Disable defragmentation of SSD drives

[Hmm]

This goes without saying. 

I also suggest removing optimizing drive and replacing it with Trim/Optimize for SSD drives.  No stand-alone option for Optimize. 

[Guest johnccleaner]

The ability to defragment an "SSD" is a useful workaround for cases when a drive is mistakenly detected as an SSD; as such, it's hidden away a bit so that you can't really select it by accident, but it is available when needed. (Yes, it would be best if a drive was always perfectly detected, but as there's even rare cases where Windows misdetects it, that's unlikely to ever be 100% accurate.)

 

As for Optimize, it will automatically perform a TRIM function when the software is able to do so. (And, if it cannot, then there wouldn't be any point to attempting to TRIM.) So, the Optimize function already works in much the manner that you suggested.

[Hmm]

Does that still happen now where the OS mistakenly detects an HDD as an SSD? I experienced this myself with my 2011 system. The fault was with the Marvel SATA controllers and the SATA cables connected to the Marvel controllers instead of Intel. Back in that era Marvel SATA controllers were very problematic. I am surprised to think that would be an issue today.

Thanks for clearing things up on the Optimize/TRIM feature. I used Optimize on an HDD and I thought it worked the same way on an SSD bypassing the TRIM feature. From the sounds of it though, Defraggler is no longer a utility needed for SSD drives. Is that fair to say?

[nukecad]

17 minutes ago, Hmm said:

Does that still happen now where the OS mistakenly detects an HDD as an SSD?

I can attest that Windows OS can still see drives as the wrong type.

I recently bought an SSD to swap with the HDD in this laptop, but when connected by USB in an external enclosure Win 10 20H2 wrongly sees the new drive as an HDD.
However if I connect it to a different laptop with Win 10 1909 that sees it correctly as an SSD.

(The drive swap is on hold for now while I figure it out, or possibly Windows will sort itself out with 21H1?).

[Guest johnccleaner]

Thanks, Nukecad.  That matches behavior I've seen reported.

In regards to Optimizing a hard drive, it will do the zero feel procedure instead, since TRIM cannot be used with a conventional hard drive. (The end result would basically the same to using the Wipe Free Space function in CCleaner set to a single pass; at least, once that function is able to be safely re-enabled, anyway.) 

As for using Defraggler with SSDs, the optimization process is useful when the drive starts to slow down (specifically when its write speed slows), though this feature is also often offered by software provided by the drive's manufacturer, too. It's also an easy way to look over the drive's S.M.A.R.T. statistics, which are a good indicator for when the drive is nearing failure. I

It is less needed than on a conventional hard drive, though, especially in day-to-day usage (while all SSDs will slow down how quickly they can write as more and more storage pages on the drive file up, this isn't going to happen quickly for most users - and hopefully one's drives don't fail on a regular basis. 

[nukecad]

Windows 10 itself will occasionaly "intelligently" defrag an SSDs, as well as the more usual/frequent optimise.
https://www.hanselman.com/blog/the-real-and-complete-story-does-windows-defragment-your-ssd

(Although there have been past reports of Windows defragging SSD's too often, and also sometimes trying to 'Trim' HDDs. Looks like Microsoft have more work to do on drive type recognition).

[Guest johnccleaner]

This is correct, and that is, generally speaking, the only time a defrag should ever be done on an SSD.

(Specifically, while fragmentation doesn't affect the SSD's performance at all, there's an upper limit to how many individual file fragments it can track - Windows' occasional defrag prevents that limit from being exceeded.)

[nukecad]

I originally posted that from my phone and just edited it to add the link at the same time that johnccleaner commented.

[Andavari]

On 13/04/2021 at 02:53, Hmm said:

Does that still happen now where the OS mistakenly detects an HDD as an SSD?

Vice-versa it does, where an SSD is identified as an HDD.

I have an two external SSDs formatted as FAT32 (the file system is the culprit) and Windows 10 Home v20H2 (and previous builds) always detects both of them as a Hard Disk Drive.

If the drives are formatted using NTFS (which Windows only allows and forces, although it's easy to get around using a myriad of free 3rd party disk partition tools) they will be properly detected as SSDs. I only use FAT32 on two of my external SSDs for compatibility with other hardware (game consoles) that requires it though, so no way around not using it. Also not having Trim support with FAT32 hasn't caused the drives to die either.

The file system used on flash based media (SSD, USB Flash Drive) can trip up Windows 10, for instance formatting a USB Flash Drive with NTFS and then enabling Write Cache on the drive will cause it to display in Task Manager as if it were another internal storage drive - although Write Cache on USB Flash Drives doesn't work.

[Hmm]

On 13/04/2021 at 12:03, johnccleaner said:

This is correct, and that is, generally speaking, the only time a defrag should ever be done on an SSD.

(Specifically, while fragmentation doesn't affect the SSD's performance at all, there's an upper limit to how many individual file fragments it can track - Windows' occasional defrag prevents that limit from being exceeded.)

This is interesting. 

I've been reading more on SSDs and fragmentation. The overwhelming consensus is this should NEVER be done and to avoid software applications such as Defraggler. And never force a defragment on an SSD drive. Use only TRIM. 

[Andavari]

In some instances even an SSD will require some amount of defragmenting such as in Windows (which Windows will do on it's own) because files can become so fragmented that they begin to cause issues.

[Willy2]

- "Disable Defragmentation of an SSD" ??? I disagree. Because when an SSD has a (very) high fragmentation rate then that on its own will/can slow down an SSD. This is the result of the special technology of how an SSD writes data to disk.

See this info:

https://pureinfotech.com/why-solid-state-drive-ssd-performance-slows-down/

But I would limit the / a full defragmentation of an SSD to say once in 3 or 6 months.

[Profoundly Disturbed]

SSDs move data that's already on your disk to other places on your disk, often sticking it at a temporary position first. That's what gives defragmenting a disadvantage for SSD users. You’re writing data you already have, which uses up some of the NAND's limited rewrite capability. So, you get no performance advantage whatsoever, but you are using up some of the limited rewrite capability. In short, you should never, ever defrag an SSD. It has no material benefit, and every time you use it, you simply shorten the life span of the drive. PS - I'm a Lead CE who works for one one of the larger SSD and RAM manufacturers on the planet. The design and function of SSD's pay my mortgage.  

[Willy2]

- When one switches from a HD to a a SSD one also should turn off the build-in Windows' Defragmentation feature/scheduler. (which I did).