Help a noob

I'm buing a new laptop that is custom made but I have some doubts about the memory.

What would be better option, to have a 512GB SSD or 2 x 256GB SSD?

I ask this for two reasons. First is that I read in a couple places that you should save your OS in one place and storage in other. Does this realy help?
Second thing is that whith two drives it would be possible to do a RAID 0. How much more dangerous would that be?

Thank you very much!

EDIT: One more thing. I wont be using all the 512GB for storage, is there a way to convert this into memory for the computer(like a RAM)?

 

Most SSD's today are (sometimes much) better performers at the 512GB capacity. RAID0 is not that big a gain unless you're constantly editing/copying/moving 4K RAW video footage. But the chance of catastrophic failure is greatly increased over a single drive.

To separate your O/S and DATA - use partitions (always). I suggest a 150GB C:\ Drive partition for future growth and the rest for Data. Keep in mind that leaving at least 25% unallocated capacity (as recommended by Anandtech... I recommend 30% myself) is also beneficial.

Storage, even SSD's, are too slow to be used as RAM directly (the CPU plus physical RAM are the only way to get work done on your computer...) - but your computer would already be using some amount in the way of a swap/page file. Note that it still can't use it like RAM; it simply trades what is in RAM with what it currently doesn't need to the storage device.

With any new notebook that you're buying today and expecting to keep it for several years, 16GB+ RAM is not only recommended, but desired for the best performance and the best balance of a modern platform. Especially if you pair it with an i7 QC or higher.

 

Yep, I'll keep my laptop for quite some time. The 512GB is the best option for me then.

I just didnt understand, what is this unallocated capacity that I should leave? is that in the C:/ ?

 

No.

That portion of the drive should be non-partitioned and unused.

 

Now I'm puzzled, shoud I do or not the partition??

 

You should partition the drive.

However, the "unallocated" space is not going to be a "partition" in a conventional sense since it's not supposed to be formatted.

 

The goal is to do a clean install of your O/S and while doing so, leaving some capacity (i.e. 30%) unallocated to be used by the SSD internally. This gives the firmware the chance to have as much clean/ready nand available ('always') as possible for the quickest possible write response without having to clear nand pages first with the associated read/copy/write dance normally required by all SSD's.

While this gives us the most responsive SSD possible, it gives us the lowest WA (write amplification) too, which further increases the usefulness of the drive in almost any use case a typical user can throw at it. A high WA simply kills the SSD faster and in actual use, also gives the worst performance the drive is capable of too.

(Note2: Even though today's SSD's have been shown to have very robust nand cells in terms of longevity (i.e. TBW... total TB's written), to me, that is secondary if the real world performance of such a drive results in stuttering, pauses and other HDD levels of performance. I'd rather trade some of that high TBW performance into higher sustained performance while I'm sitting in front of the computer and not having to wait on the storage subsystem instead).


Consider the image below:




(Note: While I currently recommend 150GB total capacity for the C:\ Drive partition, this is an example of an older install with only 100GB partitioned for the C:\ Drive).


I have partitioned this nominal 256GB M4 into a C:\ Drive O/S & Program partition of 100GB. Although only 50GB are actually in use from this partition. The remaining I have left as 'unallocated' as I currently don't have a need for more capacity for this C:\Drive (there is ~25GB free space on this 50GB partition inside Windows).

The Z:\ Drive DATA partition I have partitioned to 50GB. With an additional 87.5GB left 'unallocated' for OP'ing (Over Provisioning) purposes and also future expansion as my DATA needs grow, if necessary.



Note that the total 'unallocated' capacity in this example greatly exceeds the 30% OP'ing recommendation I generally give. Almost all of my installs start like this. As the O/S partition or the DATA partition needs more space, I Extend the volume as needed (simply right click on the partition you want to Extend or Shrink and select the appropriate command).


Also note that even though I have shrunk the C:\ Drive partition to 50GB, it also has ~25GB of free space too. If it gets much less than that via Windows Updates, SP's or if I install additional Programs, I will Expand the partition until I get ~25GB of free space again.


The benefits of using this system of 'unallocated' capacity in this way is it gives the SSD to give it's maximum sustained performance over time with the least WA and least GC (Garbage Collection) interference (to the user) too. Simply leaving free space is not equivalent.

An O/S with access to the entire SSD's capacity will quickly leave every nand chip in a 'used' state. This will necessitate a read/copy/write dance to free up nand cells for new writes and this is exactly what causes high WA and low responsiveness of SSD's while the user is actively working on the system.

However, with 'unallocated' capacity, the O/S simply cannot touch that part of reserved nand cells. But, the SSD can. And what it does with it is make sure it is clean and ready to be written too at any time (which it does with it's internal GC routines).

While some usage scenarios may seemingly show that there is no difference between free space and unallocated space, the users (such as myself) that want the performance (at all times) that they paid for from the pricey and bleeding edge SSD they buy will easily see appreciate the difference.

What we're basically achieving with OP'ing is allowing the SSD to have the users full attention during their sessions with it and postponing the SSD's internal GC routines to a time when the user doesn't need or push the system to its maximum. This is why I highly recommend to leave the system on overnight at least once a week (if not everyday) with sleep timers disabled (so that O/S and the SSD can do their maintenance on their time, not mine).



Getting back to the proper partitioning of an SSD...

When doing a clean windows install, delete ALL partitions from your SSD (or HDD for that matter) in Windows Setup (Advanced).

When you go to create your C:\ Drive partition, note the total capacity (in MB's) that Windows indicates. I would make a note of that and multiply this number by 0.70 (for a 30% OP) or 0.75 (for a 25% OP) to indicate the largest possible capacity to use for all partitions you create on this SSD (assuming you want to keep that percentage as OP, of course).

Next, create your C:\ Drive partition of 150GB capacity plus the size for the partition(s) Windows will automatically create for it's use. For the last few installs, that has been a value of 154150 MB's in the Windows Setup window.

Now, create your D:\ Drive partition. Take the 70% of the total capacity you want allocated minus the size of the O/S partition and enter that as your new partition size. Format this partition but make sure you don't start the Windows Install with this partition selected.


Select the C:\ Drive partition and Select Install Windows to this partition.

After fully setting up the system with the programs you need, you can Shrink the C:\ Drive partition as needed (and making sure you have at least 25GB of free space or more, as required by your workflows) and increase the DATA partition an equivalent amount (if needed) and thereby keep the same %age of OP'ing as you originally calculated (and all the benefits thereof).


So to answer your question of

The answer is not only should you partition, but you should partition properly/optimally too.

 

That cleared a lot of things for me

If I have the oportunity to use 512GB SSD for storage and another M.2 120GB SSD for OS, would it have a better then just partitioning the one drive?

 

In this day and age, I wouldn't bother with a 120GB SSD of any kind for OS, especially not on a brand new system.

My $0.02 only...

 

I would always use the biggest (usually the fastest) SSD drive possible for your O/S. Rather use a HDD (Hitachi, of course) for storage - yeah, that's how much of a difference I see with a small, slow SSD.

In late 2009/early 2010 (???) one of my first SSDs was a 128GB Inferno - biggest pile of *&^* I've ever used. Today, at that capacity it would be no different; maybe even worse with the overheating and low performance M.2 drives available today (and the cramped chassis they're shoved into).