Should I disable TRIM on my SSD?

When a delete command is issued, the block is immediately wiped, unlike in a HDD, where the index is simply wiped.

The next time the operating system tries to write a file in that data area, it doesn’t need to delete it first. This increases writing speed.

To check whether TRIM is enabled you need to use the ‘command prompt’. Then type ‘fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify’ . The command prompt will display either message

NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0 - TRIM feature is enabled on your SSD
NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 1 - TRIM feature is disabled on your SSD

To enable or disable TRIM, enter ‘fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0’ or ‘fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 1’ respectively.

SSDs offer a great deal of performance over HDDs especially when it comes to read/write speeds. Disabling TRIM will slow down the performance, but means your data is more secure in the event of data loss.


 

Further reading

How to buy the right SSD

Are SSDs immune from failure?

How to securely destroy data