Questions about overprovisioning

[idata]

Hi there,

with my latest Intel SSD (SSD320, 600 GB) I made initially 3 partitions (2GB, 50GB, 400GB). The remaining space was 106GB.

Later I partioned the remainig 106GB as the 4th and last primary partition.

After I had partioned the 4th partition I rememberd that some space of the SSD should be left unpartitioned because it's good for live and performance of the SSD.

So I removed the last partiton (106GB) which was not formatted and no data was written to it. Then I made a new last partition with 40GB. 66GB are now unpartitioned.

Is the unpartitoned space used by the SSD? Or is it not used because it has been partitioned first?

Is there a possibility to see if the unpartioned space is used by th SSD (e.g. with Intel SSD Toolbox) ?

Best regards, FireStarter

[MSpar1]

I could not find anything on Intel's site regarding the stock overprovisioning for each SSD. I did find this procedure on Infortrend to check the existing OP and change the allocation amount. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http://www.... http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http://www....

I haven't had a chance to test this yet, but will post results when I can. If we could get some feedback from an Intel engineer, that would be better.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Our drives are overprovisioned from the factory, but that space is not visible to the user.

Unpartitioned space is not used by the SSD to keep performance up (it's not the same as the space set aside for overprovisioning). It's left alone in case the user wants to use it.

Following the instructions at the document you shared will increase the amount of overprovisioning, but the trade-off is that you will have less usable space for storage.

[MSpar1]

Thanks for the quick reply Joe!

Yes, after digging deeper it seems that the enterprise grade SSDs have a large amount of OP, which is great for performance and longevity. From what I've gathered it's between 33 and 60%. I was just curious what the factory amount is set to, or what Intel engineers consider best practice for enterprise environments.

Thanks again for your input!

[MG6]

Here's the direct link to that doc:

http://www.infortrend.com/ImageLoader/LoadDoc/435/True/True http://www.infortrend.com/ImageLoader/LoadDoc/435/True/True

It mentions Linux' hdparm, but provides no guidance. This article details how to read & modify the Host Protected Area (HPA), using hdparm:

http://www.storagereview.com/in_the_lab_giving_client_ssds_an_edge_in_enterprise In the Lab: Giving Client SSDs an Edge in Enterprise | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

My original question was whether HPA was an effective means of over-provisioning on Intel SSDs. Of particular interest to me are the SSD 520 and SSD 535. While the later posts in this thread suggest the answer is "yes", I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm.

BTW, I assume you need to Secure Erase (or delete everything and TRIM), before doing this. Also, don't be surprised if you need to create a new partition table, as parted aborted when it tried to read the GPT left on the drive from before.

Thanks.