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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

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Linux SSD TRIM support in 2023 (self.linux)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ChunkMcHorkle to c/[email protected]

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This might be a really stupid noob question, but I am looking to move to Linux from Windows/Mac, and am about to install an SSD into my very old test machine for Linux distros.

You might have seen my recent post asking for recommends: it has the hardware specs of my test box, and I've updated it with the list of distros I intend to try.

My test box still has a working HDD in it, so no action is required immediately.

But my question is: once I decide on a distro and start moving machines over to Linux, what kind of manual care do I have to put in to maintain my SSD drives, if any?

For each box with a SSD drive and Linux as the OS, do I need to do TRIM manually, do I need to turn it on for a "set and forget" type scenario, or are recent and regularly upgraded distros able to spot a SSD and do the necessary without my intervention?

I guess what I'm really asking is: is SSD TRIM support pretty much standard now across distros, or is it something I need to investigate individually for each distro I install?

I recognize I may just need to ask this again once I settle on a distro, but since I'm trying so many -- and may fully install more than one -- I thought I'd get a jump on it.

EDITED TO ADD: Many thanks to all who took the time to answer. Now I know exactly what to read up on, and if necessary, look up how to do manually for whatever distro(s) I settle on. I -really- appreciate the help. Thank you!

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[–] MrMcGasion 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

There are some differences between distros as to whether TRIM is enabled by default or not (I've read Ubuntu enables it by default, but Debian does not). That said, depending on what file-system your ssd is formatted with it may be enabled by default at that level. The most-often recommended file-systems for SSDs are Btrfs and F2FS, both of which support and enable TRIM by default (as of Linux 6.2 for Btrfs, so if you are running an older kernel version you might need to manually enable it). I think most distro installers support using Btrfs as the main file-system, but F2FS is a bit more hit and miss I think. Safest bet would be to investigate once you settle on a distro, but support should be pretty standard, even if it's not enabled by default.

[–] ChunkMcHorkle 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The most-often recommended file-systems for SSDs are Btrfs and F2FS, both of which support and enable TRIM by default (as of Linux 6.2 for Btrfs, so if you are running an older kernel version you might need to manually enable it).

This is great to know on multiple levels because in Windows it is triggered from the OS, I think as a weekly task, and NTFS has little to do with it as far as I know.

It's also good to know that support is pretty standard now, as a lot of what I found online was just old and the rest assumed I'd already be familiar with it. Bad assumption, lol.

I don't know enough to have a preference one way or another for a specific file system, so I can just start with Btrfs and go forward with that. I can also read up on Btrfs further on its own, which I now know to do.

Safest bet would be to investigate once you settle on a distro

Absolutely. But this gets me started, and pointed in the right direction. Many thanks.

[–] AProfessional 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

This is a bit of misinformation. There is no evidence other filesystems have any downsides on an SSD. Use the default choice of your distribution. Roughly nobody uses F2FS on desktops. EXT4 is entirely reasonable and supports TRIM.

[–] RogerWilco 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

XFS supports trim too, and is arguably the highest performing filesystem for NVMEs in terms of multi-theaded use-cases. BTRFs is among the slowest filesystems for NVMEs both in IOPS and sequential metrics.

[–] AProfessional 4 points 1 year ago

Indeed. BTRFS is a different class of filesystem in terms of features too. Their merits are more than “SSD support”.

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