* On 2017 29 Aug 08:21 -0500, Simon Hobson wrote: > Alessandro Selli <alessandrose...@linux.com> wrote: > > >> I figure that over sizing the drive will help with wear leveling. > >> I'm not sure if that is a valid assumption, however. > > > > I am convinced it is. The more cells to pseudo-randomically spread > > writes to, the lower the number of write operations that are > > performed on each one of them. > > Provided that the drive knows the block is "unused" - which requires > that the OS support TRIM. Without TRIM, when a block changes from > in-use to free, the drive will still see it as "a block with data in > it" - and thus it cannot erase it and put it in it's free pool. I'm > not sure that writing zeroes to it will make it "free" to the drive.
Hopefully this will be that case as I am running Slackware Current on it and ATM am running kernel 4.9.41 (I know an update would have 4.9.44 available). TRIM support should be at the latest. > Partitioning the drive, leaving some space unused is probably the only > reliable way to ensure that the extra space is genuinely free - and > thus part of the erased blocks pool. That's easy enough for me to do. My present partitions are sda1 of 30G and it is 59% used and sda3 is 164G and is 76% used. I ordered the 500GB SSD this morning. > The more of the drive contains static data, then the less space used > for wear levelling - unless the drive automatically moves static data > around to compensate. I suspect that most drives will these days - > which probably makes the whole discussion moot ! Much of my home directory (164G partition) is static--media files, some Virtual Box images, etc. > PS - once you got to SSD, make sure your backups are kept well up to > date. I know this is good advice all the time, but while spinning rust > very often gives warning signs before failing, SSD often "just die" > with no warning. I need to finish my rsnapshot server. :-) - Nate -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://www.n0nb.us
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