Wipe Free Space on SSD discs?

CCleaner for Windows
1

Hi there!

First, thanks for a fantastic product! I have been using it since forever and it has solved more problems then I can count.

I have a question regarding the "Wipe Free Space" feature. Is it safe to use that on a SSD drive? I get a warning when I try to.

Thanks again!

--Jonas, The Swedish Goth

2

Safe? Well, it's very unlikely that you will die. It is however pointless as you cannot physically overwrite a nand flash page. You will also force the SSD to do a huge and unecessary amount of page writes and deletions, which is a waste of time, electricity and a little bit of the SSD's life. That's why you are getting the warning.

With TRIM enabled you should find very few deleted files using, for instance, Recuva. Those that are found will be mainly small files held in the MFT, which wipe free space will not remove anyway.

A far better process it to run an occasional defrag Optimise, which will TRIM any deleted pages it finds.

3
43 minutes ago, Augeas said: 
<div class="ipsQuote_contents">
	<p>
		Safe? Well, it's very unlikely that you will die. It is however pointless as you cannot physically overwrite a nand flash page. You will also force the SSD to do a huge and unecessary amount of page writes and deletions, which is a waste of time, electricity and a little bit of the SSD's life. That's why you are getting the warning.
	</p>

	<p>
		With TRIM enabled you should find very few deleted files using, for instance, Recuva. Those that are found will be mainly small files held in the MFT, which wipe free space will not remove anyway.
	</p>

	<p>
		A far better process it to run an occasional defrag Optimise, which will TRIM any deleted pages it finds.
	</p>
</div>

Thank you kindly for the fast response!

I found your defrag tool and using that right now. I didn't really see windows defrag doing much, and didn't know you guys had one!

This question is now Answered awesomely!

--Kurnn

4

You also do not need to defragment an SSD.