SSD Defrag resulted in loss of total size and free space

[DHeshMan]

I'm new to using Defraggler and only downloaded it because of the drive map display.  I have a Windows 7 laptop with a 1 TB SSD drive.  I read the warning about using Defraggler with an SSD could reduce the lifetime of the drive, but I thought doing one run of Defraggler wouldn't hurt.  I was wrong.

My drive initially reported that it was 50% fragmented, so I started running Defraggler.  After almost an hour later, the program had completed defragmenting 3% of my C: drive 250 GB partition, but as it was running, I was watching the free space slowly decreasing.  At that point my total size had gone from 250 GB to 249 GB, and my free space had gone from 60 GB down to 56.6 GB and it was continuing to drop, so I stopped the program from running any further.  As a test, I ran the standard Windows defragger on the remaining partition, and it completely defragged but it's memory sizes were unaffected.  I went back and used the standard Windows defragger on the C: drive and seem to have recovered the lost free space, but not the lost total space.

Since I actually like the software, is there any feedback someone can give me as to why this happened and how I can fix it so I can use the software without adversely affecting my SSD?

Thanks.

[Augeas]

Well, I'm sure some of this will be down to personal opinion, but if you want to avoid 'adversely affecting my SSD' then don't run any defragger against it. My HDD dating back to 2006 which was retired early this year has never been defragged and everything was well, just fine. On an SSD it would be just finer.

It's worth remembering that fragmentation is a logical construct, it doesn't exist on the disk. All a disk knows is clusters, or pages, and some are used and some aren't. Fragmentation is defined in the MFT, and that's what is used to create the Defraggler display and percentages. Whilst a HDD might suffer some slight delay in fetching disparate clusters (but I never noticed) on an SSD the overhead is as minimal as it can get.

Windows 10 does defrag SSDs if certain conditions have been met, as has been discussed here recently. But this is not to reduce fragmentation in general, but to eliminate the possibility of mass extents in snapshot volumes, a very particular and specific aim.

That's my opinion, there will be others. It doesn't sound to me that you have an overwhelming need to defrag your drive. Whether your loss of space is normal Defraggler action I don't know.

[mta]

get and run a program called Wiztree from here; https://antibody-software.com/web/software/software/wiztree-finds-the-files-and-folders-using-the-most-disk-space-on-your-hard-drive/
that'll show you what's using up space on your drive.

due to the technology used with SSD's and the memory and cell management built-in, then factor in the seek times, and there is simply no benefit in running defrags on SSD's.

the Windows 10, system TRIM command is all that is needed and unless you have changed the default setting, that happens every week.

[Andavari]

Defrag programs with a drive map show such as Defraggler in this instance will show a layout of how files are residing on a hard disk drive. However when it comes to SSDs it means absolutely nothing so defragmenting them is not recommended or required.

Sort of outdated but this page is a good read:
https://computer.howstuffworks.com/solid-state-drive2.htm

[xSimone]

Do not defrag an SSD. <-- There's a fullstop there. <-- And here. (If you understand my meaning.)

Never do it.

HDDs are a storage room full of boxes, you rearange things back to where it belongs like tetris to get the most room and if by choice, put the most used things at the front.

SSDs are like a bucket of water. It's always an even distribute surface. No matter how much water goes into the bucket.

 

There is a purpose to moving boxes around in the storage room.

There is NO purpose, to scooping a cup of water, and dumping it back into the bucket. It's a pointless exercise.

Defragging an SSD only wastes your write quota, and you accomplish.. NOTHING. 

[Yafet]

You should not have stopped it. I waited until Defraggler finished optimizing my SSD and after it reduced my free space, it reverted back to what it was before the optimization. 

[Willy2]

- Did you turn on System Restore ?

[Augeas]

I don't think he cares, as he asked the question nine months ago.