Arguing with a friend about defragmentation and later finding yourself defragmented your SSD?
Dont know what you did?
Or dont know whatll happen?
Or youre about to defragment your SSD right now?
I dont know your case.
But hey, dont worry.
I have been using and programming for computers since the 90s, and I have done this multiple times.
I know exactly what happens when you defrag your SSD, every bit of it.
I will explain technical and non-technical terms to understand which one makes you comfortable.
check that you read till the end.
So, what happens if you defrag an SSD?
If you defrag an SSD, it will reduce the degree of fragmentation.
Seems pretty cool, right?
But if this helps you with space and storage, why is it not vastly recommended?
Something Lets dig dive and find out everything regarding this issue.
preserve your time and make the best out of it.
Its perfectly alright if you wish to defragyourSSD or not.
But it depends on whetheryou should do it or not.
Before going through that section, first, check on you know the following basics.
So, What is data fragmentation?
Data fragmentation is the method used to split the data.
So, all the information from a single file will be stored in a row of sequential platters.
When the drive fills up, large pieces of data have to be fragmented to fit.
In short, this sums data fragmentation up.
So, What is defragmentation?
Defragmentation improves the drives speed and efficiency as well.
It depends on what your need and work are.
Also, check out our experts recommendedfastest PCIE 4.0 SSDs.
So, do you really want to defrag your SSD?
You know what, I dont care what your answer is.
But suddenly, for any reason, you wish to delete the second and the third program.
So, you delete it.
The controller will let the CPU know that cells 114, 115, 116, 117 are empty.
As an SSD has no physical moving parts, there is no speed penalty when you use yours.
SSDs enter the data directly from the chips like RAM.
So, defragmenting an SSD wont speed up in the tiniest bit, or maybe a little, say.000001seconds.
Would you do it?
Or maybe you should know a little bit more?
I think you should.
How Often Should I Defrag my SSD?
People always tell me that they think their Windows miraculously defrag their SSDs and whatnot.
So, be clear about this misconception people have.
If you have a similar question like this one, help yourself by reading this.
Is Windows defragging my SSD?
Windows isnt defragging your SSD or anyones at all, yet it optimizes the SSD.
Even defrag is disabled by Windows, and both Windows and Mac OS run optimization in the background.
Just see to it you have enabled the TRIM command.
If you defrag your SSD, there is a strong possibility of tearing it apart.
Defragging an SSD will at least reduce its lifespan.
They are not like HDDs.
They are designed to be low maintenance while giving you remarkable performance over HDDs.
Note: You may get confused with the defrag.exe while it is one of Windows core system files.
Does Defragmenting A Solid-State Drive Cause Data Loss?
As SSDs have no read-write head assembly, file fragmentation is a non-issue.
So you dont need to defrag your SSD to improve its performance.
An SSD can be too fragmented at a particular point.
Defragmenting an SSD may not cause any immediate data loss.
But if you defrag manually, itll make your machine less reliable.
So, defragmentation will harm your media and your SSDs lifespan.
So, dont be dumbfounded if defragmenting your SSD causes massive data loss.
Conclusion
If you ask me, what would you do if you were in my position?
But reading this article, I wouldnt defrag my SSD at all.
Whether you defrag your SSD or not, its up to you at the end of the day.
But if this article helps you by any means, let me know.
