[SOLVED] 256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD - what is normal SSD usage after a few weeks

[TheSwann]

Started using a new PC a few weeks ago. Have a dual drive (256 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD). Is it normal (with very light usage) for the SSD to decrease by 5 GB?

 

[Darkbreeze]

What do you mean by "decrease"? If you mean, use up space, then yes. Consider, a single Windows update can use anywhere from a few kb to 2-3 GB of space, or more, depending on the size of the update. Also, if you have system restore enabled, that will constantly be creating new restore images, which uses space, and gets bigger as time goes on and the size of your C: partition increases due to updates, installed applications, browser cache, etc.

What is the total used space and free space for the 256GB drive when you right click the drive in Windows file explorer and select properties?

 

[TheSwann]

used is 53 GB / free 166 GB
Was wondering if that many GBs are used, will the SSD fill up in a year?

 

[USAFRet]

used is 53 GB / free 166 GB
Was wondering if that many GBs are used, will the SSD fill up in a year?

The first few days/weeks of a new system or drive result in a lot of writes.
You're installing new stuff, deleting stuff you thought you wanted, etc, etc.

That curve will flatten out soon.
Nothing to worry about.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Those numbers look spot on to me. I don't see anything to be worried about either.

 

[TheSwann]

The first few days/weeks of a new system or drive result in a lot of writes.
You're installing new stuff, deleting stuff you thought you wanted, etc, etc.

That curve will flatten out soon.
Nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. Do you think SSDs can last a few years? I'm pretty new to this and had an HDD drive before.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. Do you think SSDs can last a few years? I'm pretty new to this and had an HDD drive before.

Some of the SSD's in my system.
If you notice, the 5 year old ones have the same performance as their newer Samsung cousins.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I used the same Samsung SSD (850 EVO) with Windows installed on it for four years before I upgraded to my current 970 EVO M.2 NVME SSD. Currently, it is being used as a secondary drive, and it's health and speeds are still at 99.5-100%, the same as when it was new more or less. Yes, it can definitely last for many years. There is definitely an incentive however to buy a quality SSD over a cheap budget model. The type of NAND used can make a significant difference in longevity and performance.

For me, I try to stick to Samsung, Crucial and Sandisk, in that order, whenever possible, and I try to stick to the mainstream models rather than their budget offerings.

For Samsung, for example, The 840 EVO, 850 EVO and currently, the 860 EVO, or the Pro models if you want top shelf performance and reliability.

For Crucial, the MX models.

For Sandisk, the Ultra II, Ultra 3D or Extreme Pro models.

Certainly there are other SSDs out there that are good as well, but these I've mentioned are tried and true, and it's hard to go wrong because they are also usually the least expensive of any of the equivalent offerings.

 

[TheSwann]

It's a Dell PC with these specs - i5 9400, 256 SSD + 1 tb HDD
16 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 .

Was trying to figure out if I should return it since I was also having some display issues & was trying to figure out if the graphics card or possibly the SSD (since I saw the GB decrease) was the reason.
Do you know anything about Dell SSDs?

 

[USAFRet]

It's a Dell PC with these specs - i5 9400, 256 SSD + 1 tb HDD
16 gb RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 .

Was trying to figure out if I should return it since I was also having some display issues & was trying to figure out if the graphics card or possibly the SSD (since I saw the GB decrease) was the reason.
Do you know anything about Dell SSDs?

Dell doesn't manufacture SSD's.
The SSD is almost certainly not the cause of your display issue

 

[TheSwann]

256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) - it just says that so I have no idea about the brand.

 

[USAFRet]

256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) - it just says that so I have no idea about the brand.

I'm still not seeing an issue regarding your SSD.

 

[TheSwann]

I thought the problems with the PC could be caused by the SSD but based on your input I'm going to focus on the graphics card possibly having an issue. I was just saying that I didn't know the brand of the SSD so I just called it 'Dell'.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What "issues" are you having? You mentioned only the increase in usage on the SSD. You have said nothing about what display issues you are having.

 

[TheSwann]

What "issues" are you having? You mentioned only the increase in usage on the SSD. You have said nothing about what display issues you are having.

Just trying to narrow down the issues on a PC that is only a few weeks old (I asked another question in another category related to it). But here are the specs again if you can suggest anything:

i5 9400, 256 SSD + 1 tb HDD, 16 gb RAM,
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 .
ASUS VA249 (HDMI).

My monitor flashes a black screen for 1-2 seconds & sometimes the screen freezes (cannot move the mouse pointer). (I thought this might have been due to a faulty SSD since the SSD is the boot drive). Also, the monitor displays some images/text blurry & certain videos are extremely blurry (esp. on twitter). I think this may be due to the graphics card and I am going to exchange this monitor soon just in case. Tech. support told me to re-install new drivers but that didn't help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd recommend that as a place to start, and cover all the basics, you do all of the following.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.


Second,

go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.


Fourth,

Make sure the problem is not just a bad cable or the wrong cable IF this is a display issue. If it is NOT related to a lack of display signal, then skip to the next step.

