[dayglored]

Allocating a third of the overall SSD capacity for overprovisioning would indicate that a large number of "write" operations are involved. It's at the high end of OP allocation but not unheard-of.

I don't believe you can modify the OP allocation; that's generally reserved for the SSD controller and attempting to change it risks losing your data.

Personally I would elect to get a replacement SSD and copy/clone the data over to it, and set the old one aside as a DR (disaster-recovery) backup/reference.

[Paul R.]

Ok, thanks - yeah, I got a lot of answers recommending upgrading the drive yet further, but given the low use on this drive, and this drive is probably faster than the rest of the computer it would go in to, I think I have better places to spend the $$. I’m digging further into what’s on this SSD: I may be able to pull off considerably more than what I need to add (only a GB or so), and then the existing HD in that lab machine becomes the data drive.