SSD overprovisioning Needed or Not Needed?

hdmi said:

Just because wearing your seatbelt doesn't always save your life during a car accident, doesn't also mean that people should use that as a pretext to not wearing their seatbelt. I am still currently using my first NVMe SSD. It's the 2TB Samsung 980 PRO. It never had the firmware version on it that was infamous for the fact that it could potentially brick the SSD. But I still upgrade the firmware as soon as possible, anyway nevertheless. The car analogy is why. And besides, each time when a new update is available, with Samsung Magician it is only just a few mouse clicks away.

As for monitoring the S.M.A.R.T. data. I don't use CrystalDiskInfo for that, as S.M.A.R.T. data is not standardized so the correct interpretation of it can be dependent on the exact make and model of the SSD, and on whether you use the correct tool software to periodically grab and evaluate the report. So, the software that completely has it right is very often typically going to be the one that can be downloaded from the official product support webpage for the exact make and model in question. For the Samsung 980 PRO, that would be Samsung Magician. For the 512GB WD SN740 OEM that came installed in my newest laptop from Asus, I think I will stick to using the WD Dashboard, and will stick to using it regardless of who says what about CrystalDiskInfo. lol

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I tend to lean toward the user preference side of things. What works best for some may not necessarily be the best choice for someone else. The stick of Kingston NVMe I was referring to is well over a decade old. I got my use out of it. It was only 240 GB and Kingston did provide firmware for it so I employed the firmware. I have a stick of 2TB Samsung 980 PRO sitting on my shelf. Haven't got around to installing it because I really don't need it. I'm in no rush. There are even some situations where a seat belt will not serve well but all analogies are not without limitations.

CrystalDiskInfo gives me what I need at a glance. If I need to dig deeper I have other software for this as well. It has also been my experience that S.M.A.R.T. isn't always so smart. I've had hard drives that it has advised me to replace that I've reformatted and defragged and got another 5 years use from. That doesn't mean I don't use S.M.A.R.T. but it does mean that I don't regard it as a final authority on whether or not I should replace a drive. Again, user preference prevails and I think what one uses their hardware for is also a factor.

I've managed to lock up USB drives before, but never an SSD. Every single SSD I've ever bought is still working and in use somewhere, even if only as a long term data storage device via a USB 3 dongle.

Currently I have 3x internal NVMe drives (Sammy 980s, 2 TB each) and 3x external NVMe drives (Sabrent Rocket 4s, 1 TB each, mounted in enclosures), and all the previous SATA SSDs I have are sitting around here waiting to be used on a moment's notice via my Apricorn dongle (except the Crucial 265 GB, SSD, that one is in my laptop as additional storage). I've never over-provisioned, as I mentioned last year, and I've always just ended up buying more storage when I need it. With the over 9 TB I have directly available to me - I am pretty sure I will not be upgrading again any time soon lol.

FWIW, while I do have CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark (portable) on my system, I also have Samsung's Magician software installed as well as Sabrent's Rocket Control Panel in another portable folder to handle periodic firmware checks. But, for the most part, I ... open Windows Explorer or my 3rd party FM and notice if I need to be concerned about space - the Sabrents are getting close, ~800 GB each, but other than that, unless I run into an issue, I leave them alone, and they do their thing on a daily basis.

TBH I've had a few brick on me over the last 14 years. I'm thinking it might have been due to a bad batch in reference to the SATA drives as they were purchased together. In the case of the third that company no longer exists. It just occurred to me that I also employed the provided firmware for that SSD as well. Hmmm... Perhaps there's a reason I stopped doing this. 14 years ago is a long time. If I haven't owned over 100 SSDs by now I certainly purchased that many for myself and others. Now I'm straining to remember the name of that expired company. :::shrugs:::

I recall trying to run Samsung's Magician software on this X99 platform and contacting Samsung because it would not install. When Samsung got my particulars they told me to return the SSD because it won't work on my platform which I found interesting indeed. They were good about it. I didn't have to pay for shipping and I got a full refund. Since then I've run half a dozen different sorts of NVMe on this system board without issue. I'm thinking at the time it might have been due to the fact that I was using Windows 7 which, at the time, happened to be the king of operating systems. Times change. Ha! I just remembered the name of that company that sold me the faulty SSD. Someone bought them out. Anyone recall the name OCZ?

I have both CrystalDiskInfo and CrystalDiskMark. I also like using HWIN INFO and MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate (which is a mouthful but this particular version is packed with a whole lot of goodies). The name is a little misleading because you can do a whole lot more with it than just partition drives. MiniTool has probably been one of my best software purchases ever. IMO as long as TRIM works no further over provisioning is required.

Scannerman said:

I tend to lean toward the user preference side of things. What works best for some may not necessarily be the best choice for someone else. The stick of Kingston NVMe I was referring to is well over a decade old. I got my use out of it. It was only 240 GB and Kingston did provide firmware for it so I employed the firmware. I have a stick of 2TB Samsung 980 PRO sitting on my shelf. Haven't got around to installing it because I really don't need it. I'm in no rush. There are even some situations where a seat belt will not serve well but all analogies are not without limitations.

CrystalDiskInfo gives me what I need at a glance. If I need to dig deeper I have other software for this as well. It has also been my experience that S.M.A.R.T. isn't always so smart. I've had hard drives that it has advised me to replace that I've reformatted and defragged and got another 5 years use from. That doesn't mean I don't use S.M.A.R.T. but it does mean that I don't regard it as a final authority on whether or not I should replace a drive. Again, user preference prevails and I think what one uses their hardware for is also a factor.

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Compared to CrystalDiskInfo, Samsung Magician only adds 4 more S.M.A.R.T. attributes for the Samsung 980 PRO. They are:

• Warning Composite Temperature Time
• Critical Composite Temperature Time
• Temperature Sensor 1
• Temperature Sensor 2

But I use HWiNFO64 with 2 separate SysTray icons to keep an eye on the temps (one icon for the Elpis controller chip, one for the 3D V-NAND chips). Samsung Magician also has a help feature: