How To Partition The Solid State Drive In Win10 System? These Precautions Should Be Understood
Before partitioning a solid-state drive, first understand your “capacity level”
When everyone starts to buy a solid-state drive, the first thing they encounter is the choice of capacity. The current mainstream solid-state drives on the market have capacities of 120GB, 256GB, and 512GB. Since the production cost of flash memory particles in solid-state drives is not low, although it can provide a flying-like reading and writing experience, its capacity is usually smaller than that of a mechanical hard drive. If you have a 120GB solid state, it is recommended to use it directly as a pure system disk without performing partition operations. Because after the Win10 system is installed, it will basically occupy 30GB – 50GB. With subsequent updates and the increase of cached files, the C drive is prone to redundancy, and further partitioning will only cause the space to become stretched. And 256GB is currently recognized as the "golden capacity". Whether it is installing large software or storing some work files, it can be done with ease. As for large-capacity solid states of 512GB and above, multiple partitions can be planned more flexibly.
Fewer partitions and larger areas: leaving room for the "garbage collection mechanism"
Many friends are hesitant about whether solid-state drives need to be partitioned. In fact, partitioning itself will not affect the read and write speed of the hard drive, nor will it shorten its life. Its greatest value lies in file management and system disaster recovery. For example, when the system crashes and needs to be reinstalled, the data in the data disk can remain intact. However, there is a technical detail that is easily overlooked, and that is the garbage collection mechanism. When a partition is in a state called "full" for a long time, that is, when the occupancy ratio is higher than 90%, the master controller responsible for controlling it will bear exponentially more pressure when carrying out data sorting and invalid block recycling work. Over time, it is very likely that the system will become stuck or even collapse. Therefore, for solid-state partitions, it is necessary to operate in accordance with the principle of "few partitions and large areas". Dividing a 256GB hard disk into two areas, namely the system disk and the data disk, is the most rational choice. A 512GB hard disk can be divided into three areas, but no more than five areas, to ensure that each partition has sufficient "buffer zone".
Practical Partition Operation: Cleverly Use DiskGenius to Achieve 4K Alignment
When performing partition operations on solid-state drives, "4K alignment" is a keyword that cannot be avoided. If this step is not done well, the read and write performance of the solid-state drive will be greatly reduced, and may even become slower and slower during use. We can use the "U disk boot disk" to enter the "PE system" and open the classic "DiskGenius partition tool". After selecting your solid-state drive, click "Quick Partition" and you will see the settings interface, which is about the number of partitions and partition size. There are two key points to pay attention to here. First, be sure to check " Align partition to an integer multiple of this sector number ". The default selection is 4096 sectors. This is what we usually call 4K alignment. Second, select the partition table type according to the system you plan to install. Win7 generally chooses MBR , while Win10 recommends choosing GUID , which is GPT , so that it can perfectly support UEFI fast boot.
"Hidden speed boost" settings after system installation
Partitioning the solid-state drive and installing the system is just the first step. If you want the solid-state drive to be able to maintain its peak state for a long time, some hidden functions in the Win10 system need to be optimized manually. First, you have to go to the "Control Panel", then find "Storage Sense", and then turn on the switch to automatically clean up temporary files. This can effectively prevent the accumulation of junk files. Then, find " Advanced System Settings " in the "System" settings, adjust " Processor Plan " to "Program" in the "Performance" option, and set "Virtual Memory" to a partition other than the system disk. This can not only save space on the C drive, but also reduce frequent writes to the solid state. In addition, if your motherboard supports the NVMe protocol, you must go to the official website to download and install the corresponding NVMe driver , otherwise you will not be able to bring out the ultimate speed of the solid state.
Daily maintenance and troubleshooting tips
Although solid-state disks are drop-resistant and durable, they also have their own specific "temperament." In daily use, it is necessary to avoid using traditional defragmentation tools to optimize the solid state as much as possible, because doing so will consume the number of erases and writes. The correct approach is to run the TRIM command regularly. The Win10 system usually turns it on by itself. You can check the status by entering "fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify" in the command prompt. If the return value is 0, it means that TRIM is in normal working condition. If one day you find that your computer starts up slowly, you can first check to see if the SATA data cable is loose, or you can use a tool like CrystalDiskInfo to check the health and temperature of the hard drive so that you can detect potential failures as early as possible.
By knowing these partitioning tips and daily maintenance measures, your solid-state drive will not only run fast, but also last for a long time. Whether it is in terms of office efficiency or when loading games, you can enjoy the smooth feeling of "instant on".
