Overprovisioning Recommendation

I just upgraded the SSD from PCIE3 to PCIE4 in my XPS 9510. I've always over-provisioned my drives for longevity and performance. How important is that in modern drives. The new drive is a SK Hynix P41 2TB. I believe the original capacity of 1.86TB (down from 2 TB due to 1024 vs. 1000 MB/GB) and then down more to 1.82TB is due to Windows Recovery partition. I believe most drives now have internal overprovisioning but not sure how to find that for my drive. Right now I carved otu 182 GB (10%) and left unallocated as overprovisioned. Recommendations on whether this is good/worth it, or something else?

The point about over-provisioning is to leave enough unused cells for the SSD's internal controller to run its wear levelling algorithms efficiently. 10% is often cited as being sufficient.

What is not so often mentioned is that the unused cells do not have to be in unallocated space. The wear levelling algorithm doesn't care where they are. As long as you leave plenty of free space in your partitions, and leave the default setting for optimisation to trim the SSD regularly, then the wear levelling will work efficiently.

Over-provisioning is only really needed if you can't trust yourself not to fill the partitions to the brim - it makes sure there's some unallocated space you can't be tempted to use

Does the hynix software make a recommendation? I think it only has update firmware, diagnostics and secure erase.

You could try the solidigm synergy software and see what that says. Though it cant use the solidigm driver, Hynix p41 is the same hardware as solidigm p44.

I have just checked. Lots of pretty pictures and graphs, but no it doesn't give any hints about your question.

The driver supposedly makes a difference in some benchmarks, but that is academic. Humans wont experience any differences unless they have super powers.

I suggest get whichever is the cheapest

Thanks...looks like I have it set right then. As for the SK Hynix software...it is bare bones and doesn't provide much beyond some basic data.

solidigm synergy software is nice if you like the graphs and so on. Seems to work for all disks ( but obviously can only update firmware and driver for own brand).

Samsung Magician (for ssd manufactured by Samsung) recommends 10-15% as overpositioning and often automates the process. But it can take care of only the last partition cereated on ssd.

rockyanexp said:

Samsung Magician (for ssd manufactured by Samsung) recommends 10-15% as overpositioning and often automates the process. But it can take care of only the last partition cereated on ssd.

Click to expand...

crucial does similar.

I've never bothered with over provisioning. Is it really needed?

Bree said:

The point about over-provisioning is to leave enough unused cells for the SSD's internal controller to run its wear levelling algorithms efficiently. 10% is often cited as being sufficient.

What is not so often mentioned is that the unused cells do not have to be in unallocated space. The wear levelling algorithm doesn't care where they are. As long as you leave plenty of free space in your partitions, and leave the default setting for optimisation to trim the SSD regularly, then the wear levelling will work efficiently.

Over-provisioning is only really needed if you can't trust yourself not to fill the partitions to the brim - it makes sure there's some unallocated space you can't be tempted to use

Click to expand...

This is the correct solution - the rest are a waste of time.

If you reach the point where partitions are over 90% in use, it is time to either resize partitions or buy a larger drive.

Steve C said:

I've never bothered with over provisioning. Is it really needed?

Click to expand...

I've never done it. I've also never filled up an SSD to 90%+ Never had an SSD die.

AFAIK the vast majority (or all) modern SSDs use an internal controller chip that incorporates some kind of proprietary datacompression technology (e.g. DuraWrite, which already dates back more than a whole decade). Below are a bunch of links to (hopefully) explain in some reasonable detail how this also has an impact on endurance and performance (to a certain degree, under some specific circumstances). I.e., low entropy of the data stored, in conjunction with neither having much available free space on any of the partitions that are present on the SSD nor having much unallocated (non-partitioned) space anywhere on the SSD─also in conjunction with the total amount of over-provisioning being too small for it to be able to sustain adequate efficiency levels enough to remain in proper balance with the intended characteristics of the workload/demands.

Especially in write intensive scenarios where TRIM can not be supported, e.g. as a result of the OS (or host) being unaware of the filesystem used, the long term differences can tend to grow more significant under those circumstances. That is, depending how you use it. But in these specific heavy workstation/server type workload scenarios, SSD optimization software (DymaxIO) also very often becomes an important part of the equation. For the type of work I like to do on my grocery store laptop that already is more than 2.5 years old right now, DymaxIO is nowhere near worth the added cost. In my Samsung Magician I have set the over-provisioning to 30%, though. That's just because currently I don't need any additional free storage space, and reducing the over-provisioning in Samsung Magician takes less than half a fraction of a split second, anyway to begin with.

Thanks to all...this helps. I'll leave the 10% I currently have set as unallocated space to go along with whatever is already applied by the drive internally. Unfortunately, while only a few manufacturers software (Samsung and Crucial is what I've had in the past) that make it simple to turn OP on and off, SK Hynix does not (neither does WD I think). If I ever needed that space it would likely mean new drive anyways, but if something were ever to be communicated that all required OP is included already, I could use a partition tool to extend my C: partition to take it back...and hopefully not mess up the recovery partition that is between C: and unallocated space.

mccnavy said:

Thanks to all...this helps. I'll leave the 10% I currently have set as unallocated space to go along with whatever is already applied by the drive internally. Unfortunately, while only a few manufacturers software (Samsung and Crucial is what I've had in the past) that make it simple to turn OP on and off, SK Hynix does not (neither does WD I think). If I ever needed that space it would likely mean new drive anyways, but if something were ever to be communicated that all required OP is included already, I could use a partition tool to extend my C: partition to take it back...and hopefully not mess up the recovery partition that is between C: and unallocated space.

Click to expand...

With Samsung Magician all you need to do is to Clear OP and it will return the drive to initial setup.