Partitioning SSD Drives

[stevegardner630]

I've read somewhere that partitioning SSD drives is difficult and can lead to significant loss of capacity. I don't remember the article but pretty sure it was a few years ago

Can anyone confirm, advise or suggest tips/tricks? I am ordering a desktop with 1 x 500Gb m2 SSD (system drive) and 1 x 2Tb m2 SSD for rapid access to a significant proportion of my stored files. (I'll have a 6Tb HDD as well for archiving).

I'm planning to partition the 2Tb into 3 unequal sectors.

Before I press the "Go" button on the order any input would be helpful.

Many thanks


(PS - will PCS partition drives as part of the set-up if requested?)

 

[ubuysa]

Why do you want to partition it? Partitioning brings no performance advantage, its just a data organisation tool.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[Tony1044]

It wouldn't lose you any significant space. Depending on the size of the partition, it can change the default block size (or allocation unit size as MS call it) which in turn is the smallest amount of space that can be occupied on a disk. Smaller block sizes = smaller chunks of data can be written, but can lead to great fragmentation - generally just let Windows sort it out during formatting.

I'm not a fan of using multiple partitions, personally. On SSD's you won't really notice it, but on HDD's it can lead to slower performance in some cases. I doubt you'd see the same effect in an SSD as the data is not always where the OS thinks it is anyway due to wear leveling and trim.

As Ubuysa says, it can be handy for logically separating out your OS from your data and from your apps/games for example, but I'd still prefer a faster, smaller, OS SSD and a larger HDD or SSD for data, personally.

I'd suggest with SSD's it comes down purely to personal preference.

 

[stevegardner630]

Hi Guys,
I'm planning to put all the data on the SSD

 

[stevegardner630]

Sorry - pressed send too quickly.

I'm planning to use the 2Tb SSD for all the data - subdivided into 3 partitions of 0.5Tb for documents, 0.5Tb for pictures and 0.9Tb for Video. At present I am running separate internal drives 1Tb HDD for Docs & Photos and 2Tb HDD for video. The former is 70% full, the latter 95% full but there are a lot of duplicates that can be cleaned up.

I will use the 500Gb SSD as the system drive and - apart from temporary files - that will be all I will use it for. Everything else will be saved as default to the above partitions. An internal 4Tb or 6Tb HDD will be there to run as a sort of "internal backup" and oversize files storage although I will also have an external backup. I may end up using a proportion of the HDD for overflow files that are very large or rarely accessed. As you gather, my maxim is that you can never have too much storage space!

From what you have said above Tony1044, it sounds to me that the 2Tb partitioning will work OK. I'm planning to use the Seagate FireCudas.

Many thanks again
Steve

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm planning to use the 2Tb SSD for all the data - subdivided into 3 partitions of 0.5Tb for documents, 0.5Tb for pictures and 0.9Tb for Video. At present I am running separate internal drives 1Tb HDD for Docs & Photos and 2Tb HDD for video.

Why use partitions for that rather than just folders? Seems odd?

 

[stevegardner630]

The sheer number of sub folders.

There are 670 Pictures sub folders (within 68 folders), and 533 video subfolders (within 45 folders)! It helps hunt down (a bit) the sub-folders without trying to use shortcuts for it all. Perhaps its just me being a bit perverse but I have largely been using separate drives to now. This time I want the speed of fast SSDs but 3 x 1Tb m2 SSDs would cost a load more and I understand that no motherboard has 3 x m2 sockets anyway.

 

[andjac]

in my mind 3 partitions = 3 folders (pictures, videos & docs)
68 sub folders and 670 sub sub folders in the relevant one

We are of-course creatures of habit and whatever works for you

 

[ubuysa]

TBH your partitioning plan makes no sense, you'll get exactly the same logical separation of documents, images and videos using the basic folder structure.

Partitioning may well give you problems in the future too if you don't get the sizing right. If one partition starts to fill whilst others have lots of free space, you'll have a tricky repartitioning task to do, and possibly again sometime later.

The only conceivable advantage would be the path name limit, but unless you use long folder and/or file names that shouldn't be an issue.

I would advise against it.

 

[stevegardner630]

Thanks all for your advice.