SSD Purchase Advice and Inf. on Partitioning It

[jaclaz]

A good question would be whether on average a PC is kept in use more or less than a game console. 

I would instinctively say that gamers tend to renew their hardware far more often than "normal" users, but does the same applies to consoles?

And - set apart a few kids - how much time is a game console in use (more or less than a "common" PC)?

I am pretty sure that a SSD will last more than both, unless an early defect (possibly specific to a make/model) arises, at least I have not seen around a relevant number of reports of SSD's being worn down, and it is several years since they became common enough on new systems...

jaclaz

 

[Mcinwwl]

48 minutes ago, jaclaz said:

A good question would be whether on average a PC is kept in use more or less than a game console. 

I would instinctively say that gamers tend to renew their hardware far more often than "normal" users, but does the same applies to consoles?

It was 7 years for the previous console generation before their heir came to being (I do not count Nintendo - it's different world).

There ate many techies among gamers, that upgrade their units every year or so, and they are usually the loudest, arguing about points in benchmarks for their favourite Franchise or build. And, probably, marketing and Gaming/PC media are trying to make you think that gaming is all about buying new hardware for the sake of few frames more. But there are still many people playing on their middle-level PCs for years. Speaking the language of statistics, the average gamer most probably spend more money on parts and buy them more often, but the median and the mod, I guess, is about the same.

59 minutes ago, jaclaz said:

And - set apart a few kids - how much time is a game console in use (more or less than a "common" PC)?

Well, new Xbox and PS is a fully functional media center, with cable-television ability, VOD and internet streaming apps, torrent clients and various other uses. So most probably 'less' in most cases, but it can be used nearly 24/7 by someone, who is rarely playing.

[Radish]

Well I got the SSD installed and Win7 installed to it. Did some of the tweaks for lower writes that are kicking around on the web but not a lot as some seem to me to look a bit experimental. I'll try some of the ones I left out after I get the boot partition imaged off.

However, I have run into the following "problem" (don't rightly know if is a problem or not). I have 3 Primary partitions on the SSD and 3 Logical Volumes in the Extended partition. When I go to check the alignment of the partitions via msinfo32.exe I get the following information and results (basically the partitions that I can check for alignment are fine):

Partition    Disk #0, Partition #0 (This is C: Partition - Primary)
Partition Size    50.00 GB (53,687,091,200 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset    1,048,576 bytes (/ 4096 = 256) - FINE

Partition    Disk #0, Partition #1 (This is D: Partition - Primary)
Partition Size    20.00 GB (21,474,836,480 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset    53,688,139,776 bytes (/ 4096 = 13,107,456) - FINE

Partition    Disk #0, Partition #2 (This is E: Partition - Primary)
Partition Size    20.00 GB (21,474,836,480 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset    75,162,976,256 bytes (/ 4096 = 18,350,336) - FINE

Partition    Disk #0, Partition #3 (This seems to be the entire Extended Partition and there is no information at all given for the Logical Volumes within the Extended Partition.)
Partition Size    142.88 GB (153,420,300,288 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset    96,637,812,736 bytes (/ 4096 = 23,593,216) - FINE

So it seems that what partitions I can check are correctly aligned. But what about the three Logical Volumes I have in the Extended Partition? How do I check them for correct alignment? (I assume they are probably okay because the others are checking out fine, but how do I know?) Msinfo32.exe doesn't provide any "offset" information on them at all that allows the check to be done.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Radish

[jaclaz]

35 minutes ago, Radish said:

So it seems that what partitions I can check are correctly aligned. But what about the three Logical Volumes I have in the Extended Partition? How do I check them for correct alignment? (I assume they are probably okay because the others are checking out fine, but how do I know?) Msinfo32.exe doesn't provide any "offset" information on them at all that allows the check to be done.

1) Don't worry, Windows 7 by default aligns partitions/volumes "correctly" (provided that 2048 sectors alignment is "correct")
2) to check, peek in the bootsector of each logical volume, the "Sectors Before" field represents the sectors from the EPBR, you may want to use a disk viewer editor with a template for bootsectors or (much easier) use Clonedisk:
 

http://labalec.fr/erwan/?page_id=42

(once you have the "Advanced menu" available there are provisions to read the bootsector data).

