What not to do with a solid state hard drive
Recently, more and more users are switching to solid state drives (SSD). The reason is simple – they work with files much faster than standard hard drives. However, they have their drawbacks. In this article, we’ll walk you through what not to do with your SSD.
- Do not fill up the free space on the SSD completely. During recording, the solid state drive also uses empty blocks. If they are not left, then the speed of work may drop. The best option is to only fill 75% of the space on your SSD.
- Do not store rarely used files on the SSD. For movies, photos and music, it is better to purchase a regular HDD or external hard drive. Such files do not need a high speed of the hard drive, so there is simply no point in storing them on an expensive SSD. Solid state drives should be used for the operating system and hardware-intensive programs.
- Do not place directories with frequently overwritten files on the SSD. An SSD has a write limit. To extend its lifespan, disable the SSD paging file and move the temporary files directory to the second drive.
- Do not format the SSD. While conventional hard drives require formatting to permanently remove traces of old programs, the TRIM function in solid-state drives solves this task. The process is completely automatic, so nothing is required from you.
- Do not defragment. Reallocating logical structures and file fragments is useful for increasing the speed of a conventional hard disk. However, for a solid state drive, this is simply useless. That being said, defragmentation will reduce the number of possible overwrites, which will shorten the lifespan of your SSD.
- Don’t use legacy operating systems. Windows XP and Vista do not support TRIM, which will cause you problems with the SSD. For example, data that needs to be deleted may remain on the hard drive.
