Partitioning Samsung 840 Evo

Hi All,

Bare with me as this is my first post. All constructive feedback is appreciated.

My IT department recently installed a Samsung 840 Evo 250GB SSD on my Dell E4310. However, they didn't bother to partition it. I have one person telling me they should have, and I have read elsewhere that there is no point given the fact that there is no HDD in the notebook. There is a boot partition but not a Windows (7 64bit). I would go back to them for help, but they have caused me enough grief already...

When I open MiniTool Partition Wizard (in Windows, not boot), I can see the SSD shown as Basic - 232.89GB with the following partitions:

• BDEDrive(NTFS) - Capacity - 477.5MB - Used - 35.41MB - Unused - 442.09MB. Type is Primary and Status is Active & Boot.
• System HDD(NTFS) - Capacity 232.42GB - Used 123.51GB - Unused 108.91GB Type is Primary and Status is System.

So, I guess what I am asking is:

• Do I need a Windows/Programs partition? (I do a lot of multitasking and heavy Excel macro/VBA work etc. usage)
• If I do require a partition, would it be separate from the BDEDrive partition? What size would you suggest? And, would you suggest it stores Windows only or programs as well?

I hope all this makes sense. If you require any further information, please let me know.
Appreciate your help (and patience).

Megs

 

A partition per se is not necessary: what I would suggest though is leaving as much capacity as you can free (~25GB) AND 'unallocated' (30% of total drive capacity is optimum) - unless you want to see speeds down in the ~30MB/s range.

Right click on Computer, select Manage, select Disk Management, select the largest capacity partition and right click and select 'Shrink'.

For a 250GB SSD - I would normally shrink it by ~70656 MB's (69GB) - but it seems like your IT dept has installed a lot of programs (junk?) for your C: drive to be using 123GB already (meaning you can't shrink it down to an optimum size).


I would be disabling System Restore, Hibernation, Error Reporting and possibly the pagefile file in an effort to reclaim as much capacity as possible - not to mention that those processes (except for possibly the pagefile; depending on how much RAM you have and the specific programs you are running) are essentially useless in 2014 (especially with an IT dept to back you up).

To put this in perspective: a clean Win8.1x64 Pro install including Office 2013 (complete install) fully updated and functional uses less than 20GB on a 100GB C: drive partition on all my systems (and any client's systems I setup). What the other 100GB of 'stuff' is on your drive is... I don't even want to ask (hope it's valuable Data).

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck.

 

Hopefully I'm reading correctly

They're just labels, and it sounds like the drive was cloned having the acronym "HDD" in the second label. They can be renamed to anything desired.
BDEDrive = System Reserved (BIOS/MBR Boot/Backup active partition)
System HDD = OS (Window 7 Boot/System partition and also programs and data)

You don't need a separate partition for programs and data especially on such a small drive.

Following Tiller's above suggestions for shrinking the OS partition by that amount would get you what you need for performance.

It probably won't shrink easily because files may be locked and blocking the requested amount.

Disabling what was suggested will yield better results. Turning off the pagefile will contribute towards this end but should probably be turned back on afterwards by selecting system managed.

 

Thank you both for the info.

It sounds about right and I need to go through and delete all the bloatware/IT rubbish they put on the notebook in addition to maybe moving some of my less used data to external HDD's.

Once I have done that I will definitely give the shrinking a go. Though I am not sure the IT setup will allow me to disable the functions you mentioned (Well, not according the the IT policy anyway - but I can usually get around that).

Appreciate your help. :thumbsup:

 

IMO 30% unallocated is overkill. I set my 840 Pro to 20% unallocated (over-provisioning if using Samsung Magician) and even at 75% full (allocated capacity) the read/write speeds are within 5% of a brand new drive. What's truly ironic is that my 840 Pro 512GB with 20% unallocated at 75% capacity still benches better than a brand new fresh-out-of-the-box 840 Evo 500GB.

I personally wouldn't disable pagefile unless you're really desperate for space. I just set mine to 2048MB and forget about it (this will of course depend on how much physical RAM you have). I've read somewhere that System Restore messes with TRIM, and although I can't verify that statement, I can say that turning it on has a negative impact on the write speeds.. Sequent write went from 530 to 489 MB/s, and random write plunged from 88000 to 67500 IOPS. To be fair I did not notice any real-life differences, but that was enough reason for me to turn off system restore.

 

I think this is probably a fine statement within consumer usage and with > 256GB SSD drives, but with anything <= 256GB I'd stick with 30% (and I'd say 30% for TLC on any size). Remember in most cases it is going to be easier to expand than it is to shrink; there is no real loss or pain involved from allowing unallocated space for a controller to use. If your needs change and that 10% - 15% becomes absolutely necessary then reclaim it - though at this point, getting a larger drive is worth considering.
---
FYI: If you're running Bitlocker (W7), it is recommended to Hibernate the computer rather than to Sleep - especially in public places.

 

Thanks beezow.

I'll have to look into pagefile, but it sounds like it will do more harm than good.

Edit: What do you suggest for setting the unallocated space/over-provisioning? I have had a play with Samsung Magician but have heard bad things about it as well.

 

So between 20-30% seems to be the consensus.
Appreciate your help.

When you say TLC, are you referring to tender loving care or have I missed something?

 

TLC (Triple Level Cell) refers the NAND flash memory technology the SSD uses. Your 840 EVO uses TLC NAND.

Basically, TLC is cheaper, but not as fast or as long-lasting as MLC (Multi Level Cell - 2 bits per cell) or SLC (Single Level Cell - 1 bit a cell).

