How to over-provision an Intel SSD320 for use in a Dell H700-based RAID Array

[idata]

I would like to set up a RAID10 array of 6 Intel SSD 320 SSDs, but over-provision them to enhance their performance and duration as per the Intel PDF:

http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/45/95/459555_459555.pdf http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/45/95/459555_459555.pdf

Unfortunately it appears that the SSD Toolbox does not provide an easy method for adjusting the spare area on these drives. In the above PDF Intel mentions 2 third-party tools (HDPARM and HDAT2) to use to manually issue the SATA SET_MAX_ADDRESS command to alter the spare area. I tried HDAT2, but the boot ISO doesn't see the drives behind the PERC raid controller.

I was hoping for a solution that won't involve manually putting the drives into a spare PC to adjust this setting. Is there any easier way to accomplish this task? Is it as simple as configuring the RAID to use less than the total drive space during setup?

[idata]

As I understand it Intel SSDs will use any left over space as over-provisioning on their own. Just create a partition that is smaller than the max and the SSD will use any space left over as spare area.

[idata]

Basically, any unutilized space will just be more blocks for wear-leveling and to help ensure there are clean blocks when needed.

[idata]

Ian,

I'm curious of how it went. Did you get it working? I'm planning on putting three 320's in a RAID 5 on a Poweredge server myself, but have found very little information abou it.

Thanks!

[idata]

Yes, our RAID 10 performs as expected. I'm not able to prove that the unused space is in fact being used as desired by the drives... but it seems to be.