Considering SSD's are meant to move data all around the drive, can I split SSD into partitions? If I partition a single large (eg 2TB) NVMe SSD into 3 partitions: one for OS (200GB), one for saved games (300GB symbolic link of ProgramData and Users folder) and rest as game install partition. Would the first 2 drive receiving constant small write wear out that 1/4 part of the SSD?
Nope, you should be fine. Unless someone can correct me, I believe that wear-levelling doesn't really care about partitioning and the like.
SSDs spread out the data themselves using TRIM and have a table of what goes where. You don't need to do any partitioning, or you can, it doesn't matter, TRIM spreads out the data.
Question, what would be the purpose of multiple partitions? Edit: Sorry, thats a really badly phrased question. What benifit does multiple partitions give over one single one?
So if I partition a 2TB SSD with a 200GB partition and write 200TB data into that single partition. Its wear won't be concentrated on a tiny 10% portion of the flash chips. I've always had seperate drive/parition for Windows, Data and Games for as long as I can remember. Currently 128GB for Windows, 1TB WD Black for games, 1TB Green for data. That is I can nuke Windows without worrying about loosing data or backing up data. When I had new mobo a month or so ago, I only needed to re-configure a few Windows settings, all saved games are exactly where I left. All games I had didn't need re-download or even re-install, worked straight away. Now I have this new 2TB NVMe SSD. I'm considering using it as Games drive, replace WD Black. Either get another 1TB NVMe with 2 partitions or carve up the 2TB into 3 partitions.