SSD (solid state) Drives

[djwhite077]

I have a solid state drive on my newest computer. After running defrag and finding 29% fragmentation, I decided to defrag. Got a message saying that running defraggler would decrease overall drive life significantly because it was a solid state drive. A couple of questions: 1) is this true and 2) why would Piriform design it to work this way on newer computers with solid state drives and 3) should I do so anyway? I'm frankly reluctant to run it knowing that it will harm my drive or reduce it's life in any way. Makes me wonder why I would even want to use it on this computer, even though. I have used it for many years on others.

[Augeas]

1) Yes

2) Why not?

3) No

 

It isn't generally appreciated that defraggers don't look at the disk. They look at the file tables (MFT) and identify how many files have clusters that are in multiple non-contiguous logical fragments. That's your 29%. On an SSD the logical cluster number is mapped by the SSD controller to a physical page which is unknown to the O/S and can be anywhere on the device, and indeed can change at any time. So files, even those with one logically contiguous extent, are already physically fragmented, and will always be so. Due to the access method of flash devices, fragmentation is not generally a problem.

 

So an SSD defrag is about 99% a waste of time and is detrimental to the device's life. By consolidating the clusters in the MFT it may reduce the number of I/Os being issued, but that's a negligible gain especially considering the stress on the device.

[Willy2]

1) Yes, it does.

2) In spite of the warning people seems to want to defrag an SSD anyway.

3) My advice: Don't defrag your SSD. It's already much faster than a hard disk.

[kroozer]

And here's a claim by gurus exdeath and taltamir that a defragged SSD is unobtainable and illusory.

[Augeas]

Yeah, that's what I said, but I'm not a recognised guru.

[kroozer]

. . . I'm not a recognised guru.

Au contraire. Your wisdom excels here (my opinion).

 

As intended, the link to those techies agreed with your explanation, using alternate phrasing.