What is the best policy for defragmenting the drives ?

ceo54 said:

I didn't quite get what you were trying to say, can you elucidate please ?

Defragging an SSD uses up write life. Doing that often enough will render the SSD unable to write anymore. When an SSHD, also known as a hybrid HDD, is defragged, both the SSD portion and the HDD portion will be defragged. Since the SSD portion is so small, it doesn't take too many defraggings to seriously compromise or destroy its right capacity.

Thanks LadyF for pinch hitting, I am at school, so participation is hit or miss. My two laptops each have a hybrid 2TB, wanted to try them out.

Hybrids had a brief shining moment when SSDs were still new and cost far more than they do now. Now, SSD prices are low enough, it's usually more economical to use a small, separate SSD for the OS and programs and an HDD to store data on and is far more versatile. It simplifies backups and, over all, gives better performance (not to mention allows defragging the HDD).

SSD prices have come down enough, using them for both the OS/programs and data is often practical, especially in smaller computers that need lighter weight and lower power consumption, such as laptops and, even more so, little one drive notebooks like I have. I run 2TB SSDs in my notebooks.

monkeylove said:

Win 7 is supposed to be able to detect an SSD and use only trim. There are some details here:

Don’t Waste Time Optimizing Your SSD, Windows Knows What Its Doing

I think it should do the same for the flash drive portion of hybrids.

The latest versions of various third-party software should be able to do the same.

About costs, according to this article, the price is still high: $40 to $60 for a 1TB 2.5" HD vs. $125 or more for an SSD of similar size and form.


SSD vs. HDD Storage Device - Lab Tested Reviews by PCMag.com

The problem is SSHDs (hybrids) are seen by Win 7 as one volume, not two, separate volumes, so both the HDD portion and the SSD portion get defragged the same as an HDD.

HP PCs - Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive FAQs | HP(R) Customer Support

defragger probably will not see hybrid as two drives, best to avoid such utilities

monkeylove said:

I'm referring to a hybrid hard drive where the flash drive cache appears as a separate drive. At least that's what I've seen in one Win 7 machine.

Do you remember what the drive was and who made it? The only one like that I remember was made by WD and it was a monumental flop due to slow SSD speeds and size, and the need for special software to be able to separately see the SSD and HDD portions of the drive. As far as I know, it's no longer made.