SSD partition...behavior!

[paulobao]

Hi,

Now that my first SSD (urrah) is installed and my laptop is running smoothly (after SSD hardawre install. I restore my Laptop to factory state! Thaen I removed all bloatware/apps I do not use...it is a Toshiba!). Checked and rechecked, and everyting is OK and better .
Now I will pass to phase 2: PARTITION of my SSD (a Plextor M5P 512GB).

- I'm going to remove the System Recovery (because I have 2 copys of it in DVDs plus a copy in a 16 GB USB Flash drive. And it was with one of this copys that I restore the laptop to factory state).
-I'm going to create 2 partitions:

- one for data (32 GB): DATA
- one for the last stable image created with my Image software: SYSTEM RECOVERY

Of course I will copys of those in a portable external HDD!

My question is:

When I make partitions to the SSD, is there is an impact to the SSD?
Exemple: imagine I have a 512 GB ssd and I make a partition of 6 GB. Since SSD have a limited writes and those are proportional to the capacity of the disk, will the 6 GB partition have lesser writes that the main partition? Or, even is the ssd is partitioned, writes cycles will be not affected?

Thanks for your time and I will appreciate the comments,

cheers,
paulo

 

[bobafetthotmail]

write cycles is per flash cell, so yes, the partition that is written more will wear out more.

Still, I've seen modern SDD tested and they can last well beyond the computer they are in, for home use.

So, unless you are writing 5 GB of data per day for years, cells wearing out is a non-issue.

Btw, disable the page file (virtual memory). You have enough RAM to not really need it, and that degrades the drive faster (if used anyway).

 

[pbcopter]

I would not disable the page file completely. If you do, you will not be able to get any memory dumps incase of problems.

 

[paulobao]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hum bit late now paulo but I have a couple of Toshiba's and put an OEM on both with SSD's and you would probably been better off spending another $100 for an OEM as this negates any need for clearing of the bloat.

I suppose another way would have been to get an ISO of 7 booted from it and used your original activation code to activate.

Never mind next time

 

[ignatzatsonic]

- one for the last stable image created with my Image software: SYSTEM RECOVERY

There's nothing inherently wrong with making a partition to hold images, but there's no particular reason to do it either.

It's just unnecessary, further subdivides your drive, and may complicate your backup strategy. It's not the most efficient use of the total space available on a drive.

I'd just treat the images like any other valuable data and keep them on my regular data partition in an "images" folder---and back them up along with everything else on the data partition.

 

[paulobao]

Thanks all
Ignatz, could you tell me your partition scheme?

Cheers,
paulo

 

[LittleJay]

I'd just treat the images like any other valuable data and keep them on my regular data partition in an "images" folder---and back them up along with everything else on the data partition.

Hi paulo. I think what he meant was that you only need two partitions, one for the OS and the other for the data. It makes system imaging neater that way, as any images you create of the "C" partition will only contain the OS and not all your other data.

 

[whs]

Nothing wrong with a data partition. Just make sure you backup your data frequently. Once that is lost, you cannot recover it.

 

[paulobao]

Hi,

I've laptops (I only have desktops at work) from 1997 and never lost any bit of data! But I never used a backup software!!! I use my computers for the processing part (I do astronomy/astrophotography): controlling all my astronomy gear, processing all the data, etc! What I do is:
- when I download new data to my laptop, I just copy/paste it to at least 1 external HDD (usually 2 or even 3)
- when I process all the data and have the "results" I copy/paste it the same way
- when I download tutorials, pdfs, etc from the web, I copy/paste too..
- my favorites: copy/paste it to the external hdd

Well, I think you see what I do! And for that I think I do not need any special software (I want to keep it simple and I do not want anything working in the background...at least in this respect!)

So, I do not keep much data in my computer anyway! And the data I keep is already in a external hdd too!

Like this, I would ask you if you find that I would be better served with a data partition? (because I never had one just a unique partition!)

Of course my main concern now is about imaging! Because I restore my laptop 2 weeks ago to the factory state because I did not have any way to recover my lap to point in time where everything was fine!!! And I had dozens of GB of SW installed with the settings/preferences as I liked :-(. So I do not want to go this way again and I'm doing all to avoid this in the case a crash/major crash happens again!
Saying this, I never restorede/recovered a computer! Hope if/when I need it all will pass ok!

One question: when you make an image of your system this includes all you need to recover the system to the exact same state as when you made the image? I mean all sw installed will be reinstalled from the image including all the settings, preferences, etc?

Many thanks,
paulo

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks all
Ignatz, could you tell me your partition scheme?

Cheers,
paulo

Here is a pic.

It's about as simple as you can get.

Three separate internal drives: System, Data, Backup. System is an SSD. The other 2 are HDD.

