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    SSD owners: Do you defrag your SSD drive?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Helpmyfriend, Aug 28, 2010.

  1. Helpmyfriend

    Helpmyfriend Notebook Evangelist

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    Is it needed for SSD? I was told its not and that it actually wrecks the drive? :confused:
     
    Helpmyfriend, Aug 28, 2010
    #1
  2. jedisolo

    jedisolo Notebook Deity

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    No it's not.
     
    jedisolo, Aug 28, 2010
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  3. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    It is not needed as the access time is roughly constant through the drive regardless of how random the accesses are.

    Defrag on an SSD accomplishes nothing (since the drive itself rearranges data as needed) other than wasting write cycles on the NAND (shortening life).
     
    Greg, Aug 28, 2010
    #3
  4. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

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    A normal defrag where files are defragged is detrimental to SSD's.

    A 'consolidate free space' defrag like PerfectDisk 11 is capable of helps the SSD have contiguous free blocks so that is beneficial as the controller is dealing in full 4K blocks for writes (instead of partial blocks when the free space is fragmented).

    On my SandForce based Inferno, I was a little wary and more than a little surprised to see that running this type of defragment option (consolidate free space) made a noticeable improvement in the 'feel' of the SSD.
     
    tilleroftheearth, Aug 28, 2010
    #4
  5. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    No, it's not necessary - I don't defrag my X-25M. Windows 7 disables automatic defragmentation of installed SSDs by default .
     
    MidnightSun, Aug 28, 2010
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  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Yes I noticed that too, but it leaves Scheduled Defragmentation on.
     
    Phil, Aug 28, 2010
    #6