Samsung Magician going to do any "magical"?

GracieAllen · Oct 29, 2022

Ordinary PC, 12900, 64 GB memory, Windows 11 Pro

I just put a Samsung 870 QVO, 8TB SSD in for image storage. It's going to get a fairly high amount of intermittent traffic, particularly when building large previews and doing other Photoshop and/or Lightroom processing.

Samsung is all over "Magician", and they make it SOUND like it will significantly improve performance. I have installed the Magician software, and it's nice to do a benchmark, and maybe a diagnostic scan, but I asked over in the Samsung forum about what it ACTUALLY going to do in terms of real performance gains. Question is just sitting there. I've done some rummaging and I can't find much information about HOW over provisioning and RAPID are going to do anything, just that they're REALLY great...

So, hopefully somebody here is familiar with the software and can tell me

What is over provisioning is actually going to do for performance? Or anything else that makes it worth taking 3 or 5 or 10% of the storage capacity away.
What is RAPID going to do? It SOUNDS like it's going to take some (don't know how much) system memory and use it as a cache for operations to the SSD. And it REPORTS phenomenal speeds but the operations are still going on AFTER they're reported as done. This sounds like Windows write caching, which I have turned off because if I'm shoving a couple hundred GB of images around and have a problem, I don't want risk losing a bunch of work. It doesn't happen a lot, but it DOES happen with the various image processing tools that I'll occasionally hang Windows, or even crash it.

SO, do I turn on either of these things? And what are the going to do for me?

DigitalGoat · Oct 29, 2022

Yep, the speed gains from a RAM cache are just the write/ read speed of the memory, once the data is commited to disk the speeds go way down again. Over provisioning does nothing for performance, it just gives the drive extra spare capacity for replacing dead cells, the portion of the drive allocated for the SLC cache is more important for performance as the smaller this is the sooner performance will tank on long write operations.

Ghot · Oct 29, 2022

@GracieAllen

Honestly, the only really useful thing that Magician does is to make checking for firmware updates... easy.
I install Magician every year or so, check if there were any firmware updates... then uninstall it again.

I feel it uses more resources, than it's worth.

GracieAllen · Oct 29, 2022

Thanks for the replies! PHOOEY! I figured this was going to be the answer - nothing is ever magical or free!

It SOUNDS like it would be a reasonable idea to do a little over provisioning on the SSDs, but how often do they actually get dead cells? It seems silly to take 800 GB out of use for something that rarely happens. I'm thinking I'd over provision 2 or 3 percent?

I don't know what SLC cache is, so I"m going to have to find out how to make sure I have the right amount.

grumpus · Oct 29, 2022

Unless you anticipate keeping your drive quite full, turning TRIM off, and doing lots of small, random writes, over-provisioning may not be worth worrying about. This article on SSD Over-Provisioning from Seagate is worth a look. And, although it's over a decade old now, this arstechnica description of the inner workings of SSDs is still a good read.

DigitalGoat · Oct 29, 2022

SLC cache is Single Layer Cache, basically only one bit per cell so fast to change, the rest of the drive could be MLC, QLC etc (yep, Multi and Quad cell) meaning more than one bit per cell which are slower to change.
The SLC cache is set by the manufacturer and isn't a feature normally exposed to end users.
The amount of SLC cache varies by drive size and manufacturer but on a 1TB drive, for example, it could be around 70GB.
Depending on how large a write is to the drive the cache could actually empty (contents written out to slower MLC cells) slower than the speed of data coming in, at that point the drive write speed could actually end up slower than a standard spinner type hard disk.
A purely SLC nand package drive would see sustained large writes at approaching the manufacturers claimed max as the cache is emptied quicker than on a MLC/ QLC type drive. These drives are harder to find and tend to command a premium for price to GB.
A very over simplified explanation, but I think I got the basic premise right.

