whats the safest way to defrag or speedup SSD drive without reducing the lifespan or harming the drive
There is usually no need for defrag SSD for regular customers. There can be some scenarios for some environments, where files can be fragmented to the point metadata (file tables, inodes) could swell beyond reasonable size thus using a lot of SSD space, RAM and CPU time, but this is not a problem regular customers face. Usually there is no need to speedup SSD, but if you really must just minimize read/writes to the SSD by disabling features in OS and programs.
It's not "unsafe" to defrag an SSD, it's just bad for it over time if you do that a lot. As @reasonablePrivacy has mentioned, the SSD is slowed down just slightly if the System's metadata gets a bit too fragmented... you'll never notice it. SSD lifespan tests have shown that excessive WRITEs to the device will shorten its lifespan, BUT... that process takes a very long time to rear its ugly head. The testing has shown that the bottom-line devices can write up to 750+ terabytes before the device begins to show signs of wear. Some of the better tested devices have gone over a petabyte before those signs show up. If you look at the S.M.A.R.T. DATA your SSD offers and extrapolate out the current WRITE DATA to your device's time in service, you'll probably see 10+ years of service left before it shows signs of wear. An occasional DEFRAG will not really hurt the device and will help Windows with all that metadata fracturing... occasional is the operative word here, not constant. The more important process for your SSD is the Windows OPTIMIZATION process (W8-W10) to occur, also occasionally. This is the process that allows the SSD to "clean" itself up, internally and make things more efficient. It may also be accomplished under Windows 7 with the 3rd party FREE standalone (no installation required) tool called SSDtool.
I like and use Tweak-SSD as it will set your system up and you can turn off things that doesn't need to be used. The paid version allows you to manually TRIM your SSD's if you want to. http://www.totalidea.com/products/tweak-ssd/
I used to not defrag my SSDs. But when I do notice slowdowns. In W7P64 I use the builtin defrag. I Analyze 1st, If it's 15-10% fragged or more I defrag it. My system is snappier afterwards.
I have a Samsung 850EVO SSD which comes with a utility (Samsung Magician) with a "Performance Optimization" option (which I presume is a trimming operation). I typically run it after installing Microsoft's monthly roll-up patches and it seems to work well on my Win7 laptop. Isn't a similar utility provided by most SSD manufacturers? Happy New Year to all...
I use Glary Utilities Disk Defrag. It will warn you that you have an SSD but you can continue. Don't over do it.
TH, you apparently have Samsung SSDs so I'm curious as to why you prefer Tweak-SSD over Samsung Magician? Happy 2018
Defraggler has a optimize button for a ssd that i have never used or have i ever defragged my ssd. Is that the same as using these other tools for a ssd for performance.
It has more suggestions to shut things off and is easier than Magician and I don't like v5 of Magician so I stick with v4.9.7, and Happy New Years to you and everyone as well! Most may know that the newer SSD's cleanup after themselves so there no worries. From Samsung about the 850 Pro:http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/850pro/ Special Feature TRIM Support Yes S.M.A.R.T Support Yes GC (GARBAGE COLLECTION) Auto Garbage Collection Algorithm
I cannot find this option in Magician v5 - I also have an 850 EVO. UPDATE Looks like, from a few Google searches, Samsung got rid of it in v5 and offloaded the procedure to Win10. One of the posts I found https://www.custompcreview.com/articles/samsung-magician-5-overview/ 2nd update: Well, even though Magician v5 told me there were no updates available I found v5.1 on the Samsung web site and after installing it lo and behold, there the option is... 3rd update: But using the option only opens the "optimize drives" GUI in Win10...
I predict within 5 years the GC (GARBAGE COLLECTION) Auto Garbage Collection Algorithm will be found to be a security risk.