Looking For Recommendation For "defraggler" for SSD

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  1. Posts : 93
    W7 Home 64 / W7 Pro 64
       #1

    Looking For Recommendation For "defraggler" for SSD


    My Machine has slowed down since I installed the SSD some time ago - I suspect the files need "defraggling". I'd appreciate a recommendation for a "defraggler" (or whatever name the software calls it) that works well and is safe and won't damage/lose files.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 106
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1
       #2

    The answer is short and simple — do not defrag a solid state drive.
    At best it won't do anything, at worst it does nothing for your performance and you will use up write cycles.

    - - - Updated - - -

    The answer is short and simple — do not defrag a solid state drive.
    At best it won't do anything, at worst it does nothing for your performance and you will use up write cycles.

    Taken from PCGAMER:
    SSDs are now the storage of choice for enthusiasts and gamers alike. Some would even say they are the most impactful upgrade for your PC. They are smaller, faster, and have gotten much more reliable over the years. But do you need to defrag them? The short answer is no. The long answer is absolutely no.

    Before we expand on this too much, it's worth explaining why defragging is beneficial for traditional hard drives.

    HDDs operate using a physical spinning platter, with drive 'heads' that have to be positioned over the correct data. (Think of it like a vinyl record player, only much faster.) Data is stored on different sections of the platter in sequentially ordered blocks. In order to access a block for reading or writing, the drive heads need to be positioned over the correct sector, and then the desired block must pass under the drive heads. Combined, these two steps give the access time for a drive. For a typical 7,200 rpm drive, the rotational latency is 4.17ms (half of one rotation) and the seek time is around 8-12ms.

    With usage, data that was once sequentially ordered on a drive can become split across different blocks. This is called fragmentation, and as this happens the drive heads need to access the data from two (or more—sometimes many more) different sections of the platter, drastically decreasing performance.

    Defragmentation reorders the blocks of data sequentially and attempts to restore your hard drive's original performance. After the initial seek time to find the start of the data, everything after that is just sequentially pulling data from one block after another.

    The reason there's no point defragmenting an SSD is that there's no seek time or rotational latency. Instead, SSDs access flash memory (NAND) at much higher speeds, typically less than 50us—that's 50 microseconds, or compared to a typical hard drive with a 15ms average access time, about 300 times faster. But there's more to the story than just speed.

    SSDs don't just eliminate moving parts and improve access times, they also have built-in wear-leveling algorithms. The reason is that the NAND gates wear out over time, and are rated in program/erase cycles. Each cell in a modern SSD can be written to about 3,000 times before the cell stops working properly. To avoid individual cells that contain frequently changed data from wearing out faster, SSDs track usage of each block, and the wear-leveling algorithms ensure that over time, the cells on an SSD are written a similar number of times. There are also extra blocks that aren't user-accessible that the algorithms can use to keep the drives from wearing out.

    Because of the way SSDs work, not only does data not become fragmented but running a defragmentation utility will actually burn through the program/erase cycles and potentially cause premature 'death' of your SSDs. It's not something that would happen quickly—a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo as an example is rated for 150TB of total writes, or the equivalent of writing to every block of the drive at least 300 times. With typical users writing less than 20GB per day on average, it would require more than 20 years to burn through 150TB of writes. But defragmenting could easily write hundreds of GB of data, which would wear out an SSD much faster.

    The good news is that any defragmentation program worth its salt should also detect the presence of an SSD and warn you not to defrag it. In the case of Windows Defrag, when it detects an SSD, it simply gives you the option of Optimizing the Trim, which frees up segments that have been marked as erased—something that it will do automatically once a week anyway. So no, there's no need to defrag an SSD.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 0
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #3

    Like what was mentioned, you don't defrag an SSD type of drive or any flash type of drive like NVMe, SD cards, USB, etc. The chief reason is that because you're using a chip to store data, there is no more such thing as fragmented data. In the sense of a platter hard drive that is where data is all over the disk. In a chip-based hard drive like an SSD the data is just "there" instantly. There is no fragmentation to worry about. In fact, I believe Windows 10 on up now disables defrag ability if it detects a flash based drive. Again, it's because both technologies are vastly different.

    If you have a slow drive it could be software on your computer, Windows or the drive is not performing the way it used to. Especially if you never over provisioned the SSD to begin with.

    When you install a new flash based drive like an SSD or NVMe drive you over provision by at least 10%. This means that if you have say a 1 TB SSD/NVMe drive, you mark a section of the drive as unallocated to the tune of 100GB. You can use Windows Disk Manager for this. Without getting into all of the details, this allows better garbage collection in the drive thereby increasing its life cycle. Here's some Info.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 93
    W7 Home 64 / W7 Pro 64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thank you subyroo and F22 Simpilot for your explanations and for saving me from doing damage to the SSD. I expect that the over-provisioning setting has to be done before putting data on the SSD, though I'm not sure how that would work as the Samsung utility copies everything right away.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 13
    32
       #5

    does it still need some trim or smth or does that happen automatically somehow via the same defrag tool in win10? aka the defrag tool has been replaced with a trim tool in the same "defrag" interface?
    or is it just called "optimization" and that is still the same thing as defrag then?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 0
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #6

    TRIM is a command invoked via Windows...

    Yes, it's automatic.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Let me rephrase that. It's automatic generally when the computer has been idle for some time.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 13
    32
       #7

    is it the same thing as the defrag tool or something else and separate somewhere?
    so if i disable the defrag and "optimization" in there, it will still do its trim commands somewhere at some point?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 0
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #8

    What is Trim? | Crucial.com



    SSD Trim support

    Microsoft® Windows® from 7 forward supports Trim. It runs automatically in the background unless you have turned it off. You can run it manually or check that Trim is enabled by looking at the Properties of the drive, then selecting Tools, and Optimize.

    And to let everyone know. Optimize is a feature in Windows 10.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 642
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #9

    NewW7User said:
    .... I expect that the over-provisioning setting has to be done before putting data on the SSD, though I'm not sure how that would work as the Samsung utility copies everything right away.
    Over-provisioning deliberately sets aside some of the SSD's capacity so that the wear levelling algorithms will work efficiently. About 10% is sufficient.

    But any free space will do, as long as you don't fill the SSD you shouldn't need over-provisioning.
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 0
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #10

    I always over-provisionin by 10% because I'm a data pack rat. LOL
      My Computer


 
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