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How much space do you leave free in your SSD?

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TheHorse

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I always knew SSDs shouldn't be completely full, never bothered to look up what people thought the % of space left free should be until today. Most people were saying 10-15%, I read a few articles saying 25%. Lol, right. I'm going to buy a 480GB SSD to only be able to use just over 300GB of it. Not.

What do you leave? I'm sticking with 10%, because I paid for this SSD and I'm gonna use it. Hate to even leave ~40-45GB free because that's a couple games, but by the time I really need that space I can probably buy a 2TB drive.
 
#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHorse View Post

I always knew SSDs shouldn't be completely full, never bothered to look up what people thought the % of space left free should be until today. Most people were saying 10-15%, I read a few articles saying 25%. Lol, right. I'm going to buy a 480GB SSD to only be able to use just over 300GB of it. Not.

What do you leave? I'm sticking with 10%, because I paid for this SSD and I'm gonna use it. Hate to even leave ~40-45GB free because that's a couple games, but by the time I really need that space I can probably buy a 2TB drive.
Click to expand...
I leave always 10% unallocated.
 
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#4 ·
I have a 250GB SSD (because I'm poor/it's for the OS, not for games), of which 232GB is usable, and it currently has 100GB free.

The only game I put on it is Dragon Age: Inquisition because it has absolutely abysmal loading times on a HDD, even my WD Black.

Every single other game I have goes on the WD Black, and all have tolerable/acceptable load times to me. But I don't play anything like Battlefield Multiplayer where maybe I would need it on an SSD to improve load times to be competitive. (As I really have no idea how something like Battlefield Multiplayer works, or if doing multiplayer increases load times, take this with a grain of salt).

I have Witcher 3, both Tomb Raiders, Battlefield 4 (for the campaign...
frown.gif
), all Crysis, Far Cry 3- Primal, Civ 6, both XCOM, both Shadowrun and other modern games on my WD Black and the load times are all acceptable to give an idea. My point is that I have a lot of space free on my (smaller) SSD because I've only found one game that absolutely HAS to be on an SSD.

That said, even with a newer OS then mine (e.g. Win 10) it shouldn't need much more than it already allocates on your SSD. This doesn't include room for a page file (should be double your system RAM generally) and things like System Restore points (I limit mine to about 6GB, make manual restore points weekly, and delete the older ones + make a new one when it reaches 6GB usage). You should set these manually. Beyond that it's really space for programs you want to open quickly. Again, Windows probably won't need to allocate more space than it already uses.

If you have something like a 500GB SSD, then feel free to fill it with games, I don't think you even need to leave 10% free. If Windows needs more space, generally you will get a popup and it will nag you to clear space from the drive. This is even the case with Win7.

So, don't worry about it too much unless Windows complains to you.
smile.gif
 
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#5 ·
i currently have 40-50% free i go as low as 10-15% free but usualy for short periods sence i dont keep games installed for long.
 
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#6 ·
I just buy really big ones. LOL ... 2TB in my desktop and a 1.5TB Raid0 array (x3 drives) in my laptop ... I'll never get close to filling them up. ;-)
 
#7 ·
I've seen figures of 20-25% free space. I personally maintain no less that 25%. That free space does get used by the SSD. If you fill up too much of the free space, performance and life may suffer.
 
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#8 ·
#9 ·
I would be the kind to start digging up all the info and link it here about this very subject, but i have to go to sleep soon...

What i will say tho is this:

Many SSDs will >Already< have a % allocated for the purpose of keeping good operation.
You can usually tell when they have and not by simply doing this simple trick:
SSDs are usually sold with these capacities: 32-64-128-256-512-1024 etc. as you can see, those are exact multipliers of 2, by2 by2 by2 etc (2x2=4 x2=8 x2=16 x2=32 x2=64 x2=128 etc etc)
so when a SSD is labeled 512gb, the seller did NOT make a default unallocated free space on it and you SHOULD definatly never fill it up to more than 80-85%.

