OP w/Samsung 830 question - Unallocate during Windows install or after with Magician?

[nine9s]

I am building a new system with a Samsung 830 256GB. Should I:

(1) allocate some unused space as I install Windows, or (2) just use all the drive during Windows installation and then let the Samsung Magician program set aside some unallocated space for over provisioning later? Or would (1) even work as far as the 830 using that unallocated space for maintenance (maybe it would just be ignored if left unallocated that way)?

(Also a side question please: Does Samsung, and most SSD makers, automatically set aside space, that you can never access or use, for over provisioning? For example, I read that the drives actual have 7to 10% more space on them than you can see (no, I am not referring to advertised space being calculated differently from actual space, but actual space not accessible.) And therefore by default you have 7 to 10 over provisioning and anything else done is additional to that. )

Sorry to start a tangent with my side question, so someone please answer my initial questions if you can help me.

Thanks.

 

[Coup27]

I have an 830 so I can help here. The drive does come with an amount of space which is not visible to you, typically this is around 7%. This is used by the controller for its own maintenance purposes.

The Magician software also recommends you overprovision 6GB per 64GB. By overprovisioning they mean leave 6GB per 64GB unallocated on the partition table. Whether you do this at the install stage by making your partitions xGB short of the drive capacity, or you make them the whole available capacity and then shrink them back with the Magician is entirely up to you. Both methods achieve the same result.

Clearly the first option makes more sense. It is a lot simplier and there is no danger you'll be moving data about when shrinking down a partition. If you use method 1, it will still show up as overprovisioned space in Magician and this is how I do mine.

Just to note, this space is purely optional. If you have read some of Anand's articles you'll know that the more amount of space you dedicate to spare area, the lower your write amplification and you reduce (further) the chances of your drive slowing down. The trade off is clearly you lose some capacity. So while the Magician recommends it, it is optional. I have 12GB on my partition table unallocated and my drive has never suffered a slow down. Doesn't mean it will if I didn't though.

It's also important to note that all of the above is only valid under the MBR partitioning style. Using GPT as the boot volume is a total game changer and many things simply aren't ready yet. Magician doesn't properly work under GPT. Samsung have confirmed this to me in email when I tried it.

 

[nine9s]

Thanks for comfirming and sharing things to do and watch out for.