SSD and TRIM and Virtual Machines and MultiBoot Scenarios Oh My 1

[kjv1611]

This just a thought right now, as I've not yet done anything, but I'm seriously considering picking up a new laptop, installing an SSD for OS and mechanical HDD for data.

In that process, I got to thinking about possibly multibooting OSes, but then thought about TRIM, and also wondered if nowadays just using Virtual Machines would work as well as a multiboot anyway.

So my question out of all this is: If I have an SSD where I install Windows 10 (or Windows 7 or 8, I'd guess it'll work the same) as the Operating system, and then have all sorts of virtual machines for different Linux Distros, a couple older Windows OSes, etc... would Windows still handle TRIM, so I wouldn't have to have any concern whatseover about it?

And if I did do a Multiboot with 3 or 4 OSes installed, would I need to then worry about TRIM? Do the newer SSDs handle it well enough to not even worry about it?

If I go this route, the main machine and SSD I'm looking at right now is the Asus G751 and a Samsung M.2 SSD (I forget the model # - but it's really new, and it uses PCI Express standard rather than SATA 3 standard).

Thanks for any thoughts.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[rclarke250]

TRIM has been in the Linus kernel dating 12/08 2.6.28-25, As long as you were to use EXT4,Btrfs,FAT,GFS2, or XFS, just needs to be enabled. All new SSd drives have a native garbage collection system in place, TRIM is still better though. As to Multi-boot or VM, depends on what you are doing. VM will not give you high end video card ability which is one of the reasons to buying a machine like the G751 ROG. I have a G53S that I have a crucial m500 240Gb SSD as the boot drive, and a WD 500Gb drive for data as my Windows 10 play machine. Works good. As for VM and TRIM, This relies on the booting OS, not the VM. So if you booted Windows 8.1, and ran a VM of Windows XP, TRIM would be handled for the whole disk by 8.1, at least that is how understand it, and someone with more knowledge of VM can correct me I hope.

 

[kjv1611]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking, regarding VMs and TRIM. As for Linux and TRIM, I didn't realize Linux supported it. And as for graphics and VMs, I didn't think about not taking advantage of high-end graphics, yeah, that alone would make me want to do it as a multiboot for the most part, I guess. I don't plan on doing a lot of gaming with the machine, however. I primarily want a machine that will perform well for a variety of tasks for approximately 5 years or more. I'm going back to school, and wanted to pick up something I thought would be more dependable than what I have. When I tried specking out machines with things I wanted to find in a machine, the searches ended up all pointing to various gaming machines, with the Asus G series being the best bang for the buck.

What I wanted mainly are:
1. 17 inch screen, hi-def - I don't think I care whether it's "1080p", but I want more than 720p or 900x600 that's in so many 17 inch laptops.
2. Supports more than 1 storage drive w/o replacing optical drive.
3. Doesn't cost a fortune
4. CAN play games when wanted - I've always been a casual gamer, and at times more than I ought. For a good while, hardly any time for any games, but once in a blue moon, I might still.
5. Good for audio/video editing - which seems almost anything nowadays can handle, though some better than others.
6. Good screen
7. Good cooling under load.
8. And now that I've read about it, support for at least 1 m.2 SSD with PCI Express bus connection rather than SATA 3. I found 2 other laptops, I think that support more than 1, but they cost more than the G751 series, and I don't think they are worth it.

Of course if anyone has an idea on a different laptop option for say $1,000 to $1,500 max (1500 already including m.2 SSD + HDD) and basically meeting the other requirements, then I may need to consider those.

The Asus G751 seems to fit what I want the best.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[rclarke250]

I like my Asus, and if I thought of going with someone else, the only one I would consider at this time would be MSI, I really liked the system I had before the Asus, and they are much easier to work on, but I like to tinker with the insides, so may not be an issue for you. But no, you can't go wrong with the Asus, it is a very solid machine.

 

[kjv1611]

Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, I glanced at some MSI systems. And I do like to tinker, but when it comes to laptops, I've just about lost my desire to tinker too much. Well, not sure it's desire as it is patience, b/c my time is so short that I'm always tired by the time I try to tinker with that sort of thing. Laptops also make me LOVE LOVE LOVE desktops for the tinkering aspect. But I would prefer something more mobile now (compared to a desktop). I don't care that it's about like moving a tank from one room to another - my classes are all online, so it's not like I have to lug it across a college campus.

When I compared the G751 in particular to the MSI systems, to me it seemed like Asus won out b/c of the cooling (and maybe price, depends upon which system I compare to).

Anyway, thanks again.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[technome]

I love my Asus, overclockers delight, but where ever you get it from make sure they have a good return policy. Purchased one from Egghead, I receive a board with a bent CPU pin, first thing I checked for upon delivery.. Sent it back by authorized RMA, they still have my rma-ed board, never received a replacement or money back. CitiBank credit card company sided with Egghead, even though even though Egghead has the damaged board. Amazon is supposed to be good.



........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, 1949

 

[rclarke250]

We are talking about laptops, not motherboards. Who is Egghead? I have dealt with Newegg for years, and never had an issue returning anything.

 

[kjv1611]

There used to be an Egghead site YEARS ago and if I remember correctly, that was the precursor to NewEgg. Otherwise, I suppose there could be another one that operates outside the U.S. now? I don't know - don't care care, personally, so not taking the time to research it. Maybe technome will clarify later.

I have a question on using the advanced graphics in virtual machines. I came cross this post on toms hardware (3 years old):

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/336186-33-full-gaming-virtual-machine

Based on that, does anyone know of any possible issues of getting it to work? Not saying I'd use Linux as my base, I think I'd prefer Windows 10 as my base once that's released to retail.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[rclarke250]

Egghead software, became egghead.com and onsale.com, purchased by Amazon, no relation to Newegg.com.

 

[kjv1611]

Embarrassing. Yeah, I just overheard that years ago, and didn't try to investigate it. Well, really, it's of no importance to me whether they were related or not. Interesting to find out it's a common misconception but far from fact. Amazing how that sort of thing happens all the time.

Here's a pretty nifty article laying all that out:

http://xenomorph.net/misc/newegg/

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57