how to defrag a SSD

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by garry35, May 9, 2016.

  1. garry35

    garry35 Registered Member

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    as title says, is it safe to defrag a SSD and which programs do you recommend. the program needs to work with win7 or later, and a nice feature would be to show some stats of the drive
     
  2. NWOAbschaum

    NWOAbschaum Registered Member

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    There is no need to defrag a ssd. it will be as fast as it was, u wont notice any different. SSDs dont need to defrag.
     
  3. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    Last edited: May 9, 2016
  4. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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  5. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    On average, without defragmenting the SSD, for how long do they last?
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    You'll find after reading this TEST SUMMARY that SSD lifespans are waaaaaaaaaay longer than anyone thought they'd be. Basically, almost all today's drives will reach the 750tB (that's TeraBYTES) level (WRITEs) before they show signs of serious wear... and some actually went passed the 2pB (that's PetaBYTE) level before reaching failure levels.

    Basically, if you look at your SMART data today, you'll notice that not only will you have probably gone through at least 5-computers but probably 3-generations of storage devices before today's SSDs really go downhill on you.

    Although I don't believe serious defragging needs to be done on these devices (it's not needed for speed like the old spinners), it's needed to tidy up Windows file structures which is done very well by Windows on its own without any user's help. And from the looks of the life tests above, even if you did it as much as you did for the old spinners, I don't think it would hurt it in the long run.
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2016
  7. Triple Helix

    Triple Helix Specialist

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  8. kaljukass

    kaljukass Registered Member

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    Remember for ever - never do not defragment any SSD drive.
    If only, then consolidate free space.
     
  9. Hadron

    Hadron Registered Member

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  10. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    open file explorer then right click on the ssd drive you want to trim, click properties at the bottom of the list, then select the tools tab at the top then click optimize. select the ssd (make sure that is highlighted) then click the optimize button. it will trim the drive. you can setup the schedule by clicking the "change settings" button and then selecting a schedule or you can then see if it is already running on a schedule.
     
  11. Hadron

    Hadron Registered Member

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    Thanks. I didn't even think about that.
    I was thinking more along the lines of the command line.
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Hadron, procedures for "activating" TRIM and having it run periodically are very different for W7, when TRIM was first offered, and W8+.

    Which OS are you running?
     
  13. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Hadron, from previous posts it looks like you moved up to W10 late last year. If so, TRIM should be ACTIVE on your system and Zfactor's advice above is golden for periodic optimization.
     
  14. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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  15. Victek

    Victek Registered Member

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    I use PerfectDisk which has an SSD optimization mode. They claim:
    1. Detects solid state drive hardware (to perform the appropriate action for that type of drive)
    2. TRIMs free space from partially full blocks of data
    3. Identifies where the largest section of free space exists on the drive
    4. Consolidates free space in that location, whether at the beginning, middle or end of the disk
    5. Reduces writes to the drive, extending its life
    http://download.raxco.com/perfectdisk-ssd-optimization
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2016
  16. garry35

    garry35 Registered Member

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    slightly off topic but has anybody ever had a SSD die due to too many writes or is the life span well beyond most reasonable users unless they are very unlucky
     
  17. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    I've never heard of it from regular users, but then again if it died on me I wouldn't know why it did.
     
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Garry, as has been referenced above, the chance of a death due to too many writes in any manageable period of time is slim to none (more like none, actually). Sure, I have known of drives that have died but never due to being "overwritten" (write amplification).

    I took a quick look at one of my drive's SMART values, and seeing how much data has been written in 351-days (when it went in to service), then looking into the long term testing that's been done on many brands of SSDs, I took the low number of written bytes in the group test (worst of the group) and divided it by the # of bytes per day averaged on my system, and the answer said it would last for appx. another 171-yrs. If I was using the best of the tested group, it would last me 3-times that amount.

    I really don't believe there's a "life" issue as far as write amplification is concerned... maybe on some super busy, multi-user server there may be some concerns (even there I don't think there's too many issues) but for casual users, probably none.
     
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