Linux 5.19 Allows Using TRIM To Zero-Out Sectors On Supported eMMC

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Storage on 30 May 2022 at 06:30 PM EDT. 9 Comments
LINUX STORAGE
Last week the (e)MMC storage new feature code landed into the Linux 5.19 merge window.

While the MMC/eMMC changes aren't usually too interesting, there is one change worth mentioning for this Linux 5.19 cycle: the MMC core code now supports zeroing out sectors using TRIM for supported eMMC storage.

If the eMMC device supports TRIM and indicates that the behavior of it erases to zeroes, the Linux MMC core code will now use TRIM for the REQ_OP_WRITE_ZEROES that is used for writing zero filled sectors. In other words, basically hardware offloading for zeroing out on capable eMMC storage. While TRIM has caused headaches in the past for SSD users, hopefully the eMMC reporting of TRIM capabilities is reliable and this doesn't end up causing issues / non-zeroing-out behavior for quirky devices...

The rest of the MMC changes for this new cycle include items such as fixes and enabling new hardware support -- Rockchip RK3588, SDX65, SM8150, and IMX8DXL are among new hardware variants supported by existing SDHCI drivers. The Broadcom (BRCMSTB) driver also adds clock-gating support to help conserve power usage with this new kernel code.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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