Linux – Does Linux support TRIM for SSDs on LVM

Notice that you probably need a more recent kernel than 2.6.28, see here (based on 2.6.30-rc4 with last activity in May this year). I do not know to what degree that tree has been merged, maybe you can search the linux-ide@vger.kernel.org mailing list. Update: see for instance this thread (also discussed on the kernel list).

For using TRIM you are probably interested in hdparm-9.20, released a few days ago (and I see there is even a newer wiper-1.7 release).

Update: See also this LWN article about the relationship between filesystem, TRIM, performance and SSD disks.

I have a OCZ Summit SSD in my work laptop running Win7 x64. I had installed the drive just prior to the firmware update that enabled TRIM so I was running for a long time with no TRIM. I noticed some pretty substantial performance problems after a few months. It became unbearable when, after installing an Apple bluetooth mouse, the cursor would occasionally pause while compiling a large project within Visual Studio 2010. (Also my compile time for this project was then around 20 seconds, up from 13 seconds when the drive was installed initially - though more classes and projects had been added so maybe not the best indicator.)

I backed everything up to my Windows Home Server, updated the firmware (it clears the disk which is why I didn't perform the update prior), restored from backup and performance hasn't been an issue for the past two months since I've done this. (And back down to around 13 seconds for a full compile for the same project.)

So in my experience there is a definite noticeable performance hit over time. This is the reason why I have not yet replaced the HDD in my MacBook Pro with an SSD.