I have been working closely with OCZ on this new firmware and wanted to clear things up a bit. This new firmware *does not*, *in any way at all*, remove or eliminate orphaned data, deleted files, or anything of the like. It does not reach into the partition $bitmap and figure out what clusters are unused (like newer Samsung firmwares). It does not even use Windows 7 TRIM to purge unused LBA remap table entries upon file deletions.
What it *does* do is re-arrange in-place data that was previously write-combined (i.e. by earlier small random writes taking place). If data was written to every LBA of the drive, then all files were subsequently deleted, all data would remain associated with those LBAs. This actually puts OCZ above most of the pack, because their algorithm restores performance without needing to reclaim unused flash blocks, and does so completely independent of the data / partition type used. This is particularly useful for those concerned with data recovery of deleted files, since the data is never purged or TRIMmed.
Slashdot-specific Translation: This firmware will enable an OCZ Vertex to maintain full speed (~160 MB/sec) sequential writes and good IOPS performance when used under Mac and Linux.
Hardware-nut Translation: This firmware will enable OCZ Vertex to maintain full performance when used in RAID configurations.
I'll have my full evaluation of this firmware up at PC Perspective later today. Once available, it will appear at this link:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=760 [pcper.com]
Regards,
Allyn Malventano
Storage Editor, PC Perspective