Kindly school me on new SSD best practices

So I contacted crucial about any downsides of using two partitions and weather it will need any "partition alignment" after install. Their educated response was "why do you need two partitions?", followed by some really unhelpful data. I'm just like to workflow of two partitions. So, my final questions:
1. Can I create two partitions while installing windows 7 without worrying about lower ssd life cycle/ data loss / doing any alignment etc.
2. If trim is enabled (by checking via cmd), do I really need the crucial s.m.a.r.t app? All it does is make me check the tbw and look for errors constantly.
3. I read soooo much opinions about "to-do's" after buying an ssd - disabling prefetch / superfetch, making sure the drive never turns off via the power plan (even though I'm quite sure it relates only for spinning drives), and I did all of them. Is it really necessary in order to prolong the ssd life cycle / avoid data loss? If I format my laptop again in order to create 2 partition I'd reallyyyy like to avoid all these processes. I already formated my laptop 3 times since I purchased the ssd three days ago while looking for the optimal setup, resulting, as of now, a tbw of 350gb which really worries me.

Thanks so much for your precious time!

Just do a clean install. Clean Install Windows 7
- Install the SSD on the laptop.
- Boot from the Win 7 installation disk.
- Go to install - Advanced - delete ALL partitions on the SSD - Create new.
- On the big NTFS install win 7.

When you finish installation, open device manger and look for missing drivers.
After all drivers installed, install the updates. My suggestion is to use ++Dism - https://www.chuyu.me/en/index.html
It looks for updates on a clever way and alerts on telemetry and spy "Updates". Set Win update to never check and run ++Dism.

When you finish installing the updates, open disk manger (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) and resize the C: partition and create a new partition (D:)
If you're going to use the new partition for data, make C: around 85G. It's big enough to hold Win 7 and the programs.

Megahertz07 said:

Just do a clean install. Clean Install Windows 7
- Install the SSD on the laptop.
- Boot from the Win 7 installation disk.
- Go to install - Advanced - delete ALL partitions on the SSD - Create new.
- On the big NTFS install win 7.

When you finish installation, open device manger and look for missing drivers.
After all drivers installed, install the updates. My suggestion is to use ++Dism - https://www.chuyu.me/en/index.html
It looks for updates on a clever way and alerts on telemetry and spy "Updates". Set Win update to never check and run ++Dism.

When you finish installing the updates, open disk manger (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) and resize the C: partition and create a new partition (D:)
If you're going to use the new partition for data, make C: around 85G. It's big enough to hold Win 7 and the programs.

Thanks so much!
So no need to do all the stuff I mentioned in my post?
Why not just create two partitions upon installation?
What about scheduled deferagments? I had one run daily by default so I had to cancel it

mulic3 said:

Thanks so much!
So no need to do all the stuff I mentioned in my post?
Why not just create two partitions upon installation? Yes you can. Up to you
What about scheduled deferagments? I had one run daily by default so I had to cancel it. Defrag won't be scheduled on a SSD

That's it.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

1. If you are going to do a clean install of Windows, let the installer make its own partitions. Typically, that will be the System Reserved partition and the C:/ partition. Afterwards, use Minitool Partition Wizard (the free version is fine; that's what I use) to shrink the C: partition (unless you are a gamer or use unusually large programs, 120GB is a good figure) and create a data partition in the new unallocated space. Your clusters should be properly allocated but, to check, use AS SSD as I mentioned before and check for TRIM (as has already been mentioned).

If Crucial actually asked you why you need two partitions, I would take anything they say with a grain of salt. That said, the only reason to use a second partition (besides the System Reserved) is if the SSD is the only drive in your computer and you are segregating your data files from your System files (this is what I do on my one drive notebooks). Otherwise, I recommend having only the System Reserved and C:/ partitions on the SSD and the data on a separate drive (HDD or SSD) (this is what I do no a desktop). I do not recommend partitioning data only drives; folders are far more efficient for organizing data.

2. If Crucial's app gets in your way, disable it from the Start Up Folder. I use the free version of Glary Utilities to edit the Startup Folder. Since I use Samsung SSDs, I use their utility, Samsung Magician. It tends to be a nag, as well, so I just disabled it in the Startup Folder. If I ever do need it, I can access it easily in the Start menu.

3. There is a lot of misinformation floating around about the must-dos when using an SSD, most of it dating back from the early days of SSDs and just are not needed anymore. Now, all you need to do is make sure the clusters are aligned (it's highly unlikely they won't be, btw) and TRIM is enabled, and do not defrag unless defragmentation exceeds 25% (not likely to happen for several years, if at all).


You have been overthinking this. SSDs aren't rocket science, just a little different. 350GB of writes on the SSD already is a lot but it's not anywhere close to the end of the world (or your SSD). Just follow my advice, quit reformatting, quit worrying, and you will be fine.

I've been using SSDs for years on more than one machine (ok, only three) without any problems. Of the 44 SSDs I have owned, only one died (after almost five years of 24/7 operation and it still had most of its write life remaining just before it died) and one arrived DOA (which the vendor quickly replaced with a new one). Except for six new 4TB SSDs I haven't put into service yet, the rest are still in service or were retired only because I outgrew them (I have six 500GB SSDs I retired) and a spare 4TB SSD since I can't buy them locally). I even use SSDs for my backup drives.

Just to make sure I understand, installing two partitions (while installing windows 7) - 120gb for windows and 100gb for my files won't hurt the ssd in the long run and won't require me to "align" anything?
About the defrag, I would think it won't but the log claims to have ran one today at 8:04am.
2. "I do not recommend partitioning data only drives" - Could you kindly explain? Do you mean that you'd prefer to partition them beforehand while installing Windows like I do rather than use a program after installation?
P.S
Yes, I'm used to segregating the system files and data files.

Thanks so much for your time! You're right, it bothers me way too much.

Megahertz07 said:

That's it.

So creating two partitions - 120 and 100gb won't hurt anything, unlike some people claim on the web?
How do you make sure the clusters are aligned? I read about dividing by 4096, but if my crucial app says I'm
"good" isn't it enough?

Thanks!

If you do a clean install, it will be aligned. Don't worry.

I already told you the Crucial software should allow you to create a reserved over provisioned space. If you start fresh, make sure AHCI is on in BIOS.