise operations. RAID 1 and 10 will give more of a speed boost than you will loose. – JamesRyan Aug 01 '14 at 16:35
  • Excellent call on the write heads and parallel operations. I was certainly neglecting that when thinking over garbage collection. That helps me to put a lot of my initial fears of going TRIMless (ha!) for the installation. I really appreciate your responses and the time you took to answer James. Much obliged. – chuk2bp Aug 01 '14 at 17:07