How much free space to leave on a ssd.

[carulli]

Before I purchased and installed my intel 320 series 160gb ssd in my g73jh I was under the impression that i should leave at least 15gb of free space on it. Google is providing many sources of information on this but sadly there are no strait answers or different websites contradict each other.

I want to know how much I should leave as free space on this drive. It is my system and program drive (not games) and is in 1 partition. Lifetime of the drive isn't a huge issue as it has a 5 year warranty, I am more worried about performance in the future. TRIM is enabled also.

Thanks, Daniel.

[VistaKing]

When you install windows 7 on a clean hard drive . Windows 7 automatically creates a 100MB hidden partition called System Reserved . I located a site that might help you out

See if this will help .

SSD life-span recommendations

Drive wearing on any SSD based drive will always be a ghost in the back of your mind. Clever SSD firmware will help you out greatly but there are some recommendations and tips for a long lifespan and optimal performance. Basically, what is needed is to eliminate the HDD optimizations within Vista or Windows 7 (that cause lots of small file writes like superfetch and prefetch).

In short (and this is for Vista and Windows 7) make sure you have:

Drive indexing disabled (of no use for SSD anyway, because access times are so low).
Prefetch disabled
Superfetch disabled
Defrag disabled.

So make sure you disable prefetchers. Also, especially with Vista and windows 7, make sure you disable background defragmentation on the SSD disk. You do not have a mechanical drive anymore so it is not needed, you do not want defragmentation to wear out your SSD, and Vista and Windows 7 do this automatically when your PC is in idle (picking it's nose).

For Superfetch/prefetchers and other services, at command prompt just type: services

Use Windows 7 / Vista's services to disable them. To disable defragmentation

Courtesy from : http://www.guru3d.com/article/intel-320-ssd-review/4

If you want your SSD drive to see of the GBs ? Asus has a nice tool called Disk Unlocker . I never personally used the program but you could check it out here http://event.asus.com/mb/2010/disk_unlocker/ .

[DaemonCantor]

Very good advice! VistaKing, I'd like to see a Detailed How to made by you and Stickied here! I personally think it would be of great help to all members and Novices alike.

[HiVizMan]

When you install Win7 simply run the Experience Index first thing. Defrag will be disabled automatically. Does not do any harm to go into scheduled events and physically remove that entry.

[xeromist]

carulli's question about free space is related to the fact that a full SSD will work noticeably slower than one that is nearly empty. It's not a wear leveling problem although wear leveling would also be less effective if the drive is mostly full of static files and a lot of write/erase operations are done to a small amount of free space (depending if the algorithm will actually move static data to improve leveling).

Anyway, I'm not sure what the sweet spot (maximum usage with minimal degradation) is for a 320 160GB but for most drives somewhere in the ballpark of 80% is a decent rule of thumb IIRC. It actually varies depending on the drive. I picked up a Patriot Pyro SE because it uses synchronous flash (consistently better in real world usage) and maintains fairly consistent speeds even as it fills up.

[VistaKing]

Very good advice! VistaKing, I'd like to see a Detailed How to made by you and Stickied here! I personally think it would be of great help to all members and Novices alike.

DaemonCantor,

Are you asking to create a tutorial how to get the Hard Drive not to create the 100mb hidden partition during Windows Installation ?

[carulli]

Thankyou everyone for your inputs. I removed that spare partition anyway (edit: not sure if it is the one you guys mean) but I will just leave 20% clean. 25% clean atm. I am still getting the same speeds (actually a little higher) than when I just had the os on it).

[DaemonCantor]

DaemonCantor,

Are you asking to create a tutorial how to get the Hard Drive not to create the 100mb hidden partition during Windows Installation ?

No, I was asking for a good Tutorial on the SSD and getting to the correct settings so that Idiots like me might be able to set up one correctly. There are so many different things put out there about the subject I even get confusicated and frustered...

[xeromist]

No, I was asking for a good Tutorial on the SSD and getting to the correct settings so that Idiots like me might be able to set up one correctly. There are so many different things put out there about the subject I even get confusicated and frustered...

Not defragging is really the only thing that's absolutely critical. I would say it's followed closely by partition alignment on the 4K boundaries (only an issue when cloning from a hard drive) but I used the Intel SSD migration tool and I think it automatically does this for you or I just got lucky I guess.

Other things like disabling swap on the SSD, disabling hibernation, relocating document folders, etc are a good idea for longevity and minimizing space usage to leave room for other stuff but they aren't required.

[DaemonCantor]

Well this is what I was asking for, I keep getting conflicting reports and all about this stuff so I haven't made the jump to SSD. I think a lot of people could use this information. I must be getting old some of this stuff is confusing as Hell.

[Area 66]

For the question, I like to leave at least 20 gb on a 60 gb SSD , on a 80 I live 30 gb and on my 120 gb I leave 40 gb, no science in my stuff only guessing ...


No, I was asking for a good Tutorial on the SSD and getting to the correct settings so that Idiots like me might be able to set up one correctly. There are so many different things put out there about the subject I even get confusicated and frustered...


This is a good guide , all true I don't use the utility and I don't enable write caching

this what I do

• Disable indexing
• Turn Off the Disk Defragmenter Schedule
• Disable defragmentation
• Disable Superfetch / Prefetch
• Disable the Page File
• Disable System Restore
• Disable Hibernate
• TRIM Commands



http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f128/ssd-tweak-guide-236563/

[houndazs]

hey thanks for the link. i missed some things!

[DaemonCantor]

Thank you Markedone I've bookmarked it! and personally I think what you have got there should be Stickied for others!

[houndazs]

Thank you Markedone I've bookmarked it! and personally I think what you have got there should be Stickied for others!

agreed sticky!