Minimum free space on hard drive?

atikovi said:

I have a 500GB SSD and 26.1GB free of 489GB. Can I take that 26.1GB down to zero without any issues or should I start deleting stuff now?

You need to start deleting stuff now. You should have 20-25% free space on an SSD to avoid problems such as write amplification, that will more quickly use up the write life of the SSD, and slowing of the SSD.

Hi,
As stated ssd's need over provisioning which is as also stated 20-25% free space reserved for trim or until trim is done.

You should move all personal files music and videos/ movies/ games to a larger hdd just leave the os and programs on the main ssd.

atikovi said:

It's a Crucial SSD less than a year old with a 3 year warranty. Aren't the newer drives immune to this problem? It won't make it to 3 years like this? Would it be better to swap in a 1TB drive? I don't recall seeing this issue mentioned when I first decided to go to SSD. Everybody said how great, fast, reliable they are. If you can only use 400GB of a 500GB drive, they probably should not advertise it as a 500GB drive, or at least make it with 600GB.

If you have files you do not need on that drive, it would make more sense to cull them out. If you need everything that's on the drive, then you could add a second 50oGB drive to your computer and move a few files over to it.

While SSDs serve the same purpose as HDDs, they are not the same beasts and have to be treated differently. One example is the amount of empty space needed and why. With HDDs, one needs 10-15% empty space to reduce fragmentation and allow defragmentation. SSDs are far more tolerant of fragmentation so that is less of an issue (frequent defragmentation will actually reduce SSD write life) but write amplification due to overcrowding does become an issue due to the need to move data around during garbage collection (see here for a better explanation).

As far as the size rating of an SSD goes, that's just the way the industry standard goes. Your SSD has already had its size reduced by an extra 12GB by overprovisioning (from 512GB to 500GB). Both HDDs and SSDs format to a size smaller that the advertised amount due to differences in the way drive capacity is measured. I don't like it either but, at least, the drive industry is consistent about it. Both HDDs and SSDs need free space to operate properly and at their best; SSDs just happen to need a bit more of that extra room. It's something you will just have to accept.

I never said your drive wouldn't last through the warranty period. It probably will last well past the warranty period before you run out of write capacity unless you really abuse it (such as daily defragging; in normal use, an SSD should need to be defragged no more than once every 2-3 years). Keep in mind, though, write life is not the only determining factor in how long an SSD will last. For example, the controller or one of the NAND or other chips may fail prematurely. Stuff happens.

Still, if you want your SSD to have a reasonable chance of lasting a long time and not becoming sluggish, you need to double the amount of free space you have right now.

Hi,
Yep
Windows.old Folder - Delete - Windows 7 Help Forums

WinDozeUser said:

Looks to me that all suggestion are about right from my understanding. I rarely buy an SSD larger than 500GB and prefer to use 250GB SSD's as adding the OS and Software I do not go over 75GB. If you use Pagefile.sys is is recommended to be placed on a separate HDD. If you use Hibernation it is recommended that you don't. These two items alone can require Lots of space and add greatly to the write/rewrite life (shortens it).

For best & fastest operation the page file should be on your Windows 7 SSD. I have my page file on the SSD & have done so for 4 years, with no problems. I don't use hibernation, if I am not going to need the computer for long periods I turn it off.

There has been a lot of talk about what is best for SSDs, but generally if you do what suits you to get the best results for your needs, the SSD will last for at least as long as an HDD.