

Trim os x mountain lion series#
Pages and BlocksĪny file on your computer is just a collection of data, and a solid state drive writes that data onto a series of pages, each of which is assembled into a number of blocks. To understand what TRIM actually does, you first need to understand just a bit about how solid state drives actually store information. Sidenote: Although it’s often written in all caps, TRIM is not actually an acronym for anything! It’s written that way because commands transmitted through the ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) interface for connecting bus adaptors to storage devices (like SATA-Serial ATA) refer to their commands in all caps. Nevertheless, there are ways to maximize that lifespan, and that’s where TRIM comes in. You’re far more likely to replace your computer first.

This is often blown way out of proportion though, so if you’re feeling panicky about this, consider the following: even with heavy usage, it would take you more than ten years to wear out your average solid state drive. Because flash memory cells can only be written to a certain number of times, solid state drives technically have a limited lifespan, moreso than their disk drive predecessors. This leads me to address the elephant in the room, which is longevity. But now that those prices are dropping, SSDs come standard on most new computers, and even more people are replacing their old hard drives with modern solid state alternatives. The advantages of SSDs are clear: they’re exponentially faster, they’re entirely silent, they’re more durable, and they’re immune from issues like fragmentation.Īs with any new technology, they were fairly rare until recently because of their high prices. Unlike their disk-based predecessors, SSDs are more like a series of very high performance USB keys squished together. It’s like having a series of very high performance USB keys squished into a box.
Trim os x mountain lion how to#
This is broadly true, and I will show you how to check for and enable TRIM support on your drives, but first it’s important to take a step back and understand what we’re talking about.Īn HDD encodes data onto a magnetic coating on a spinning disk inside the drive.Īn SSD, on the other hand, is just a network of flash memory cells assembled into a drive enclosure, meaning it has no moving parts. You’ve probably heard that SSDs have a lifespan, and that you can prolong that lifespan by enabling something called TRIM. How to Check and Enable TRIM on a Mac SSD SSDs vs. How to Check and Enable TRIM on a Mac SSD
