Partitioning a system for a new SSD? [closed]

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SSD with multiple partitions - disk life implications

Ok I finally decided to make the jump to SSD. Seen a deal on a OCZ Vertex 120GB but after some research i decided to go with the Intel 160GB G2 series for just slightly over $100. Also i seen some issues with the vertex drives. I just have more faith in the verfiication process of Intel over OCZ/Indilinx.


Anways, my current system consist of the following:
1) Boot Drive - Velociraptor 300GB
2) Data Drive - 750GB 7200 RPM WD

I'll probably keep both those drives in my system and use the SSD as the boot drive. The main question i have is HOW careful do i need to be in partitioning everything so nothing that writes frequently is on the SSD so as to resit wear / slowdowns

For example you could try partition everything that does a lot of writing to the velociraptor:
1) Page File
2) Temp Files
3) Hybernate File - don't know if you can change the location but i'll check into it if i need to
4) Browser Cache
5) ect......

Depending on what the Write/Read ratio is you might be missing a lot of benefit of what the SSD gives you. For example you might be missing the benefit of having your system QUICKLY come out of hybernate if you move the hybernate file.

Also, i'm mostly doing this for Visual Studio .Net (programming) improvements. Visual Studio projects are "generally" not that that huge but visual studio does lots and lots of small writes/reads when doing stuff like reflection,compiling ect. I'd like to put these projects on the SSD of course because of speed improvements but i don't want to cause performance degradation on my SSD because of it.

I know the intel drive (along with the vertex drive) has TRIM which reduces this but i'm sure TRIM is not perfect and you will still see some performance degredation over time.TRIM just probably reduces it. Oh, and by the way, i am using Windows 7 x64.

Of course there is a lot more examples:
1) Lightroom and its database that its constantly updating
2) Photoshop with its scratch space.
3) SQL Server
4) I'm sure the list could go on and on but i'm sure you get the point.

So when partitioning your drive how anal do you have to be with stuff that does writing to the disk. Some of the slowest apps do a lot of writing and probably would be helped greatly by a SSD.

I was even considering (maybe still slightly) of putting this thing in my labtop and if i did that i wouldn't have a choice. I would have one drive so everything would have to go on the SSD.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I wouldn't worry too much about the wear on the drive over time. Remember that SSDs follow Moore's Law, so by the time your new drive is old, you'll be eager to replace it anyway. The replacement will be cheaper, faster, and have more capacity.

Do max out the RAM in your machine, as RAM will be faster than swapping and caching is good.

Do put the page file on the SSD, as fast paging is good.

You don't really need to put Visual Studio on the SSD, as it doesn't read itself very often (mostly just at launch or the first time you load a project). Even your source code doesn't need to be on the SSD. But the intermediate (obj) and final (exe/dll) outputs should be on SSD. Putting your whole project on the SSD is probably the easiest way to do that.

The hibernate file is only used when hibernating or waking up from hibernate, and it's as big as your RAM, so moving it to a different disk is probably good.