Quote Originally Posted by Ao1 View Post
... Emptying the recycle bin generates TRIM commands, but TRIM commands are also issued by the OS, even when the drive is idling.
Ao1 raises a good point. I would add that it seems like most folks understandably focus largely (if not solely) upon "emptying the recycle bin" and/or "hard deletes via shift key" when considering what causes TRIM commands to be generated in Win 7.

I suspect that there are other explicit (again, essentially manual) actions that can also directly incur TRIM commands (perhaps, for example, a "copy and replace file" action).

But I also believe that there are (or can be) other, "less visible, implicit" activities such as applications that (internally create and subsequently) delete files (including "temporary" files, moreover in a manner largely unbeknownst to users). Such deletions presumably also entail subsequent TRIM commands.

In any case, the key notion is that TRIM I/O operations can be observed (that is, by a tool that can capture the actual occurrence of such I/O operations) even during time periods when one believes that the "system/computer is currently idle".

And also along these lines I suppose my personal bias shows - that is, my preference for empirical data/metrics. Anyone interested in (re)confirming my presumptions above?