Need expert opinion on adding partition to my SSD drive

art2011 · 21 Oct 2011

Hello Everyone,

I have a system consisting of a 120 gb OCZ Technology Vertex 2 SSD drive for my C:, and a 1tb Western Digital Black Caviar as my data drive, E:

I have plenty of free space on the SSD drive, but I find it necessary for me to add a 24gb partition on the SSD drive.

I'm a little hesitant because I know how touchy these SSD drives are so I thought I'd ask.

Is it OK to add a partition at this stage? I was suggested several solutions, one was the diskpart command. The other was Acronis Disk Director.

First, will I be OK in doing this? second which tool do you recommend?

Thank You for any help.

Brink · 21 Oct 2011

Hello Art,

You could partition a SSD the exact same way as a HDD without hurting them at all.

I find that using Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to shrink the C: drive, and to create a new partition from the unallocated space may be the easiest method.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

gregrocker · 21 Oct 2011

May I ask why you find it necessary to add a 24gb partition to your SSD?

Just askin.

art2011 · 22 Oct 2011

Shawn, thank you very much for your quick reply. Gregrocker, sure no problem I will be happy to answer. I am setting up a 24gb partition as part of my backup plan. I have a blu-ray writer I recently purchased. This partition will contain all my ongoing projects until it reaches capacity and then I will copy the contents into an archive folder on my 1tb E: spinner drive, and burn the contents onto blu-ray disk for a hard copy backup. Then I will delete the contents of the partition and start clean and repeat.

gregrocker · 22 Oct 2011

Not sure why they need to be in a partition if they're projects you're working on currently as this is what the Desktop or User folders are for, but it also comes down to User preference with these things.

It's wise to work with your active projects on the SSD to enjoy faster speeds.

art2011 · 22 Oct 2011

I originally wanted to use a folder but found I couldn't specify the folder's data capacity. The partition size limit set on the logical drive corresponds to the amount of data I can burn onto blu-ray (single layer blu-ray=25gb). This way, when I'm at or near 24 GB I will be forced to backup to the archive on my spinner drive, and burn a copy of the data onto blu-ray. It's just a way to force me to back-up is the easier answer :)

nitroman84 · 22 Oct 2011

This seems to be a common question. Some people think that partitioning a SSD will result in wear leveling and trim not being equal across the partitions of the drive and result in some cells wearing out faster. I personally have used a SSD for over a year now and abused it just as I would a spinner. My impression is that they are tough and can handle anything you want to throw at them.

art2011 · 22 Oct 2011

Excellent nitroman84..that is what I was hoping to hear. I've heard the same as you and to be honest, I've been babying mine to the point where I finally scratched my head and said "why"? I bought it to use and if I can't use it the way I want then it's of no use to me. If it breaks, then I'll get a newer/faster/bigger one :)

nitroman84 · 22 Oct 2011

I was the same way at first then just started using it as I see fit. It is now in it's second laptop and lived through hundreds of gigs of writes. Still shows no signs of performance degradation.

Brink · 22 Oct 2011

art2011 said:

Shawn, thank you very much for your quick reply. Gregrocker, sure no problem I will be happy to answer. I am setting up a 24gb partition as part of my backup plan. I have a blu-ray writer I recently purchased. This partition will contain all my ongoing projects until it reaches capacity and then I will copy the contents into an archive folder on my 1tb E: spinner drive, and burn the contents onto blu-ray disk for a hard copy backup. Then I will delete the contents of the partition and start clean and repeat.

You're welcome Art. :)