I prefer partitioning the disk, but if it shortens the life of an SSD, I would not partition it. So all I want to know is whether partitioning an SSD causes it to wear out faster. @Bill_Bright I read in your response that partitioning reduces the lifespan of an SSD. I just wanted to be certain.
The SSD does not know anything about partitions or file systems. All it is told is which LBA the operating system wants to access and whether it is a read or a write access. Read accesses cause zero or minimal wear on the physical array. It is the process of erasing and writing that gradually wears an SSD. Since the SSD has no knowledge of partitions or file systems, its wear levelling will make use of the entire drive, even if the operating system is writing one partition heavily and barely using other partitions on the drive. The SSD will attempt to spread the wear across the whole drive. Hence no, partitioning does not reduce SSD lifespan.
This is primarily for smaller SSDs because they tend to have less free space to start with. Windows, for example, takes up the same amount of space on a 256GB drive or partition as it does on a 1TB drive. But of course, there is a lot more free space on the 1TB drive. Then when you partition, that free space is divided up even more. And this is important with SSDs because the life extending features for SSDs, wear leveling, over-provisioning, and TRIM all rely on free space to move saved data into and distribute the writes across the entire disk. Bigger drives tend to have a lot more free space. This means the number of writes are distributed across a much greater number of storage locations which means any single location will be written to less often. Now for sure, with the latest generation SSDs, and especially big SSDs write limits are not a problem for the vast majority of home and small business users. Are their exceptions? Always. But exceptions don't make the rules.
After further research, Mr.X is correct about wear leveling. My bad and sorry for any confusion I might have caused there. But TRIM, while in the SSD firmware, is used by the OS. And the OS is aware of partitions. So yes, it can decrease lifespan. See: does partitioning affect the lifespan of SSD - Search (bing.com) And Mr.X is correct again about reads. They have no effect on the lifespan of the drive. But again, with current generation SSDs, this really is not a problem which is why I specifically said "for those worried about SSD lifespans".
I don't believe it does. After all, your Win11 system will start with 4 partitions. Regarding SSD lifespan. You won't wear it out. The 250 GB SSD I mentioned with multiple OS. It will take another 50 years before it reaches its suggested TB Write limit of 150 TB. And that SSD undergoes several OS partition restores weekly. The 1 GB SSD in my main computer has 400 years to go. My wife's laptop has a 128 GB SSD. It's quite large enough for her use. It has OS and data partitions. Of course, if she was a gamer then I'd have to buy a larger SSD.
I agree. While technically, there are still write limits on all SSDs, that number is so high, no "normal" user (that's about 99% of us) is going to come close to reaching it. It just is not a problem with today's SSDs. I apologize for even bringing it up and stirring up unnecessary controversy. The bigger problem here, for the OP, IMO, is just the size of the SSD. If one is a gamer, for example, a modern game today can consume 50+ GB - for one game! Some are much bigger than that.
Bill, My son would be aghast if I offered him a 512 GB SSD. He's a gamer. I'm frugal with data and a 512 GB SSD would be more than adequate.
The laptop's SSD is a 512 GB M.2 2242 SSD PCIe Gen4 TLC Opal. The current HDD laptop configuration is as follows: 512 GB HDD C Partition (System): 52.3 GB free of 97.0 GB D Partition (Data): 232 GB free of 368 GB The new SSD laptop will have a similar configuration as the HDD laptop. I'm thinking of making a C Partition of 150 GB and a D Partition of the remaining GB. Any suggestions?
My suggestion is that you remember this Then you might want to resize Windows (C) partition to 150GB and the rest for D.
The laptop I bought has DOS. I can install Windows using a bootable USB without any probs, right? The laptop has one empty SSD slot. Is there any distinction between the slots?
I think 150 GB is too large seeing your previous OS only consumed 45 GB and you expect a similar configuration. But as we discussed earlier, you can resize both partitions later if your situation changes. Do you disable Reserved Storage? I think it's useless. You get an extra 7 GB of Free Space in the C: drive if it's disabled.
OK, I'll make a C Partition of 100 GB and a D Partition of the remaining GB. I don't disable Reserved Storage. I'll think about it. Yes, a brand new laptop. I customized the laptop and selected DOS. I have a Windows 11 Pro license.
I customized and bought the laptop from Lenovo India. https://www.lenovo.com/in/en/laptop.../ThinkPad-E14-Gen-4-14″-AMD/p/21ECCTO1WWENIN0
Ok. Should be fine. I think DOS just means it doesn't have a Windows OS. Delete any partitions on the SSD before you boot the Win11 UFD. Also, check the BIOS shows UEFI, not Legacy MBR. Disable CSM while in the BIOS.
