Defraggler 2.22 detecting my HDD's as SSD's

[renerivera]

I'm writing this Dec 28, 2019. i've used Defraggler for over a decade. now it detects my external HDD's as SDD's and doesn't work properly.

[mta]

You can read into this (sadly) their priority lies else where.

you only have to look at the last release dates for their products to confirm that.  And the number and age of other threads on this topic.

[ArchAngle]

Lots of people are now reporting this and similar problems with Speccy too. Me as well.

See my post here about that and likely explanation:-

https://forum.piriform.com/topic/42888-the-wrong-temperature-thread/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-313660

Put simply Piriform products were once updated regularly and highly reliable but, as many faithful users predicted, since AVAST bought it in 2017 things have slipped with all the effort going into CCleaner, about which I could say more but I will not. Speccy has effectively not been updated since then, Recuva likewise.

Defraggler was last given an update in May 2018 the only one since 2016 and the only one since AVAST took over.

How they can get away with trying to sell "Pro" versions of what are apparently the same outdated software without making it clear to new users that these types of problems are only going to increase is a very good question.

If you use older OS, software and hardware circa 2017 then they are all still great products well worth using but otherwise unless AVAST/Piriform get there fingers out and do something they will become increasingly irrelevant to users of new software and hardware.

Updating Speccy seems like it might be a fairly simple thing as the GUI is already excellent and really does not need any work. The only update necessary would be to replace what appears to be the outdated cpuid.com (cpuz143) driver. That has been updated regularly, currently v1.91 (cpuz149), so perhaps AVAST just do not want to pay CPUID EURL a French based company, further developers' fees. 

 

 

 

[ArchAngle]

I had not checked Defraggler on my most recent PC build until today as it is so recent I still have very little on either of the two HDDs; primary drive is a SSD.

But doing some new year maintenance and I thought I might as well use it.

Same problem as reported by others here, both the HDDs reported as SSDs. Version 2.22.33.995 is indeed the culprit. So much for the 'vital' importance of keeping your software up to date; I installed all up to date software when I finished the build and it is not the only program I've had to remove/roll back because of similar issues.

I know the version of Defraggler on one of my other PCs does not have this problem so I'm going to uninstall the v2.22.33.995 and reinstall Defraggler using one of the old installers I've archived for problems like this.

If anyone else here has had the same HDD/SSD misreporting and wishes to revert to an older version too it is likely you can find an old Defraggler installer at FileHippo but make sure it is that older version selected because sometimes the old version links at those archive sites download the latest one instead.

EDIT 1

Interesting. When I actually checked my Defraggler version on the other PC which is practically the same: identical SSD primary drive and two similarly matched storage HDDs ie. same make and size as those on the first PC. Those are the HDDs which Defraggler v2.22.33.995 are reporting as SSDs on that PC but are reporting correctly as HDDs on this one with.............................what turns out to be exactly the same Defraggler version!

I had to think about this and I'm going to test this theory later and report back the result.

The only difference I can think of is that on the first PC v2.22.33.995 was a completely fresh install on a virgin PC build. On the other machine that version was installed as an update to the previous version, likely v2.21.0.993, and that similarly installed as an update and so on back to when the PC was first used in 2016.

So my theory is that something is wrong with v2.22.33.993 but when the previous version was updated there was something already there that was not updated because it does not normally need to be.

I'm going to try thoroughly uninstalling v2.22.33.995 on the first PC, re-installing Defraggler from the older version installer I have, v2.21.0.993, and then updating that to v2.22.33.995.    

EDIT 2

Tried that but no joy. I did every combination of old and v2.22.33.995 install I could think of on the newer PC using both v2.21.0.993 and an even earlier v2.20. I tried updating by fresh downloads of v2.22.33.995 from 'Piriform' and third party sites and the older versions all freshly downloaded too. I used the same older installers to incrementally update the installation too ie. from v2.20 > v2.21>v2.22 rebooting the whole PC between installs. Same problem recurred when v2.22 was installed.  

I also created a portable version of v2.22.33.995 and ran that but it produced the same HDDs misreported as SSDs issue as does the installed version. So what the hell is causing that and why can my other PC (see attachment) use v2.22.33.995 without any similar trouble? Speccy too misreports the same two HDDs as SSDs on this PC but on the other absolutely correct.

