TRIM is a feature in Windows 7 and above that immediately frees up the space on a solid state drive (SSD) that was previously occupied by a deleted file.
This allows Windows to re-use those no longer needed memory locations right away instead of having to search for unused locations elsewhere on the drive.
In a nutshell, having TRIM enabled keeps your SSD from slowing down with regular use, and it makes the drive last longer to boot.
TRIM is enabled by default in Windows 7 and above. Therefore, when you install a new SSD, the drive should automatically take advantage of TRIM without you having to enable it. That being said, sometimes TRIM will get turned off for some reason – and on rare occasions it won’t be enabled at all.
After you install a new SSD in your computer and boot into Windows for the first time, you should immediately check to see if TRIM is enabled. Here’s how:
1 – If you’re running Windows 7, click the Start button to display the Search box. If you’re running Windows 8 or above, press the Windows+S key combination to display the search box.
2 – Type cmd into the Search box.
3 – Right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator. A DOS window will open and display a command prompt.
4 – Type (or copy and paste) fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify at the command prompt, then press the Enter key.
If TRIM is already enabled, you should see the following: DisableDeleteNotify=0. If so, you don’t need to do anything further. But if you see DisableDeleteNotify=1 instead, TRIM is disabled and you will need to proceed with step 5 below to enable it.
5 – You should still have the DOS window open and a command prompt displayed. If not, repeat steps 1 – 3 above to re-open a DOS window.
6 – Type (or copy and paste) fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0 at the command prompt, then press the Enter key. TRIM support should now be enabled.
You can verify that TRIM has been properly enabled simply by typing (or copying and pasting) fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify at the command prompt once again.
That’s all there is to it. Ensuring that TRIM is enabled will keep your SSD running smoothly and ensure that it lasts as long as possible.