Dru2 · Nov 1, 2022

I think some people don't have a good understanding of things. Magician is basically monitoring software. Despite the contradictory statements at times do remember, even per Samsungs Magician page this is software. NOT magic. Samsung... "SSD Magician software. It's not Magic. It's software"

Magician is mainly a monitoring / updating software. Not a performance enhancer. Yes, it can enhance a drive's performance by allowing the end user to enable Rapid Mode for a single supported drive. It is also optimized for "Samsung" drives. If you're using it with other drives, and it's not doing what you expect. That's your fault, NOT Magician's. From the link below...

*While some of its features support Samsung-manufactured OEM SSDs and SSDs from other manufacturers, SSD Magician Software is designed and optimized specifically for Samsung-branded SSDs.

*Magician only shows features that are supported for the connected SSD. The features that appear may differ depending on the connected SSD.

*Magician does not work with SSDs connected via the SCSI controller interface.

Before buying into the internet FUD or listening to those who barely use the software, you might read what Samsung themselves have to say. And that you are using/installing the software for its intended purposes.... not what the internet FUD says it should do.

Samsung Magician Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your Samsung SSD with a simple, intuitive user interface. Download files & find supported models.

semiconductor.samsung.com

Josey Wales · Nov 27, 2023

Dru2 said:
Software that’s so powerful you‘ll wonder if it’s… magic. Samsung presents the Magician Software, designed to support Samsung’s memory products from internal SSDs to portable SSDs, memory cards, to USB flash drives. The latest generation of Magician Software comes complete by integrating Data Migration Software, Portable SSD Software, and Memory Card/UFD Authentication Utility, delivering a comprehensive solution for users. What’s more, our support now extends to various operating systems, including Windows®, macOS® and Android™. With its intuitive interface and wide range of customization features, elevating your drive performance is now effortless – like magic.

*The features supported by each product category and operating system may vary. For more details, please refer to the information provided below.

*While some of its features support Samsung-manufactured OEM SSDs and SSDs from other manufacturers, Magician Software is designed and optimized specifically for Samsung-branded storage products.

*Magician does not work with SSDs connected via the SCSI controller interface.

I think some people don't have a good understanding of things. Magician is basically monitoring software. Despite the contradictory statements at times do remember, even per Samsungs Magician page this is software. NOT magic. Samsung... "SSD Magician software. It's not Magic. It's software"

Magician is mainly a monitoring / updating software. Not a performance enhancer. Yes, it can enhance a drive's performance by allowing the end user to enable Rapid Mode for a single supported drive. It is also optimized for "Samsung" drives. If you're using it with other drives, and it's not doing what you expect. That's your fault, NOT Magician's. From the link below...

Before buying into the internet FUD or listening to those who barely use the software, you might read what Samsung themselves have to say. And that you are using/installing the software for its intended purposes.... not what the internet FUD says it should do.

Samsung Magician Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Samsung Magician software is designed to help you manage your Samsung SSD with a simple, intuitive user interface. Download files & find supported models.

semiconductor.samsung.com

Software that’s so powerful you‘ll wonder if it’s… magic. Samsung presents the Magician Software, designed to support Samsung’s memory products from internal SSDs to portable SSDs, memory cards, to USB flash drives. The latest generation of Magician Software comes complete by integrating Data Migration Software, Portable SSD Software, and Memory Card/UFD Authentication Utility, delivering a comprehensive solution for users. What’s more, our support now extends to various operating systems, including Windows®, macOS® and Android™. With its intuitive interface and wide range of customization features, elevating your drive performance is now effortless – like magic.

*The features supported by each product category and operating system may vary. For more details, please refer to the information provided below.

*While some of its features support Samsung-manufactured OEM SSDs and SSDs from other manufacturers, Magician Software is designed and optimized specifically for Samsung-branded storage products.

*Magician does not work with SSDs connected via the SCSI controller interface.

I can't even get it to start with Windows 11 and it slows down my Boot time and fills up Event viewer with errors. If this Product performed any Boost to performance and started with Win 11 then it would be worth adding 1/2 of a Gig of storage and 5 processes to run. As @Ghot said it is more trouble than it is worth. I will stick with the FUD!