As said earlier they're very similar set ups, Win 7 Pro 64bit OS, both Gigabyte MBs, 3rd gen Intel CPU on this PC, 4th gen Intel CPU on the other. The actual SDDs and two HDDs in each are identical makes and sizes the only difference is the partitioning of one of the HDDs. I can not think why there would be this difference in reporting. If anything you'd think it would be the other way round as it is the one with the 3rd generation CPU and slightly older MB that is misreporting the HDDs as SSDs. Mysterious - I hope somebody can come up with an explanation.

However as it is apparently the only solution for anyone having this problem is, as others have said here, to install Defraggler v2.21.0.993 instead. Remember to go into the settings and untick the Settings > Options: update check too.

BTW if you're playing around with either older or newer Defraggler or other Piriform installers be very careful. Some come with a Chrome browser install pre-checked and the latest one similarly 'offers' the latest version of CCleaner in a pop-up. Also with the v2.22.33.995 installer only use the "Custom" install option or you will likely get it replacing Windows defragmenter too.

[jimkillian]

Been using Defraggler for many years. First time to visit the forum in years.

My external WD Passport drive is being reported as SSD when it's a normal 2.5" HDD. It's annoying, but I can still get it to defrag by clicking on the option drop-down next to where it offers "Optimize" and selecting defragment. Works fine, but takes an additional step.

This is a good example of why I don't bother paying for it, since the free version does everything that I need it to do. Why would I pay now for a program that is ignored by its producer?

Sad.

[OliverQueen]

Sorry for necromancing this thread but having exactly the same problem with latest version (at time of posting).

In the system that the issue is prevalent, there are two identical Western Digital 4TB spinning rust SMR (urghhh!!!) drives installed. One is detected as a HDD & the other as a SSD! Both are identical other than the serial numbers (running same firmware, same brand/type SATA cables (have tried swapping them around as well), etc). 

The issue seems to be completely random as the other systems I have Defraggler/Speccy installed on correctly identify the drive types in them. My first thought was because this system is running Windows Server 2019 x64 Standard Edition, but after setting up another Windows Server install on another machine that is due to be deployed on my home network as a dedicated Media Server (I have several licenses here for it so may as well make use of them!), but all the HDD's in that machine are detected correctly using the exact same version of Defraggler & same settings for the roll out of it. All the drives are connected to the onboard SATA controllers (4 x Intel & 2 x ASMEDIA) with the misread HDD tried on both controllers to see if that was the issue (both are currently connected to SATA1 & SATA2 on the Intel controller). The boot drive is a SATA SSD (Samsung 840 series) & that is detected as a SSD correctly & the other drives connected are recognised as HDD's - so just this one drive that is detected incorrectly. No other drives have been connected to the system since the OS install apart from the ones installed in it already, which rules out an older drive specification being detected on the port instead of a replaced drives correct specs.

The only thing I can think of is that these SMR spinning WD drives support TRIM (even though they are HDD's but that is due to being SMR rather than CMR) & that is confusing the algorithm used in Defraggler/Speccy, but as 2 identical drives with same date of manufacture on them are being detected as both types of drive, then that cannot be the issue. Both drives are configured identically as well so not as if one of the drives has TRIM disabled therefore being detected correctly. According to the specifications for the drive, the model does not have any other memory than the 256MB cache so they are not hybrid drives with NAND flash prefetch cache like some of the spinning HDD's (mostly 2.5" drives but these are 3.5") that came out around the time that SATA SSD's started to become more available. They are also OEM model drives & not shucked externals (the only shucked external 3.5" drives used are detected correctly as well on all the systems here)

Other software such as CrystalDiskInfo, CrystalDiskMark, HWINFO, HWMonitor, etc all detect the drive correctly as a HDD so it is strictly a Piriform issue. I did have a license that covered all Piriform software Pro versions with exact same results, so even that is not the issue & the reason why I did not continue with the Pro license as not going to pay money for software that has had the exact same issue for a number of years now (5 years going from the start date of this thread!). Maybe if it worked correctly, I would pay for the Pro licenses.

Edited August 10, 2023 by OliverQueen

[Andavari]

On 10/08/2023 at 07:32, OliverQueen said:

One is detected as a HDD & the other as a SSD!

 

Sometimes if uninstalling Defraggler, then reinstalling it the detection will be correct after the reinstall, weird but sometimes that works.

Same goes for their other software too which can also have the incorrect detection such as CCleaner stating an HDD is an SSD and subsequently warns you when attempting securely wiping free space.