I originally used a 2TB Silicon Power UD90 as my Windows 11 C: drive, with my games installed on it as well. A few months ago, I moved Windows to a 512GB Kingston KC3000 and kept the games on the 2TB drive so the operating system would stay separate and below about 50% usage. After six or seven months, CrystalDiskInfo reports 96% health on the Kingston, while the 2TB drive shows 98%, even though I install and remove games on the larger drive much more often. I recently purchased a 4TB Fanxiang NVMe SSD and plan to move the games there. Should I continue using the 512GB Kingston as my Windows drive, or switch back to the 2TB UD90? Is 512GB plenty for Windows 11 and everyday programs, or should I be concerned about the health percentage?
3 Answers
A 500GB system drive is still a reasonable size, and many people get by with 250GB. The main exception is software such as development environments that can place large packages, caches, and project files in your user folders or AppData. For a gaming-focused PC, that is much less likely to be a problem.
512GB is plenty for Windows 11 and normal utilities. The 96% health reading is generally an estimate based on the drive's rated write endurance, not a sign that the SSD is about to fail. Check the actual SMART data and keep backups, but that small difference after several months is not alarming.
You do not really need separate physical SSDs for Windows and games; one drive can handle both, or you could use partitions if organization is the goal. That said, keeping the operating system separate is perfectly fine if you prefer to keep it clean and leave plenty of free space. There is no need to replace the Kingston just because it reports 96% health.
I like keeping the operating system isolated from games and other media, and I try to keep that drive under 50% utilization. It is more about organization and maintenance than necessity.
I mainly use this machine for gaming and home media. Work and development tasks are handled on my other computers, so I probably won't be installing anything unusually large on the system drive.