Current TRIM support in AMD/Intel chipset RAID 1?

Posted by Red-i-thor@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 15 comments

I'm posting this because I couldn't find any recent and reliable info about this topic.

I'm interested in building RAID 1 arrays with SSD drives which contain the OS, for improved system reliability.

Long time ago, TRIM wasn't supported neither by Intel neither by AMD in their chipsets. Then, \~15 years ago, Intel started to support TRIM in RAID 0 arrays. 5 years ago, the situation seemed to be the same (AMD no support, Intel only in RAID 0).

When looking for updated info, this AMD RAID User Guide (53987) from 2024 says TRIM is supported by RAIDXpert2, but not in which RAID modes (if any), while Intel has a KB article about TRIM and RAID in RST still saying that TRIM is only supported in RAID 0, but this was last revised in 2022.

Some people say soft (OS)-RAID solves the issue of no TRIM support, but AFAIK this rules out the possibility of mirroring also the OS. Some people say that TRIM is a nice to have feature, but drive's GC do the trick, while others say that TRIM support is still relevant for improving drive life. I tend to be in this last pack, and I see risky using RAID 1 if lack of TRIM support will mean a shorter drive lifespan (which is like making worse the risk you're trying to avoid :).

[-]

Nisd@reddit

You can install Ubuntu and other linux distros with software raid using mdadm

Nietechz@reddit

Why don't use a FS like BtrFS or ZFS directly?

I like the old working solutions, instead of the shiny cutting edge.

I typically don't mind trading a bit of performance for simplicity, and documentation.

astronometrics@reddit

When a 15 year old filesystem is shiny and cutting edge

(note i say this in jest)

Prefer simplicity could be use a FS with RAID integrated solution.

ZFS might be overkill for everyone and use CPU RAID might be a nightmare.

xxbiohazrdxx@reddit

Even the btrfs maintainers don’t recommend using its built in raid lol

malikto44@reddit

This is with RAID 5/6 and the write hole. RAID 1 is solid. Otherwise the btrfs subreddit would be full of screaming.

If really afraid of btrfs, Synology implements it on top of md-raid and LUKS, where btrfs just does filesystem duties.

In the documentation only mentions RAID5 and 6. Can you share where he said that?

Red-i-thor@reddit (OP)

I need to mirror Windows too, so that would be a partial solution. I'm looking for an OS-agnostic filesystem-agnostic solution on simple consumer grade hardware, and that means chipset RAID (fake RAID) :)

I highly recommend against this. I've lost terabytes to FakeRAID when the OS bluescreened. Feel free to use it, but make sure you have backups. As an added bonus, caching RAID cards finish writes at RAM speed, and have patrol reads, ensuring bit rot is detected.

Chipset raid might have improved, but I would still not use it for anything other then a consumer computer.

Why not spend the few bucks on a raid adapter card?

TBH, I highly recommend getting rid of RST/FakeRAID and getting a real RAID card, preferably one with DRAM caching. You will get TRIM, but also patrol reads, caching, and if the OS crashes, you won't lose your array.

SilverseeLives@reddit

Even though dynamic disks are officially deprecated in favor of Storage Spaces, it is still possible to mirror the Windows boot drive in software using this technology:

https://woshub.com/software-boot-mirror-gpt-windows/

I also don't believe that this tech is going to disappear anytime soon, even if not being further developed.

I don't mirror mine, as I have daily image backups of the system drives on all my PCs and servers, but if I did, I would probably lean towards this versus using fake RAID. Dynamic disk arrays are portable between Windows systems.

imnotonreddit2025@reddit

The Intel documentation, while a few years old, states it pretty clearly. Not supported. It was not supported 16 years ago when I last looked into it, it's still not supported 3 years ago when that article was last updated, it's probably not supported today.

Either this is your homelab or your employer needs to open their wallet. Either way, nothing r/sysadmin can do for you about either of those issues.

CyberHouseChicago@reddit

Fake raid has always been bad , so is level raid or get a real controller