SSD OS + Secondary Data drives

[Fallen Kell]

Ok, so I upgraded to a solid state drive for my OS, and did the standard Win 7 install as stated in the sticky'ed thread. After 2 weeks of use, the drive already had almost 1TB of write activity (with the only things I had actually installed/written there being a few gigabytes in size)!!

I had already moved the page file to a secondary disk (not that I should really need it with 16GB of RAM, other than for those few applications which hard code to use the page file). So the only things still there are the C:/Users and C:/ProgramData directories which again should only account for a few gigs in writes.

So, I am in the process of trying to figure out what to do. I re-installed Windows 7 and created an unattended install configuration xml file to change the locations of where the Users and ProgramData is stored to one of my secondary drives (could not find any other way to do this than re-install). I changed Firefox to not disable file based caching and enabled memory only caching (since I have plenty of RAM to do that). Anything else I should look at doing (even though I know the sticky says I have already done more than what I should, but since obviously I had a crapton of writes, the sticky is wrong, or at least in my case it didn't do what it was suppose to do). I verified with the Intel drive optimization tool that it was properly configured both before this re-install and after, and it says everything was/is setup properly.

Edit: I also created junctions from C: \Users and C: \ProgramData to D : \Users and D : \ProgramData for those programs which might for some reason hardcode the paths (basically I followed this guide http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ifferent/565f16a5-e5ed-43c9-8422-4f56aebb296e)

 

[Old Hippie]

After 2 weeks of use, the drive already had almost 1TB of write activity (with the only things I had actually installed/written there being a few gigabytes in size)!!

So what?

That's normal for moving/installing data and many have no idea how much they actually use their drives...but now you do.

You're over-thinking the whole process.

The new drives need no special considerations or concerns.

Use it as a normal drive and forget about it.

 

[Ghiddy]

I agree with Old Hippie. This other thread for more discussion about how SSD wear due to write activity is not something to be worried about.

If you are still concerned about it, you should check the write activity difference over a period of normal use (i.e., after all your apps have been installed). You could do this by installing your OS and all your apps, then checking the write activity at the start of a week, and then again at the end of the week. That will give you a better indicator of your use rate, which is most likely not anything to be concerned about.

 

[Fallen Kell]

It is true that for Windows I really hadn't known what the base metrics might/should be. I know Linux/Unix inside and out which is why for an OS drive I felt that 1TB is out of control even with including the OS install/patches. Heck, you can essentially make the main OS drives read only in linux/unix save for a few directories which just store system runtime information (and for those you can create a RAM disk and load them from a read-only base image).

 

[DaveSimmons]

At that rate, if this is an 80 GB drive with 25nm RAM, you might have issues after ~480 weeks (9.2 years). No need to worry.

 

[Makaveli]

1TB's of host writes in 2 weeks is alot!

I've done 1.86TB in writes in 19 months!!

 

[smakme7757]

I did all that when i got my first SSD. But to be honest what's the point?

If you for some reason hit the write cap in 3 or 4 years your drive will enter lock down mode which will allow you to transfer all your data to a new drive. I just align my drive before installing windows and just leave everything on the SSD. It was meant to speed up everyday computing, so why move chunks of work off to a slower less competent disk?

I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but if you pound the disk and it dies in 4 years you would have already upgraded anyway...