Hard Disk Monitoring

I have just updated the firmware in my OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD and the BIOS firmware in my motherboard to the current version. The mobo is Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3R (rev 1.0). HDS no longer provides any performance, health, temperature or SMART data for this drive although it still appears in the HDD list. OCZ Vertex firmware is now Version 2.22.

Can you please try the latest beta from http://www.hdsentinel.com/beta4/hdsenti ... p4008j.zip ?

Can you please use Report -> Send test report to developer function?
This way it is possible to check the current issue and verify what can cause the problem.

Report sent.

Interestingly, HDS started showing Health, temp, etc for the Vertex drive. However it was showing 434 days power on time, which is close to the time for another drive in the system. I've only had the Vertex for a couple of months. I restarted HDS and, again, it shows nothing for the Vertex health, temp, etc.

Thanks for the report and excuse me for the troubles.
I sent answers in e-mail but also write here as it may be helpful:

It seems the health status detected is not valid. If this happens, a special filter in Hard Disk Sentinel prevents from displaying and especially to prevent incorrect information (for example status of an other disk) to be displayed.

In some times the issue is caused by the hard disk controller driver.
As I see in the report, you have a Marvell 6G controller but working as a "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (ATA)". Installing an AHCI driver (for example the standard AHCI driver of Windows) or the Marvell 91xx driver from www.hdsentinel.com -> Support -> Driver Zone (or directly from http://www.hdsentinel.com/driver/marvell91xx32.zip ) may work better, so after installation and restart, hopefully correct information will be displayed.

I post here my last emails to HDS as it may be of interest to others with similar problems:


> I have installed the driver (Marvell 91xx AHCI driver) and it is now working, however it is reporting: Operating System TRIM Function,"Supported, Disabled".
>
> It was enabled before.
>
> SSD Fresh reports that Trim status is activated.
>
> "fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify" returns "DisableDeleteNotify = 0"
>
> I'm not sure if Trim is on or off.



It turns out that the Marvell driver does support TRIM.

When I upgraded my BIOS firmware, it switched off AHCI.

I turned it back on and got at BSOD when I rebooted.

I downloaded Microsoft Fixit50470, ran it and then turned on AHCI in the BIOS.

PC rebooted without BSOD and HDS now reports that my SDD status is PERFECT.

I originally updated the OCZ and BIOS firmware because since installing the SSD my PC frequently hangs and BSODs (2 or 3 times per day). Since I have upgraded the firmware I have had no hangs or BSODs.

Thanks for the information, this is really helpful!

Excuse me, but the Marvell driver does not support TRIM, even if other tools or fsutil reports that
(fsutil reports working TRIM if there's no SSD installed in the system this method is really not preferred to verify if TRIM is really active and the problem that most other tools also rely on this information. More information: www.hdsentinel.com/faq.php#trim

This is why I recommended to use the "Standard AHCI driver" of Windows, as the Windows "Standard AHCI Controller" driver surely support TRIM and works without problems for this controller.

So if possible, I'd recommend to open Windows Device Manager and locate the Marvell 91xx controller.
Try the update driver option and select to use "Standard AHCI Controller" driver for the controller.
After this change (and restart of the system) TRIM should be working - and this should be reported in Hard Disk Sentinel (and other tools will also continue displaying that TRIM is working).
If you prefer, you may send a new report after this update, so I can check the results.

Excuse me for the issue caused by the driver and the controller

Maybe I'm getting confused about if I have the Marvel driver installed or not.

In Device Manager I have the following Storage Controllers: A738AZ71 IDE Controller and GIGABYTE GBB36X Controller.

Under System Devices I have: Marvell 91xx Config Device.

HDS is reporting: "The status of the solid state disk is PERFECT. Problematic or weak sectors were not found.
The TRIM feature of the SSD is supported and enabled for optimal performance.
The health is determined by SSD specific S.M.A.R.T. attribute(s): #231 SSD Life Left"

So, I'm not really sure if I'm using the Marvel driver or not, but TRIM appears to be working.

Sorry if I'm creating confusion here.

Can you please use Report -> Send test report to developer option now?
That way I can check the actual driver used for the SSD.
Thanks!

Thanks for the report!
I checked and as I see, now the "Standard AHCI driver" is installed for the Marvell 91xx controller - which is perfect as it both provide complete status information (for both HDDs and SSDs) and also the TRIM function is now really working for the OCZ Vertex3 SSD.

You can check on the top of the Information page:

Hard Disk Model ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : OCZ-VERTEX3
Disk Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller (AHCI)