I downloaded the Win11 22H2 ISO a couple of weeks ago when it was first released. I tried to boot the UFD yesterday. It wouldn't boot. I downloaded a new one yesterday. It has a different name, finishing with v1. It boots and I installed another Win11 last night. I wanted to see how small I could get the Win11 partition. It finished at 11.4 GB. Totally impractical of course. Free space in the partition is 7 MB.
Of course it is utter nonsense that I cannot leave my house in the morning with money in my pocket, walk into a computer shop and purchase disk imaging software or any other back up software but in the exact same shop I can purchase some of the most dreadful software that shouldn't even be sold (like those software that claims to make your computer run 400% faster or other optimising software and not forgetting Nero). Like you said most things are being sold online but I find it extremely odd that shops that used to sell imaging / backup software (especially True Image and Symantec Ghost) stopped selling such products but sell software for everything else (and software you'd never recommend to anyone).
After a search on the net i could see that 1 slot is for Gen.3 discs, the empty one, and the other for Gen.4. Which is the one you want use for full Gen.4 speed. Instead of posting a lot of info and links about it i am just telling you so you can look it up yourself. It was easy to find out. I just had this uncertainty myself with my brand new laptop, a laptop that had the same disc configuration but my slots where marked with Gen.3-4.
I hear you. This machine has two physical SSDs, a 256GB for the boot/C drive and a 512GB for my D drive. The boot holds W10 Pro and MS Office Home & Business (the one with Outlook too) as well as all my other installed programs. It still has about 90GB free. But my D is nearly full. I moved the default Downloads folder (*see below) to D, Burned about 600 music CD and put them there, then I and Windows Backup use the rest for FileHistory and Backups of C drive and right now there is only 17GB free. Technically, that is low but, because it does not carry the OS, it is still plenty of room for Windows and the SSD firmware to do their SSD optimization and life extending tasks. And since Windows Backup (if you let it) is good at purging old backups as new backups are made, it never consumes all the space. And, of course, that's a good thing. On that note, contrary to what many seem to believe, and sadly, want others to believe, Windows Backup and Restore (along with File History) is an effective backup program for most users. And its already in there. *For those whose boot drive is running low on space, one space saving/recovery option you can do is move the default Download folder to another drive. You can also move the default Documents folder to another drive too, using the same procedure. To move your Download or, as noted here, the Documents folder to another drive, D drive in this example, do the following: 1. Create a new Documents folder on the D drive, 2. Right-click on the new folder and click Include in Library > Documents, 3. Click Start > Documents, 4. Double-click Documents to open and reveal its contents, 5. Drag and drop (or cut and paste) to move the files to the new folder, 6. Right-click in a blank area then click on Refresh, or press F5 to refresh the view, 7. Under Documents Library, click locations, 8. Right-click the new folder and click Set as default save location. 9. [Optional] Click the old Documents folder and click Remove. Perhaps you are not aware how computer shops (and every other type of shop) work and how they stay in business. It is simple really. Shops sell products and services their customers will buy. If you walk into a shop and they don't carry what you want, that is NOT "utter nonsense", that's just business. Shops are not making money if people are not buying what they sell. So shop owners quickly learn, don't stock the shelves with products that don't sell. This is particularly true when the stores have to buy the products first, then [hopefully] resell them [again, hopefully] for a profit. Now, as far as your "opinion" about software you think is "dreadful" and "shouldn't" even be sold, even if true, it is still your "opinion". That does not make different opinions "utter nonsense". Also, specifically with software - if you buy the software on media (disk or flash drive) at a store, it likely is already outdated. So you install it, but then immediately have to upgrade it. When you buy on line, you get the latest - and often for a lessor price. It should also be noted that in many cases, the product maker will "front" the product to the store and in some cases will even offer some form of financial incentive to carry their products. This is similar to how Norton, for example, preloads their security program on factory built computers. Norton is paying the computer manufacturer to do that. Again, that is business, not utter nonsense. Here's another example, as a shop owner/custom PC builder, I experience all the time when clients come in and want us to build a computer for them. I have to tell them up front I cannot compete in price with Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo. But I can build a computer that is truly custom built to their specific needs. This is because Dell can go to ASUS, WD, Samsung, MS, etc. and promise to buy 1,000,000 units over the next year, then demand and get HUGE volume discounts. Small shops cannot do that. If I buy 10 motherboards, I might only sell 3 or 4 before something new comes out people want. Is it frustrating when you cannot find what you are looking for? Yes. Is it annoying? Of course. Is it utter nonsense? No. It's just business. And it certainly is not Microsoft's fault either.
The laptop runs DOS. Do I need to include the SSD driver in the Windows 11 Pro bootable USB? And can I use a 32 GB USB for bootable Windows 11 Pro?
No. Windows has a native NVMe driver. You can install your proprietary driver after Win11 has been installed. Sure. If the laptop runs DOS, the BIOS must be in MBR Legacy mode. Is that what you want?
