SSD'S DO's and Donts (help please)

HI, ive just installed a 128gb san disk ssd to my mac and asking if you can help me/ advise me on do and don'ts, thanks in advance

Do use it, don't ever go back to the 5400rpm drives

I just installed a 128 Samsung 840 Pro into a Voyager Docking Station and use it as my Boot Drive for my iMac. Keep all your Apps on it, as they will open in a split second, and and don't save a lot to it, because it will fill up quick. I also put one in my Optical bay of my MBP and use the 750GB and the "Save to" drive. Now I have to machines that Flyyyyyyy !!!!

Have been using SSDs only, as internal storage, for the last five years, and can't imagine going back to HDD. As TattooedMac said, replacing optical drive with a second SSD is a great solution: my 4yr old MBPro•17" is much faster, than when it was new, and with [almost] 4 times the storage space!

Oh, and once you use up about 75% of the space, it's time to start thinking about larger SSD

Don't defrag a SSD.

bobtomay said:

Don't defrag a SSD.

Click to expand...

Guys - just another question since these SSDs are usually 'small' - on a standard mechanical HD, I like to leave at least 15%-20% 'free' space (although I've never filled one up to that point) - is this as critical w/ a solid-state drive? Dave

Replies at Tom's Hardware vary greatly. Some say 25%, some 20%, some 15% and some 5GB minimum. Do know SSDs slow as they approach the full mark so I guess the old 15% rule would apply as you suggested Dave.

For what it his worth OWC recommend not cloning from a platter drive to an OWC SSD. Crucial offer cloning software for use with their drives exclusively, of course.

The actual testing I've read have reported that they are slower at 90% used space. Have not seen anyone that has tested them in 5% used space increments and in real world usage rather than just loading it with data and running a bench mark to know at what point they actually begin seeing a slow down and by how much. I would guess the real world slow down happens some time prior to that point - by how much???

I have not tested my SSDs like I have HDs and have not really been interested in spending the time/energy to do so. Only based on the reports I've read - for those that want to keep their SSD as speedy as the day they brought it home and have the extremely bad habit of filling a drive - I would recommend 15% + double the amount of RAM installed in the machine. Then, if your SSD begins filling to that point and you notice slow downs that cannot be taken care of by running Onyx, do your own testing by increasing the free space 5% at a time.

(For what it's worth related to a system drive HD - I'm on the extreme end of the recommendations for free space at a minimum of 35-40% and defrag when needed - data only drives I keep at 10-15%.)