How much space is it ok to use of my SSD ?


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I have a Crucial M4 120 GB SSD though I rarely use any of it except 24.2 GB about with 25 GB being the most with any other apps I may install on it. I use it for my OS and Apps only. Should I use more of it or no ? If so how much more ? How much would be to much ?

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On my Samsung it sets aside another section of the drive for "over provisioning".  I believe it's about 10%.  It supposed to help longevity.  Not sure what the hard and fast rule would be.  I used mine for OS, and most other programs except games.  I install those a 1TB drive.

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There is no-one 100% expert on SSD topics.

Just use it as you like. Install programs on it as you like...... just like a regular HDD just make sure you trim it (de-frag it regularly) every once in a while and it only takes 10 seconds max on 120 gig SSD AFAIK

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all of it is fine. that's what it was designed for. but the less you use the more extra space the SSD has to wear-level. there's no hard number like 75% or whatever else people pull out of their bottoms

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Not sure where this 75% number comes from either, sounds kind of silly to not use most of the drive.  If the drive is for data, then you can use (almost) 100% of it, if it's got the OS on it, you never want to go 100% because the OS will need a little extra space to work with.  It also depends on the size of the drive as opposed to just percentage.

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FWIW, SSDs are awkard sizes because failure is built into them. A 256GB HDD is sold as a 240GB, becaue the other 16GB is reserved for 'bad blocks' as the chips wear and corrupt.. Food for thought. I see no reason not to use it all. Theres little seek time, which is the killer when platters get full and you have to split bits up all over the drive. This issue is nothing for SSDs.

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There is no-one 100% expert on SSD topics.

Just use it as you like. Install programs on it as you like...... just like a regular HDD just make sure you trim it (de-frag it regularly) every once in a while and it only takes 10 seconds max on 120 gig SSD AFAIK

 

You shouldn't really need to defrag an SSD. The whole problem with fragmentation on mechanical hard drives is that the head needs to seek to different physical parts of the disk lowering speed with wasteful movement. As an SSD has no moving parts so can access any part of data in exactly the same amount of time fragmentation is not an issue. In fact defragging an SSD is actually *bad* for the overall life of the drive as each block of memory only has a finite number of reads and writes so pointlessly defragging (i.e. moving) data to be contiguous when there is no need to just wastes the reads and writes.

 

Anybody who says they are getting better performance from their SSD after defragging is either lying or does not understand the technology used. You see the same thing with people saying $100 golden plated, oxygen free HDMI cables give better picture quality than a $10 HDMI cable which is utter rubbish as the signal is digital. The only benefit you *may* get with the $100 cable is build quality. If a cable adheres to the HDMI spec you are good to go. Same with SSDs and defragging. Defragging was designed for older technology drives. Hope that helps :)

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You shouldn't really need to defrag an SSD. The whole problem with fragmentation on mechanical hard drives is that the head needs to seek to different physical parts of the disk lowering speed with wasteful movement. As an SSD has no moving parts so can access any part of data in exactly the same amount of time fragmentation is not an issue. In fact defragging an SSD is actually *bad* for the overall life of the drive as each block of memory only has a finite number of reads and writes so pointlessly defragging (i.e. moving) data to be contiguous when there is no need to just wastes the reads and writes.

 

Anybody who says they are getting better performance from their SSD after defragging is either lying or does not understand the technology used. You see the same thing with people saying $100 golden plated, oxygen free HDMI cables give better picture quality than a $10 HDMI cable which is utter rubbish as the signal is digital. The only benefit you *may* get with the $100 cable is build quality. If a cable adheres to the HDMI spec you are good to go. Same with SSDs and defragging. Defragging was designed for older technology drives. Hope that helps smile.png

 

correct. but worth noting that in Win8, defrag and trim are both triggered in the re-named "Optimize" interface (what used to be called Defrag) and does the correct procedure automatically depending on the disk. the stock software won't even let you defrag an SSD at all.

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correct. but worth noting that in Win8, defrag and trim are both triggered in the re-named "Optimize" interface (what used to be called Defrag) and does the correct procedure automatically depending on the disk. the stock software won't even let you defrag an SSD at all.

 

Sad thing is he didn't even properly read the comment he quoted, it clearly says Trim and used defrag as an example of what to do on an SSD

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Sad thing is he didn't even properly read the comment he quoted, it clearly says Trim and used defrag as an example of what to do on an SSD

 

Apologies, when I read "trim it (de-frag it regularly)" I read it as he should defrag it regularly. Trim should already be enabled and is not something an end user should ever need to worry about.

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I guess I just cannot tell the difference.  I have mine pretty close to full (well above 75%) and I do not notice any performance issues.  Is that the only reason for the 75% rule?

 

yes. well, and longevity, but that's hardly a practical issue for most consumers. it's pretty obvious that the more spare space the SSD has to spread wear out, the better it'll perform/longer it'll last.

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Never defrag the SSD because it shifts data around the chips to try get an even wear so as the defrag is running itll be constantly shifting data to other areas as a "new area" so the defrag will keep cycling round and round. Thats what i heard anyway and if true is apparently the fastest way to kill your SSD. It manages itself so no need to touch it, leave it alone and enjoy :d

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