On the other hand, a 120gb, a 240gb, a 480gb SSD HAS a default unallocated free space built in by default, so you should be able to fill it to 90%, permitting your TRIM function to use that 10% free space.

SO
60-120-240-480-960, has hidden unallocated space by default, no need to leave 20% free, 8-10% is enough.
64-128-256-512-1024 doesnt have hidden unallocated space by default and you should manage it yourself leaving 15-25% free.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong by anyone with the right sources, but i beleive i'm right.

Cheers!

EDIT syntax and a few digits
PS -thank you s1rrah <<The technical term is "over provisioning" ...>> This link is great info but a long read...
-thank you Lady Fitzgerald, this is another good read
 
#10 ·
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#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Free space and overprovisioning are not exactly the same.

Edit: Read this article, especially the section on Overprovisioning. Leaving extra free space in addition to the overprovisioning allotted by the manufacturer will further reduce write amplification and may increase write life and performance.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip ... I will read it ...

thumb.gif
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald View Post

Free space and overprovisioning are not exactly the same.

Edit: Read this article, especially the section on Overprovisioning. Leaving extra free space in addition to the overprovisioning allotted by the manufacturer will further reduce write amplification and may increase write life and performance.
Click to expand...
Ineteresting!

I edited my previous post accordingly, only changed a couple digits.

Thanks
 
#13 ·
I aim to have atleast 20% free but end up at around 12-17% free. I try and keep as much free as i can but life happens
tongue.gif


I also tend to Agree with TheMack. some very good logic there.
 
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#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMack View Post

I would be the kind to start digging up all the info and link it here about this very subject, but i have to go to sleep soon...

What i will say tho is this:

Many SSDs will >Already< have a % allocated for the purpose of keeping good operation.
You can usually tell when they have and not by simply doing this simple trick:
SSDs are usually sold with these capacities: 32-64-128-256-512-1024 etc. as you can see, those are exact multipliers of 2, by2 by2 by2 etc (2x2=4 x2=8 x2=16 x2=32 x2=64 x2=128 etc etc)
so when a SSD is labeled 512gb, the seller did NOT make a default unallocated free space on it and you SHOULD definatly never fill it up to more than 80-85%.

On the other hand, a 120gb, a 240gb, a 480gb SSD HAS a default unallocated free space built in by default, so you should be able to fill it to 90%, permitting your TRIM function to use that 10% free space.

SO
60-120-240-480-960, has hidden unallocated space by default, no need to leave 20% free, 8-10% is enough.
64-128-256-512-1024 doesnt have hidden unallocated space by default and you should manage it yourself leaving 15-25% free.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong by anyone with the right sources, but i beleive i'm right.

Cheers!

EDIT syntax and a few digits
PS -thank you s1rrah <<The technical term is "over provisioning" ...>> This link is great info but a long read...
-thank you Lady Fitzgerald, this is another good read
Click to expand...
What about Crucial's MX300 SSDs? (275GB, 525GB, etc.)
 
#16 ·
Well, that would be a very simple guess from my part here but heres my idea on 275gb and 525 gb.

Since memory modules capacity always(dont quote me on that plz) go by multiples of 2, i would immediatly think that these units do have overprovisioning by default. Just that the number of modules on the board is an irregular number (not 2-4-8-16).

So the 275gb model could possibly be 10X 32gb and the 525gb could be 18X32gb or 9X64gb with large overprovisioning for both models.

Again those are just guesses as i dont have the time to look it up correctly at this time.

If anyone does have the time, i'll make sure to read your info and thank you for sharing it!
 
#19 ·
I suppose I should be more lenient on how much stuff is allowed on my SSD...
 
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#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoReaper View Post

I suppose I should be more lenient on how much stuff is allowed on my SSD...
Click to expand...
Won... Definitely... The best way is to try... When you experience some kind of slowing or abnormal behaviour you'll know that you reached a limit. So, easy step by step filling and testing.
 
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Lady Fitzgerald
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