Pardon me if my question sounds a bit noob
but i do need to clarify a few questions about the SSD
we do know what is an SSD but have we really wonder how it really works?
I do know it contains a bank or array of NAND flash chips which work similar to a EEPROM which stores data in bits and when data is erased, all the bits will return to 0. Am I right? Or i missed some points? How the data is stored in the NANDs is determined by the controller which either the most common SandForce controller for Corsair,OCZ or Samsung in house designed con troller for its 840 series. Then there is a small amount of RAM for the SSD internal caching.
now this is the part which i need a few good answers for.
I do hear that defragging a SSD is a straight no-no as it will slowly kill the SSD with all the read write cycles and I do know SSD have a certain amount of read write cycles of estimated around 100k read writes before it shows sign of failure. One guy point out to me that defrag will not slowly kill off the SSD but slow it down. Who is correct in this question about defragging SSD?
I check out many tech forums and articles and they all seem to point to my first reason why not to defrag. Is there anyway to prove this reasoning?
Windows 7 have a function that it will auto defrag the drives every month which need to be disabled but by default should be disabled if it detects a SSD installed or the OS is sitting on a SSD. But Windows 8 comes with TRIM which support safe delete of unused data.
Another reason why not to defrag a SSD is because there is not much advantages of defragging a SSD when there is virually 0 seek access time unlike the normal HDD which need the read write head to move to the correct position to access the data. But in the SSD, the data is access randomly and there is no moving parts in it so it should last longer than the HDD.
I do know defrag is a function where it arranges the fragmented bits of file together into one continuous bit instead of scattering across the HDD. Defrag is the technical term of compacting files and not to be confused with compression. Defrag main advantage is to speed up accessing data to a certain extend so the the read write head does not need to move all over the platter to search this particular fragmented file.
Please do help enlighten me on this thanks
Regards
Dragoon20005
Question 1/Answer 1: DO NOT DEFRAG A SSD!!! Because the SSD's use a type of flash memory, it is not going to last forever. Usually they are rated at several hundred of thousands of reads and writes performing a defrag or any other type of maintance that randomly reads, writes, rewrites, and whatever will use up several thousands of its cycles. Especially considering SSD's dont get fragmented.
Statement 2/Confirmation 2: That is correct, partially. Windows 7 also supports TRIM I belive. And Windows 7 and 8 are smart enough to NOT defragment a SSD automatically.
Statement 3/Confirmation 3: Essentially. All fragmentation is, is blocks of data that arnt full. For example you create a word document that is only 2kb in size and the cluster size on your HDD is 4kb. The file is like having a 2 page paper, and the cluster size is like having a 4 page binder. You can put those 2 pages in that 4 page binder just fine and put that binder in a cabnet and access it later. But when you need to access all 20 documents for your end of the year to turn them in, you will have to access 20 binders. If you defragmented it, its like you took that 4 page binder and put 2 of your reports in it (each report being 2 pages big). Now you only have 10 binders instead of 20, but your holding the same ammount of reports. It just is easier to manage and uses less space. This becomes INCREASINGLY important when you refer to things like programs that rely on 100's of small files (usually only a few kb in size).
I hope this is somewhat helpful. Also check out this video Wendel did a long time ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA2kEoXpI3s
DO NOT DEFRAG A SSD!!! Because the SSD's use a type of flash memory, it is not going to last forever.
HDD's also don't last forever. It's true that they HAD problems with the number of read/write cycles being low but now they are about as good as HDD's so defragging a SDD is as harmfull as defragging a HDD. You just won't have any benefits on a SSD because fragmentation doesn't matter when there are no mechanical parts but it still gets fragmented.
What happens when you delete a file is dependent on the file system you use but typically it just removed a reference to the file but doesn't touch the content at all. Same is true for HDD's.
Exactly. And unless you get a very expensive SSD this isn’t 100% true, the read write cycles are still much lower than potentially on a HDD. Granted under normal use most are rated to last for 10-12 years, which is much longer than the life of a PC anyways.
To the above point about HDD's having a life cycle this is 100% true, and its fairly short on normal grade drives because 9/10 times the mechanical parts of the drive will fail before the actual magnetic parts. So there is no point dumping a lot of money and technology into the platters themselves if the spindle or actuator are going to always die in half the life span.
Everything I said still holds true tho.