# Is there any way to set unpartitioned SSD space as reserve space?



## hellrazor (Oct 28, 2020)

I'm using a 500GB WD Blue SATA drive solely for a 128GB swap partition, and I would like set the unpartitioned space as reserve space for bad sectors. Naturally I looked at the hdparm man page, but the closest I can find is -N (which sets the Host Protected Area) and I'm pretty sure that's not quite what I want. Are there any other places I should be looking?


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## timta2 (Oct 29, 2020)

Doesn't the drive handle this on it's own? Just leave it unpartitioned.


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## Space Lynx (Oct 29, 2020)

hellrazor said:


> I'm using a 500GB WD Blue SATA drive solely for a 128GB swap partition, and I would like set the unpartitioned space as reserve space for bad sectors. Naturally I looked at the hdparm man page, but the closest I can find is -N (which sets the Host Protected Area) and I'm pretty sure that's not quite what I want. Are there any other places I should be looking?



I know on Samsung Magician software there is overprovisioning where you can allocate empty space as much you want for longevity purposes. I know my Micron SSD has software I can download that does this too. I am going to just assume Western Digital dashboard has something similar.  I am not sure if this helps or answers the question, I don't think you can pick and choose which sectors to make this apply to


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## Mussels (Oct 29, 2020)

wait i thought this was about over provisioning at first, SSD's dont really do 'bad sectors'


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## Space Lynx (Oct 29, 2020)

Mussels said:


> this automatically happens, just leave an unpartitioned section at the end and the drive does it automatically



So when you do a clean install of windows say on a 1tb drive ssd, just create 30gb unformatted partition?  or does windows do it automatically on clean installs?


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## Mussels (Oct 29, 2020)

lynx29 said:


> So when you do a clean install of windows say on a 1tb drive ssd, just create 30gb unformatted partition?  or does windows do it automatically on clean installs?



i edited my post, sir ninja. If you shrink a partition when in windows (or installing windows, or letting samsungs program shrink it for you) the free space is automatically used for over provisioning and keeping the drive running properly. I'm really not sure if the OP is talking about that or actual bad sectors, which is not how SSDs work.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Oct 29, 2020)

why do you need a 128g swap?


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## hellrazor (Oct 29, 2020)

timta2 said:


> Doesn't the drive handle this on it's own? Just leave it unpartitioned.


I'm not sure, and I'm trying to make sure that it gets handled the way I want it to.



lynx29 said:


> I know on Samsung Magician software there is overprovisioning where you can allocate empty space as much you want for longevity purposes. I know my Micron SSD has software I can download that does this too. I am going to just assume Western Digital dashboard has something similar.  I am not sure if this helps or answers the question, I don't think you can pick and choose which sectors to make this apply to


Can't find anything similar for Linux (well, gparted kind of, but it's mostly just partioning).



Isaac` said:


> why do you need a 128g swap?


The story is a mildly complicated, but let's say "future-proofing."



Mussels said:


> wait i thought this was about over provisioning at first, SSD's dont really do 'bad sectors'


Okay, that is what I'm thinking of - and on that note:





						SSD Over-provisioning using hdparm - Thomas-Krenn-Wiki
					

Solid-State Drives (SSDs) have a so-called spare area, a data area that is not directly visible to the operating system. The SSD uses this spare area for wear leveling, among other things. Increasing the size of the spare area (over-provisioning) can increase performance and the life cycle of an...




					www.thomas-krenn.com
				











						SSD Over-Provisioning | Aerospike Documentation
					

Follow these instructions to over-provision Flash (SSD)s.




					www.aerospike.com


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Oct 29, 2020)

ok my view on it is 
the ssd should handle it on its own
you wont be writing enough for anything to die
its a massive waste of a 500 gig ssd
do it to a 32g<


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## Mussels (Oct 29, 2020)

okay yeah if its over provisioning, just leave an empty partition and the drive will use it on its own. That's how they work for all free space, partitioned or not... you're just guaranteeing it, by leaving an empty partition.


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## hellrazor (Oct 29, 2020)

Isaac` said:


> ok my view on it is
> the ssd should handle it on its own


I'm making sure that it does.


Isaac` said:


> you wont be writing enough for anything to die


That's the plan.


Isaac` said:


> its a massive waste of a 500 gig ssd


Maybe, but the 250GB and 500GB had a single digit price difference and I'd rather err on safety.


Isaac` said:


> do it to a 32g<


I'd rather do it once and use it for a long as SATA exists.

Anyways,


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## oobymach (Oct 29, 2020)

No need to reserve space, your swap should be written in different spots each time. I use an m2 ssd solely for a pagefile. My temp folders are on an hdd thus keeping the the main os ssd low on writes.


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