Question How full Should my storage SSD be allowed to get?

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I've got 2 x NVMe SSDs in my PC. 1 x that is the system drive and 1 x that is strictly for game storage. I'm aware it is best not to let the system drive get too full, but does that same need arise for the 2nd (storage) Drive? Should I only let it get xx% full as well?
 
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depends on which SSDs exactly you are using. Some have more cache/buffer than others, some doesn´t have any buffer and are using the storage available and could get very slow if low space is available. (lower than HDD speed)
 
OK guys. Thanks. But the question wasn't how full I should it get, it was does that xxx% rule apply only if it is a system drive. But it appears the answer is no. Any SSD. 👍
 
Just a little trick with the W10/11 variants.

Look under "This PC" where all your drives are listed. If they are a blue line the OS and drive say everything is fine. When they get beyond a certain point that line will turn red indicating you are over the recommended storage space for that drive and soon to be out of space altogether.
 
Just a little trick with the W10/11 variants.

Look under "This PC" where all your drives are listed. If they are a blue line the OS and drive say everything is fine. When they get beyond a certain point that line will turn red indicating you are over the recommended storage space for that drive and soon to be out of space altogether.
That red bar kicks in at 10% free space.
 
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Any SSD.
AS a general rule, I stick to 80%.

ex: A 500GB drive, don't fill it up past 400GB.
1TB, don't go past 800GB.
and so on.
I admit, since I'm currently running only a 512Gb SSD, it gets filled up more, I typically leave about 15-20Gb free.

Is there any advantage besides speed to leaving more space, assuming I'm not having any issues? (I used to only leave 5-10Gb, but had crashes a couple times with more recent games)
 
I admit, since I'm currently running only a 512Gb SSD, it gets filled up more, I typically leave about 15-20Gb free.

Is there any advantage besides speed to leaving more space, assuming I'm not having any issues? (I used to only leave 5-10Gb, but had crashes a couple times with more recent games)
Longevity.

An SSD needs that free space for wear leveling.,

The drive firmware, behind the scenes, shuffles data around to even out the 'wear' on individual cells.

The fewer free cells, the harder it has to work to do this, and the more likely some cell will see more write cycles than another.
 
Longevity.

An SSD needs that free space for wear leveling.,

The drive firmware, behind the scenes, shuffles data around to even out the 'wear' on individual cells.

The fewer free cells, the harder it has to work to do this, and the more likely some cell will see more write cycles than another.
Ah OK, gotcha!

I'm thinking I'll just add another SSD then, to free up space.

Thanks!
 
Just a little trick with the W10/11 variants.

Look under "This PC" where all your drives are listed. If they are a blue line the OS and drive say everything is fine. When they get beyond a certain point that line will turn red indicating you are over the recommended storage space for that drive and soon to be out of space altogether.
Thanks. Good to know. I always wondered what that color change actually meant. I knew it meant something bad; like too full or something.
 
I've got 2 x NVMe SSDs in my PC. 1 x that is the system drive and 1 x that is strictly for game storage. I'm aware it is best not to let the system drive get too full, but does that same need arise for the 2nd (storage) Drive? Should I only let it get xx% full as well?
If this storage disk is write once and then read only I would think you could fill it quite full.

If your planning on adding and deleting stuff then best to leave free space.
 
Longevity.

An SSD needs that free space for wear leveling.,

The drive firmware, behind the scenes, shuffles data around to even out the 'wear' on individual cells.

The fewer free cells, the harder it has to work to do this, and the more likely some cell will see more write cycles than another.
Does system RAM work this way too? Needing wear leveling? If not, why?