One partition on each: C, D, and E. All partitions are primary.

No system reserved.

C is imaged periodically. D is backed up to E without using an image.

My images of C are stored on D just like all other data. The images are backed up to E just like all other data.

I also back up D to an external drive via a dock every other month.. And I back up my most critical text file data (about 6 GB) to a USB stick 3 or 4 times a year.

 

[paulobao]

Thanks Ignatz!
So you have 3 separate discs That is cool Unfortunatelly my laptop only have one disc :-(.
Since I do not keep much data in my laptop (when I have new data I copy/paste it to external USB HDDs) maybe I can keep it simple and only have a plain, no partition disk! And I will image frequentely this disk to an external HDD (dedicated only to backup images)!

Cheers,
paulo

 

[ignatzatsonic]

One question: when you make an image of your system this includes all you need to recover the system to the exact same state as when you made the image? I mean all sw installed will be reinstalled from the image including all the settings, preferences, etc?

Yes. That's the premise.

The only fly in the ointment is that images do not always restore, so you need to have another plan in case they don't.

Keeping Windows in one partition and data in another means that your images of C will not contain data and will therefore be smaller.

A separate partition for data also helps in this scenario:

Suppose all your data is on C and you make an image of C on October 1.

On October 2, you produce a bunch of data and keep it on C with all other data.

Suppose your hard drive fails on October 3. You buy a new drive and restore the October 1 image.

In that scenario, the data produced October 2 is lost---unless you had it separately backed up.

If the data was not on C, it would not be over-written by the restoration of the October 1 image.

 

[whs]

One question: when you make an image of your system this includes all you need to recover the system to the exact same state as when you made the image? I mean all sw installed will be reinstalled from the image including all the settings, preferences, etc?

Answer is YES. Just make sure you also image the little system partition along with the C partition - else your system cannot boot when this is corrupted. This system partition has to be imaged only once because it never changes (unless you go to double boot). Put it into a seperate folder so that it does not get mixed up.

 

[paulobao]

Yes I see that! But As I told you I usually copy/paste the data to an external HDD as soon (well, in the same day!) I get it!But yes, maybe a small data partition will not hurt! And data should I put in this data partition? My docs, favorites,...any thing, data wise speaking, more deep? Ex: app data? The "location transfer" from C to D do not will cause any problems? How should I correctly do this?paulo

 

[karlsnooks]

I would not disable the page file completely. If you do, you will not be able to get any memory dumps incase of problems.

Sound advice.

That page file does not hurt you.
The page file does help you.
Anyone who has any doubt should research the recent literature.
I've got links somewhere for this but I'll let the doubters do their homework.

 

[paulobao]

One question: when you make an image of your system this includes all you need to recover the system to the exact same state as when you made the image? I mean all sw installed will be reinstalled from the image including all the settings, preferences, etc?

Answer is YES. Just make sure you also image the little system partition along with the C partition - else your system cannot boot when this is corrupted. This system partition has to be imaged only once because it never changes (unless you go to double boot). Put it into a seperate folder so that it does not get mixed up.

Thanks! My laptop have a strange partition system!There is a 1.47 GB at left of C and a 14 GB recovery at right!

 

[karlsnooks]

paulobao,
don't worry about a 100 mb system recovery partition. Just leave it be as it is.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Yes I see that! But As I told you I usually copy/paste the data to an external HDD as soon (well, in the same day!) I get it!But yes, maybe a small data partition will not hurt! And data should I put in this data partition? My docs, favorites,...any thing, data wise speaking, more deep? Ex: app data? The "location transfer" from C to D do not will cause any problems? How should I correctly do this?paulo

There's no particular reason to make a data partition on the SSD.

In fact, if the ORIGINAL versions of most of your data is on an external, I'd keep it all on the external and use the SSD only for Windows, with no data anywhere on the SSD.

It makes backup a lot simpler if ALL data is on ONE partition. Then you just back up that one partition to some other physically separate drive.

If on the other hand the original versions of most data is on the SSD, I would put all data on the SSD---but in a separate partition.

I'm just not sure where you keep your original data---but there's no reason to keep it on multiple partitions if it will fit on one partition.

 

[whs]

Yes I see that! But As I told you I usually copy/paste the data to an external HDD as soon (well, in the same day!) I get it!But yes, maybe a small data partition will not hurt! And data should I put in this data partition? My docs, favorites,...any thing, data wise speaking, more deep? Ex: app data? The "location transfer" from C to D do not will cause any problems? How should I correctly do this?paulo

Only your own data files - no system files like AppData.
For moving the folders, you can use this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html
But you can also create new folders in the data partition and INCLUDE those into the library. Then move your data folders. I prefer that solution.