This happens a lot. Try a different cable or a different TYPE of cable. Sometimes there can be issues with the monitor or card not supporting a specific specification such as HDMI 1.4 vs HDMI 2.0, or even an HDMI output stops working but the Displayport or DVI output still works fine on the graphics card. Always worth checking the cable and trying other cables because cables get run over, bent, bent pins or simply were cheap quality to begin with and something as simple as trying a different cable or different monitor might be all that is required to solve your issue.


The last thing we want to look at,

for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Clean install guide using the DDU​

 

[TheSwann]

I'd recommend that as a place to start, and cover all the basics, you do all of the following.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.


Second,

go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.


Fourth,

Make sure the problem is not just a bad cable or the wrong cable IF this is a display issue. If it is NOT related to a lack of display signal, then skip to the next step.

This happens a lot. Try a different cable or a different TYPE of cable. Sometimes there can be issues with the monitor or card not supporting a specific specification such as HDMI 1.4 vs HDMI 2.0, or even an HDMI output stops working but the Displayport or DVI output still works fine on the graphics card. Always worth checking the cable and trying other cables because cables get run over, bent, bent pins or simply were cheap quality to begin with and something as simple as trying a different cable or different monitor might be all that is required to solve your issue.


The last thing we want to look at,

for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Clean install guide using the DDU​

Thanks. Really appreciate that response/explanation.
I'm really unsure about actually checking the physical components of a pc tower so I tried checking on cord connections and updates. Tech. Support was confused for the most part since they know it's a new system and really focused on the monitor being the problem.
A few days prior, there was an automatic update/BIOS update done so I mentioned that to tech. support and he focused on the graphics card.
I also told tech. support about your suggestions and he re-installed and updated a lot of things. I re-checked cords and since the monitor is new, everything looked fine. I contacted ASUS and that person said to stick with HDMI. Should I try VGA? I didn't get the black screen issue but the screen is still a bit blurry (although the images are less blurry than before). I have to keep using the PC to see whether the frozen mouse pointer thing happens again.
Since classes started, I don't know if I'll have the time to exchange and test out a new monitor but do you think I should test out another one? And do you have any suggestions on a monitor? Unfortunately, I have about a week to decide whether I should return the PC which is annoying and time consuming at this point.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Have you tried a different, and higher quality, HDMI cable?

If you have tried multiple HDMI cables, and done all of the above I outlined, then it could be the monitor but the symptoms seem indicative of something other than the panel itself. If you are uncomfortable with the troubleshooting steps necessary then it might make sense to simply return the unit, or the monitor, OR take it to a reputable repair facility and let them deal with it. I don't think there's going to be a magic bullet that is easy to point to in this case. Trying another monitor, as a first step, might be a good way to simply eliminate that as a possibilty and move along to other potential issues while completely removing the possibility of THAT being the problem from the equation. Since you'll know that ISN'T the problem, if it's not, it will just be one less thing you have to even wonder about.

Also, have you right clicked the desktop, selected Nvidia control panel, clicked on the "change resolution" option on the left hand side and then made sure the resolution is set to the correct resolution under the "PC" listings that are listed. The resolutions listed under "Ultra HD, HD, SD" may not be right for your monitor. Also, make sure that the refresh rate is set correctly. Often, if the setting defaults to, for example, 60hz, and you actually have a 120 or 144hz display, you will need to set it to the correct refresh rate or it will look funky.

 

[TheSwann]

Have you tried a different, and higher quality, HDMI cable?

If you have tried multiple HDMI cables, and done all of the above I outlined, then it could be the monitor but the symptoms seem indicative of something other than the panel itself. If you are uncomfortable with the troubleshooting steps necessary then it might make sense to simply return the unit, or the monitor, OR take it to a reputable repair facility and let them deal with it. I don't think there's going to be a magic bullet that is easy to point to in this case. Trying another monitor, as a first step, might be a good way to simply eliminate that as a possibilty and move along to other potential issues while completely removing the possibility of THAT being the problem from the equation. Since you'll know that ISN'T the problem, if it's not, it will just be one less thing you have to even wonder about.

Also, have you right clicked the desktop, selected Nvidia control panel, clicked on the "change resolution" option on the left hand side and then made sure the resolution is set to the correct resolution under the "PC" listings that are listed. The resolutions listed under "Ultra HD, HD, SD" may not be right for your monitor. Also, make sure that the refresh rate is set correctly. Often, if the setting defaults to, for example, 60hz, and you actually have a 120 or 144hz display, you will need to set it to the correct refresh rate or it will look funky.

So the HDMI cable that comes with the monitor could be low quality/faulty even if it's new? "Symptoms seem indicative of something other than the panel" - I'm curious as to what you think could be the issue, other than the monitor. I think tech support just reads off scripts for the most part.
Yes, I checked the Nvidia control panel and the resolution is set to native/what is written on the monitor box. And same goes for the refresh rate. I also tried switching a video setting to use Nvidia settings but that didn't seem to change anything.