SSD Over-provisioning

[Westyfield2]

So I've got a new SSD - Samsung 840 Evo. When I fit it I will be doing a clean install of Windows 8.1, and before hand I'll update the drive to the latest firmware and give it a secure erase.

I've seen a few mentions on various review sites about SSD overprovisioning. The basic idea being that by not-filling the drive you'll prolong its life and speed. Sounds good to me...

Can I just create one big partition maxing out the drive, and then just rely on my own will-power not to actually fill it all with files? Or do I need to do something special with partitions? (Create one partition but not maximum capacity, or create two partitions but only use the bigger, or something?)

 

[wazza300]

It will reserve a certain amount of space for overprovisioning,if you select 10% ect in Samsung magician,no need for any partitions,you will sacrifice some ssd space though

 

[Westyfield2]

It will reserve a certain amount of space for overprovisioning,if you select 10% ect in Samsung magician,no need for any partitions,you will sacrifice some ssd space though

Ah ok. So I partition it as maximum when formatting & installing windows, and then install magician and select the overprovisioning afterwards?

 

[wazza300]

yeah,just install windows on the ssd once done select 10% in Samsung magician tool for overprovisioning

 

[Deleted member 138126]

There's absolutely no need to over-provision, unless:

- You are going to thrash the living daylights out of the drive, 24x7, AND
- You plan on running the drive extremely full

If both of those things AREN'T true, then there is nothing to gain by over-provisioning.

All the over-provisioning does is give the built-in garbage collection routine some room to work under the above combined conditions (disk full and disk extremely busy).

 

[swiftmetal]

I my opinion it is a good thing because all it takes is one too many games to be installed and bang goes your performance of your nice new shiny drive just leave it on it is only 10% of your drive it is not that much and if worst comes to worst just get a hdd for the mass storage.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

If you completely fill your boot drive you have far bigger problems than slow performance.

 

[wazza300]

I found it to boost the random read/write figures

its not essential but if you have the spare space then use it imo,can always disable it if you need the space

 

[swiftmetal]

With my ssd i only install on it what i am using at the time then if needed i transfer it over the the hhd.

If the ssd is for games then it does not make that much difference to fps just loading times.

 

[miniyazz]

If you have the spare space then there's no point because it'll have spare space for wear-levelling regardless. If you don't have the space, well then you need the space for stuff more important than bolstering its wear-levelling capabilities.
Pointless IMO.

 

[Deleted member 138126]

If you have the spare space then there's no point because it'll have spare space for wear-levelling regardless. If you don't have the space, well then you need the space for stuff more important than bolstering its wear-levelling capabilities.
Pointless IMO.

100% agree.

Over-provisioning has to be one of the more annoying by-products of reviewers that are careless with their assertions. Yes, under 100% load conditions, over-provisioning helps the drive keep up with the thrashing it is taking, and the headline titillates: over-provisioning makes the drive faster! Of course the reality is nothing like that. Unfortunately it is the headline that persists.

This and RAID 0 for SSDs. Ugh!

 

[Deleted member 138126]

I found it to boost the random read/write figures

Unfortunately there is no technical merit to this (unless BOTH the conditions I mentioned are true at the same time).

 

[Westyfield2]

I'll just make sure not to fill it .