There's more info here: AnandTech | Understanding TLC NAND

 

Anand Lal Shimpi still recommend 25% 'unallocated' capacity for best sustained SSD performance - I find that 30% is better for my workloads (and 50% for my desktop, multi-SSD based platforms).

I would not recommend to allow Magician to run by default - I only use it to update firmware as required and then immediately uninstall it. Definitely do NOT allow it to do any 'tweaks' to your system to optimize it for SSD use - unless you want to re-install your O/S continuously and/or do not want to have the benefits your O/S offers. In a sense, I consider Magician a Virus; yeah it's that bad to an optimally running system.


As for the pagefile - if your programs are not expecting it - and, you have enough RAM (16GB or more), then you can safely disable it.

What programs are you running normally? How much RAM is installed? These questions will determine if you can eliminate or at least reduce the pagefile size.



...

 

I don't mean to sound contentious here, and I've never been able to concurrently run Magician while my system has a Samsung OEM SSD installed in any configuration.

That said, I'm under the impression that Magician only runs on demand, not as a startup program, and most of what it does is not all that complicated except maybe the startup for RAPID.

 

The last time I used it: it still wanted to run at startup. (Full retail 840 Pro, not OEM SSD).

Anything that has not been given my blessing to run at startup is a virus...

 

Magician on newer ssds EVO ect does more than one thing, it can update old firmware, run trim on demand, check achi and sata modes, activate-rapid mode-super boost to write, evo's are superior to pro in data security,,pro only support class 0 whereas evos support class 0,TCG Opal, and Encrypted Drive,,EVO are also out selling Pro's at a fantastic rate. buy.com sold 1000 evos, 250gb in day at $140,,I have an EVO as well 250GB could not be happier. EVO's are Samsungs Flagship SSD,flagship does not have to be the fastest,,Admirals dont have there flag on the fastest ship at sea, quite contrary.
The Data Security Class 0, TCG Opal and Encrypted Drive is done thru Magician. Samsung Data Migration is also state of the art, this software supports proportional resizing of paritions copied 750 HD to 250 SSD EVO, booted right up 1st time with the partitions proportionally resized to fit the entire EVO SSD drive.

Cheers

3Fees

 

It might be the flagship consumer model but it is a stretch to say that for other than the security additions.

And no, I wouldn't expect Magician to work on my setup even if I exchanged my PRO for EVO because of the problem it has with its own OEM drives presence.
I'm still planning on adding another PRO and won't be adding EVO even with the added security.

Also don't forget there are lots of factors that go into proper security setup, one of which would be bitlocker - of which most people don't have.

I like my Samsungs, but certainly there are lots of other equally good drives with very little trade-off available and competitive pricing.

 

EVO, flagship? I bet Samsung would disagree.

What's the flagship sports car for Chevrolet, the Camaro or Corvette? Sales say it's the Camaro. If the newer Camaro had side airbags and the Corvette didn't have them in this model, would it get the nod because of that? On both points, sales and a feature improvement, safety in this example, the Corvette would still be the flagship just as the Pro is. I would expect the Pro to get updated with the security features in the next model. Unless there is no Pro. Maybe an EVO Pro?

 

I have Samsung EVO 250GB,,10% over provisioning set.Flagship means different things to different people,,EVO's are Number 1 in sales-EVOS are the flagship in Samsung SSD sales, Number 1. When I registered my EVO with Samsung got an extra 3 months warranty(EVO Exclusive) 39 months all together, Samsung sent email acknowledging the warranty increase of 3 months more than 3yr standard warranty,,

1000@140=$140,000 1 day sale buy.com sale 250GB EVO
400 @270=$111,600 e bay 1 day sale 500GB EVO

$251,600 in less than 2 days as each sold out.

These are just ones I found on e bay ,,,,,,,no telling what happened in pacific rim countries and elsewhere.

Cheers
3Fees

 

Hi everyone!
I was changing my old hard drive onto Samsung 840 EVO SSD. And I think I did something wrong while installing Windows 8. Cloning was keep giving me errors so I had to reinstall win 8 from recovery CDs. Finally, I got SIX partitions
My questions are: which partitions are extra and how I can get rid of them?
Thank you for your help!

 

If you want the ability to do a repair or recovery from the onboard drive, none are extra.

If you trust the CD's indefinitely for repair/recovery installs; the 450MB partition and the 8.27GB partition are the only ones worth trying to remove.

The key words are 'try to remove'. If the option to create Recovery disks (CD/DVD and/or USB key) lets you remove those partitions after it completes, that would be the best/safest method. Otherwise, try a Ubuntu live CD and remove at your own risk.


Good luck.

 

Thank you so much for your quick reply.
I am complete newbie, that is why I thought that most of them are extra.
As I understand, OS is my windows partition. Based on your reply I can do repair/recovery with onboard drive partitions (450 MB and 8.27 GB) and don't have to worry about CD/DVD recovery. Can you explain, what other three partitions can do, in simple words, please I just trying to understand...
Thanks again.

 

They're the boot partitions needed to start windows. They're normal, and not particularly large.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The very first 500MB partition and the 40MB partition are required by Windows to boot properly.

The next 500MB partition immediately before the C:\ Drive O/S partition is also for the built in system recovery along with the very last two partitions. The reason I suggested just possibly removing the last two partitions is because this 500MB partition in the middle of the drive is too small to do anything useful with.


And yes, you should be able to do a system recovery without CD/DVD's. But I would definitely test that at least once before storing the Recovery Disks in a place that you may (too soon) forget.

 

Thank you so much.