Please understand how NTFS filesystems are "inherently" aligned to 4096 bytes (good) while non-NTFS are usually not aligned (what may matter is the alignment of the filesystem, not the one of the volume or partition).

jaclaz

 

[Radish]

5 minutes ago, jaclaz said:

1) Don't worry, Windows 7 by default aligns partitions/volumes "correctly" (provided that 2048 sectors alignment is "correct")

Thanks very much jaclaz. I'll go with your option "1)" and the explanatory note on Win7 inherently aligning to 4096 bytes.

Another question occurs to me though. When does the SSD do TRIM-ing? When the system is in sleep mode? While the system isn't being used heavily (e.g. just typing a letter or reading a webpage etc.)?

[TELVM]

Quick & easy way to check partition alignment at a glance:

http://www.techspot.com/downloads/6014-as-ssd-benchmark.html

^ It also benchmarks your SSDs.

2 hours ago, Radish said:

... When does the SSD do TRIM-ing? When the system is in sleep mode? While the system isn't being used heavily (e.g. just typing a letter or reading a webpage etc.)?

Whenever the internal SSD controller decides that the drive is being taxed lightly or not at all, it will do garbage collection. Modern SSDs are good at it, I would't lose sleep on that.

But if we wish on the 850 EVO we can force TRIM commands at will with Magician > Perf Optimization.

[Radish]

Thanks very much TELVM.

I already had AS SSD Benchmark installer on the system but when I launched it it said it needed .NET 4.x installed. To hell with that for a laugh - I really don't want Microsoft's sub-operating system on my computer. People that write programs that have a multi-gigabyte dependency (other than the OS itself) are surely joking.

Also the link you gave to Samsung Magician offered the download of an installer that I already have on the system and have installed. This is "Samsung New Magician" (as they refer to it in documentation) v5.0.0. Its the kind of software that is only one step beyond being entirely useless. None of the functions you refer to actually exist in it. I read somewhere in the last couple of days (can't find the webpage again) that this "New Magician" is a cut-back version of what actually existed in 4.x series. Cut-back it most surely is. A dog it is too. When I first launched it it reported my SSD as being "not supported" which was a puzzle to me. Then I subsequently discovered that I had to give it permission to pass through my firewall so that it could connect to the internet. Once it did that it then reported the drive as being supported. Really! Is that any way to write a program! What are they wanting with the compulsory connect to the internet routine!

On the strength of seeing your illustration I managed to find, at a non-Samsung site, and install Samsung Magician v4.9.7 - so I have something that looks like the version you have. As you mention it does have useful features.

My interest in TRIM-ing really concerns imaging off the boot partition. I was thinking that maybe if the partition wasn't TRIMed before doing the image then the image might be forced into including a load of redundant junk. I don't know if that is the case or not, it was just a thought I had. In any case now I have "Old Magician" that can force a TRIM so I'll stick with that for now.

Last thought is that it strikes me as bizarre that Samsung doesn't include in the Magician a component that works out and reports if the partitions are correctly aligned. And if they aren't correctly aligned that has the functionality to align correctly. How can they write SSD managing software and not include that, what are they thinking about. My guess would be that an incorrectly aligned SSD wears that bit faster and that is good for the money-tree. Ah, well...

Thanks again! (Despite my griping I am very pleased with the drive. Just hope it lasts a long-ish time.)

[TELVM]

Sorry, I forgot that they had ruined Magician, I'm on 4.95. Wouldn't touch 5.x (useless spyware, the sign of the times  ).

Even 4.x needs some kicking in the rear to behave: it loves phoning home, setting itself to autostart with Windows, and you can only truly close the bugger from the notification area.

If it helps for peace of mind, I still keep some ~2010 vintage SSDs and they still run like champs (one of them in a retrocomp with 98/XP, so no TRIM).

I would only worry about data retention if SSD was to remain unpowered for several months in a row (voltage drift and bit rot, specially if planar TLC NAND).