Leaving Space at the end of an Intel SSD?

platypus · 19 Jan 2011 at 12:34

I seem to recall that Intel recommend some empty space at the end of the SSD, but I've spent a while looking and now can't find anything. Have I imagined this? It's an Intel 120GB X-25M, how much space should I leave if it's true?

Zarf · 19 Jan 2011 at 12:58

It's not just Intel, It's any SSD. Try to leave at least 10% free space on your drive, it makes it easier for the drive to manage it's garbage collection/wear levelling routines and maintain high performance.

platypus · 19 Jan 2011 at 14:05

Ok, thanks

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dEl_fUEGo · 19 Jan 2011 at 16:10

Hi,

How do you guys leave that free space? Do you just 'eyeball' it or is it good practise to just partition off 10% and never touch it?

Thanks in advance...

Toughnoodle · 19 Jan 2011 at 16:25

AFAIK it's never available to you. The disk parameters sent by SSD firmware to your controller will be user available space, with any internal space kept internal to the SSD hardware.

Zarf · 19 Jan 2011 at 17:09

dEl_fUEGo said:
Hi,

How do you guys leave that free space? Do you just 'eyeball' it or is it good practise to just partition off 10% and never touch it?

Thanks in advance...

I just eyeball it, gives you a bit more flexibility if you need it for short periods of time, unlike partitioning.

Toughnoodle said:
AFAIK it's never available to you. The disk parameters sent by SSD firmware to your controller will be user available space, with any internal space kept internal to the SSD hardware.

The disks usually have around 7.5% reserved (it's convenient, NAND actually comes in Base2 capacities, but they pretend it's Base10 like we are used to with mechanical drives and pocket the space as reserved area) but performance is best if you keep around 10% extra on top of that.

dEl_fUEGo · 19 Jan 2011 at 17:34

Cheers for the replies

I've got a 60GB OCZ coming in a couple of days and was planning on firing 7 onto it, i'm thinking i'll just eyeball it also and track usage.