[Improved SSD Performance]

Fragmentation does not occur, and cannot be measured, at the storage device (your 1 tb SSD). Neither a HDD nor an SSD 'knows' what a file is, or how various clusters/pages can be aggregated to form a file. All that is done in the MFT, where the cluster addresses for the file are kept.

 

In an SSD it does not matter from an access point of view where the clusters are located: retrieval is just as fast wherever they are. So defragging an SSD is often considered a waste of time. However if a file is fragmented NTFS has to issue multiple I/O requests for the data fragments, and these take time. So a defragged SSD, even though the clusters are still distributed anywhere on the device, will perform better than one with fragmented files.

 

Defragging will use up some of the SSD's life, as the MFT has more or less to be rewritten. I don't know what SSD controllers do when asked to move a page, do they actually move it (onerous) or just remap it (sensible)?

 

My 1Tb SSD drive is partitioned into two drives C: & D: After reading that Defraggler is SUPPOSED to have a Default 'Optimize' option for SSD drives, I wondered why I didn't see one. Big surprise, Defraggler lists my SDD drives as HDD drives.

 

Why are the identified incorrectly?

 

Also, and certainly more perplexing; why the huge increase in speed after the defrag? I am talking about a two minute improvement. This makes no sense, because I was at the point that if I destroyed the SSD by defragging, I didn't care it was piratically useless anyway.

 

Thanks for your reply

[Improved SSD Performance]

I have MS Surface Pro 4 with a 1Tb SSD card and 16G of ram. Performance was amazing. However, over time, performance began to lag; to the point that start times were beginning to take almost 2 minutes.

 

I used chkdsk and verified everything was as it should be. I also ran a few other dos commands from a elevated command window with no sign of problems. Of course I have always used the Trim function within the Manage Option of the SSD drive.

 

I fully realize that it is a cardinal sin to defrag a SSD Drive, but I bit the bullet and purchased Defraggler Pro and analyzed my system. Shock, horror: 61% fragmented with tens of thousands of fragmented. So I defragged.

 

What a difference!!!!! my machine boots perfectly now and quickly. I have not even had a "wake from sleep" issue that was always present before. Is this normal? How much harm did I cause my SSD drive (if any)

 

Thanks,

Darren