Defrag SSD?

[primuspaul]

Should I degrag my new SSD? It is working on a partition copied from an old HDD, which likely was fragmented. If so, how should I defrag it? What software?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Probably not. SSDs rarely need defragging. They are designed to handle fragmentation much better than HDDs. In fact, defragging them too often will reduce their life. You can check the level of any fragmentation by pressing the Windows key, typing in "defrag" (without the quotes), then clicking on Disk Defragmenter. Click on the SSD, then click on "Analyze disk". Anything less than, say, 20% does NOT need defragging. I've been running my SSD for a bit over 2.5 years and I've defragged it only once, back in April. I probably won't defrag for another two years, if then.

 

[primuspaul]

Probably not. SSDs rarely need defragging. They are designed to handle fragmentation much better than HDDs. In fact, defragging them too often will reduce their life. You can check the level of any fragmentation by pressing the Windows key, typing in "defrag" (without the quotes), then clicking on Disk Defragmenter. Click on the SSD, then click on "Analyze disk". Anything less than, say, 20% does NOT need defragging. I've been running my SSD for a bit over 2.5 years and I've defragged it only once, back in April. I probably won't defrag for another two years, if then.

It's at 7%. Another question: I went to the scheduler and the C: drive is missing from the list. Is this intentional by Windows 7? It still appears on the main screen where I an select it and force a defrag (supposedly).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Probably not. SSDs rarely need defragging. They are designed to handle fragmentation much better than HDDs. In fact, defragging them too often will reduce their life. You can check the level of any fragmentation by pressing the Windows key, typing in "defrag" (without the quotes), then clicking on Disk Defragmenter. Click on the SSD, then click on "Analyze disk". Anything less than, say, 20% does NOT need defragging. I've been running my SSD for a bit over 2.5 years and I've defragged it only once, back in April. I probably won't defrag for another two years, if then.

It's at 7%. Another question: I went to the scheduler and the C: drive is missing from the list. Is this intentional by Windows 7? It still appears on the main screen where I an select it and force a defrag (supposedly).

You're fine. 7% is nowhere close to being enough to worry about for an SSD. And yes, the SSD not being in the scheduler is intentional. Keep in mind that frequently defragging a SSD will dramatically reduce the write life of the SSD. There is a myth that SSDs never need defragging but the truth is they will need it occasionally. Mine gets heavy use and it's needed it only once in two years.