Overprovisioning SSD - Windows 11

mccnavy · Dec 20, 2021

In the past I know that it was recommended to overprovision SSDs (at least for early generations). With modern SSDs, and OSs like Windows 10 and 11, is that still recommended? I have a new Dell XPS 15 with a SK Hynix 711 and just did a clean install of Windows 11. I was curious if I should use MiniTool to OP it or not. Thanks.

Stigg · Dec 20, 2021

My opinion of over provisioning is that unless you're the kind of person that runs your SSDs almost full, then it's not necessary.

DigitalGoat · Dec 20, 2021

Follow the manufacturers directions, usually their website will have support information or answers in the user forums (if they have them). If you cannot find any specific information about overprovisioning for your product then assume there is factory overprovisioning baked in (most modern SSDs have that) and just don't fill the drive up unless you intend to use it as a static storage device (read only).

Bree · Dec 21, 2021

mccnavy said:
In the past I know that it was recommended to overprovision SSDs (at least for early generations).

Overprovisioning is just setting aside part of the SSD as unused so that the drive's wear levelling algorithms can work efficiently. For that purpose unused space in a partition is just as good as a dedicated unallocated part of the drive. As Stigg says, unless you routinely fill the drive to its maximum capacity you're not going to gain anything by overprovisioning.

cereberus · Dec 21, 2021

I've not done this for years.

pparks1 · Dec 21, 2021

I've never overprovisioned an SSD.

The-Hive · Dec 21, 2021

I have never done it. Win 11 did create an unallocated sector on my SSD's on it own when I installed them

PerpetualCycle · Dec 21, 2021

No. No real need to nowadays.

SIW2 · Dec 21, 2021

It is recommended by the manufacturer tools.

Dru2 · Dec 21, 2021

SIW2 said:
It is recommended by the manufacturer tools.

Where? I've not seen anything (at least) from Samsung that outright recommends users overprovision their drives.

There "might" be some documentation about enterprise use, but the vast majority of end users aren't enterprise users.

SIW2 · Dec 21, 2021

Click on overprovisionong and it says recommended then some percentage.

Dru2 · Dec 21, 2021

SIW2 said:
Click on overprovisionong and it says recommended then some percentage.

Well I'll provide my truth, but I seemed to have missed yours

mccnavy · Dec 21, 2021

Thanks to all...I tried to find out if my particular drive already had OP built in (i.e part of the user available vs. raw capacity) but didn't find anything. However, it sounds like I may not need to OP anyways as it is a new drive (albeit PCIE 3 still).

Dru2 · Dec 21, 2021

mccnavy said:
Thanks to all...I tried to find out if my particular drive already had OP built in (i.e part of the user available vs. raw capacity) but didn't find anything. However, it sounds like I may not need to OP anyways as it is a new drive (albeit PCIE 3 still).

One thing to keep in mind as mentioned earlier is to not fill the drive. In addition to helping with overall performance it's also why you don't need over provisioning :)

I try to keep my drives below 60 percent full. That does require extra drives in in order to spread your data out though

mccnavy · Dec 22, 2021

Dru2 said:
One thing to keep in mind as mentioned earlier is to not fill the drive. In addition to helping with overall performance it's also why you don't need over provisioning :)

I try to keep my drives below 60 percent full. That does require extra drives in in order to spread your data out though

Yep...thanks for reminder. Fortunately, this is a laptop that is just used for mostly web browsing and productivity. Not a lot of storage required and the drive is 1TB. There should be LOTS of room for a while. In addition, the XPS 15 has a second M.2 slot if I need to add another drive and don't want to upgrade the primary drive.

obelix · Dec 22, 2021

It is not necessary to overprovision at all because the speed of ssd m2 remains the same and nothing changes well, wrote The-Hive I have never done it. Win 11 did create an unallocated sector on my SSD's on it own when I installed them

Bree · Dec 22, 2021

obelix said:
Win 11 did create an unallocated sector on my SSD's on it own when I installed them

That would be the 16MB MSR partition? That has nothing to do with over-provisioning, all clean installs of W10 or W11 on a UEFI/GPT system will have one.

A Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) is a partition of a data storage device, which is created to reserve a portion of disk space for possible subsequent use by a Windows operating system installed on a separate partition. No meaningful data is stored within the MSR....

Microsoft Reserved Partition - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

PerpetualCycle · Dec 22, 2021

mccnavy said:
Thanks to all...I tried to find out if my particular drive already had OP built in (i.e part of the user available vs. raw capacity) but didn't find anything. However, it sounds like I may not need to OP anyways as it is a new drive (albeit PCIE 3 still).

They all have some overprovisioning built in - they have to.

NavyLCDR · Dec 24, 2021

mccnavy said:
Yep...thanks for reminder. Fortunately, this is a laptop that is just used for mostly web browsing and productivity. Not a lot of storage required and the drive is 1TB. There should be LOTS of room for a while. In addition, the XPS 15 has a second M.2 slot if I need to add another drive and don't want to upgrade the primary drive.

I have a 1 TB SSD. If you notice, disk management shows its capacity as 953.87 GB. Diskpart shows the capacity as 953 GB. The physical capacity of the SSD is a true, binary, 1 TB which is 1024 GB. The difference between 953.87 and 1024 GB is 6.85%. That difference is the factory overprovisioning. Also, with any SSD and OS that supports TRIM, the free space on the SSD included in the partitions that are being trimmed serves as dynamic overprovisioning.

cereberus · Dec 25, 2021

Dru2 said:
One thing to keep in mind as mentioned earlier is to not fill the drive. In addition to helping with overall performance it's also why you don't need over provisioning :)

I try to keep my drives below 60 percent full. That does require extra drives in in order to spread your data out though

60%? Modern drives are far more reslient than that.

This just means you are seriously downgrading capacity in effect, which means you have to buy extra drives to get capacity.

I let data drives run up to 90% (you need space for temporary files). Data drives do not take the same extent of wear and tear.

On my 1 TB optane OS SSD, I have one 250 GB partition for OS+Programs which gives me plenty of future use. I use the other 750GB for largely static data. For variable data such as virtual hsrd drives, I use my second SSD.

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