SSD questions

[_Grid21]

I have recently installed a nice Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD and with it comes a whole host of questions about Samsung's Magician software.

 

First of all, I noticed that in Disk Defrag, Windows says I need to "optimize" my SSD. Should I?

 

Second, Samsung's Software says I should set aside some "over provisioning" and that there are some Performance Optimizations I can do.

 

3rd. I read that the RAPID Mode could cause potential issues if my PC Crashes, or power loss which I decided on my own not to enable.

 

If someone here could give me some really solid advice on how to use the Samsung Magician Software and what I should do concerning Window's "Drive needs optimizing state I would be most grateful!

 

Thanks in advance!

[Mira Yurizaki]

12 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

First of all, I noticed that in Disk Defrag, Windows says I need to "optimize" my SSD. Should I?

No. Windows will regularly do this if it thinks it needs it. On a technical note, this is really just forcing the TRIM command (so I've heard anyway)

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Second, Samsung's Software says I should set aside some "over provisioning" and that there are some Performance Optimizations I can do.

Overprovisioning is making sure there's enough free space for the SSD to do perform house cleaning routines. The way SSDs work is that while they can write at a bit-wise level, they can only erase at a page-wise level. Or basically, the only way to erase data from SSDs is to do it blocks of data like 64K or higher. So if you have a page with data marked for removal but it also has data that's actually good, the SSD has to move the data elsewhere first before erasing the page. Overprovisioning makes it so the SSD has somewhere to put that data. This article, https://www.anandtech.com/show/2829, has a primer on all of this.

 

As for performance optimizations, I believe very few are actually necessary to do these days.

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3rd. I read that the RAPID Mode could cause potential issues if my PC Crashes, or power loss which I decided on my own not to enable.

Correct. RAPID Mode uses your RAM to store data temporarily. So if the computer crashes or losses power before that data can be committed to the SSD, you've lost it. It's not really worth it for most use cases IMO.

 

[_Grid21]

5 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

No. Windows will regularly do this if it thinks it needs it. On a technical note, this is really just forcing the TRIM command (so I've heard anyway)

Overprovisioning is making sure there's enough free space for the SSD to do perform house cleaning routines. The way SSDs work is that while they can write at a bit-wise level, they can only erase at a page-wise level. Or basically, the only way to erase data from SSDs is to do it blocks of data like 64K or higher. So if you have a page with data marked for removal but it also has data that's actually good, the SSD has to move the data elsewhere first before erasing the page. Overprovisioning makes it so the SSD has somewhere to put that data. This article, https://www.anandtech.com/show/2829, has a primer on all of this.

 

As for performance optimizations, I believe very few are actually necessary to do these days.

Correct. RAPID Mode uses your RAM to store data temporarily. So if the computer crashes or losses power before that data can be committed to the SSD, you've lost it. It's not really worth it for most use cases IMO.

 

Ok, so which one of these should I do or not do? http://prntscr.com/lt9joh Also thanks for the excellent response.

[dizmo]

Not one of your questions, but you mentioned it; never defrag an SSD.

[_Grid21]

8 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Not one of your questions, but you mentioned it; never defrag an SSD.

If I may ask, how come?

[_Grid21]

So should I set an over-provisioning with Samsung's Software or not? Also what about the Performance Optimization?

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, _Grid21 said:

If I may ask, how come?

It stresses them too much. It's way more writes than they need, with little to no benefit.

[_Grid21]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

It stresses them too much. It's way more writes than they need, with little to no benefit.

Fair enough. So I should turn off the weekly defrag stuff? And also what about over-provisioning? One of my friends that works in computer repair said not to worry about that either.

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, _Grid21 said:

Fair enough. So I should turn off the weekly defrag stuff? And also what about over-provisioning? One of my friends that works in computer repair said not to worry about that either.

Yeah I'd turn it off immediately. It could kill your drive.

You don't really need it, drives already have some built in. People are far too paranoid about SSD wear.

[_Grid21]

17 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Yeah I'd turn it off immediately. It could kill your drive.

You don't really need it, drives already have some built in. People are far too paranoid about SSD wear.

So why defrag on if SSDs are basically self-maintenance? 

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

So why defrag on if SSDs are basically self-maintenance? 

That's why you don't. I've never seen someone recommend defragging an SSD.

[_Grid21]

Just now, dizmo said:

That's why you don't. I've never seen someone recommend defragging an SSD.

Ok, is this like "the snake oil" of SSD knowledge where there is so much misinformation that is throwing newcomers like me off?  Besides, Windows 10 should know what to expect out of the SSD too right?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

That's why you don't. I've never seen someone recommend defragging an SSD.

Windows 10 doesn't let you defrag an SSD, that option just execute an scsi trim to it

[SSD Sean]

1. Optimize it? Yes, feel free to run TRIM/Optimize whenever. 

2. Over-provisioning doesn't really matter for consumer work tasks.  

3. RAPID mode barely does much more than what Windows does on its own. 

 

You don't need to optimize anything in Windows 10. 

 

While defragmentation isn’t necessarily something you should do often or you need to do yourself, it can still benefit SSDs. When large files are logically fragmented it can increase the io commends needed to read the file. 

 

Last I read there was a debate going on whether or not Windows actually does a defrag after 10% fragmentation. There’s a guy who notes that windows was reporting that it was defragging the SSDs in his systems like once a month for file system fragmentation outside of TRIMing it. But MS said they don’t, but didn’t provide much proof/support. 

 

Link: http://www.outsidethebox.ms/why-windows-8-defragments-your-ssd-and-how-you-can-avoid-this/

Link 2: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheRealAndCompleteStoryDoesWindowsDefragmentYourSSD.aspx

Link 3: https://www.overclock.net/forum/355-ssd/1538878-yes-file-system-fragmentation-does-affect-ssd-read-speed.html

[_Grid21]

Thank you all for helping me understand the new world of SSDs for me! If you have any more information I should know, feel free to share! I am really into teaching myself things and love learning from those with more experience!