How Often Should I Trim a SSD Drive?

[bikeman25]

Have Windows Optimize & Defrag app set to Monthly, is that Optimal, or should i switch it back to Weekly and leave it there as it's default,  I tend to use the Systems with the SSD drives daily, for approximately 10-16 hours a day, laptop a little less, probably 4-5 hours or 6 on that one.   

 

Advise Welcome or Suggestions for better system maintenance software wise

 

 

[shockz]

Never.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I've never manually trimmed a SSD or messed with the auto schedule either personally. Not sure any of that needs manual intervention anymore.

[bikeman25]

For a while i was checking and doing it manually if Monthly Schedule didn't trigger, like sometimes it didn't for some reason,   Set both systems back to Weekly for the Optimize and Defrag schedule now, and will see how that goes, hopefully better than previous schedule, and systems will continue running perfectly

 

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by bikeman25

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

41 minutes ago, bikeman25 said:

For a while i was checking and doing it manually if Monthly Schedule didn't trigger, like sometimes it didn't for some reason,   Set both systems back to Weekly for the Optimize and Defrag schedule now, and will see how that goes, hopefully better than previous schedule, and systems will continue running perfectly

 

Ummmm You should not be "defragging" a SSD drive. Is that even an option? All you would be doing is putting extra wear and tear on the drive.

 

There is also no reason to be messing with the trim/optimize settings.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Good Bot, Bad Bot

[neufuse Veteran]

considering this all happens automatically if you have a normal SSD firmware in the background while the drive sits idle you really shouldn't ever have to...

 

there are TRIM testers out there that you can see this they make a file then delete it then show you what that address still has in it over time and you can see it vanish back to blank blocks...

 

Garbage collection / TRIM happens automatically on a normal SSD now days

[Louisifer]

8 minutes ago, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

Ummmm You should not be "defragging" a SSD drive. Is that even an option? All you would be doing is putting extra wear and tear on the drive.

 

There is also no reason to be messing with the trim/optimize settings.

The program still has defrag in its name as it will defrag/trim based on the media it is optimising, he isnt defragging the ssd. I dont think any program written in the last 10 years would allow it.

[bikeman25]

Nope it only Trims the SSD if i ran it manually in the past,  doesn't say it's defragging or anything,  Just Says Trimming the times i did run it manually on the systems

 

Learning now that theres no reason to mess with the scheduled settings,  i did in the past, but i probably read some outdated info on SSDs, and changed it on the systems without thinking back then

 

I still limit writes to The SSDs a bit, but not as paranoid on that aspect either than i was when i got my first one in 2016

 

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

9 minutes ago, Louisifer said:

The program still has defrag in its name as it will defrag/trim based on the media it is optimising, he isnt defragging the ssd. I dont think any program written in the last 10 years would allow it.

The utility is called "Defragment and Optimize Drives" but when you "click" on it with just an SSD there is no mention of defrag any where. The window title says just "Optimize Drives" so I guess the OP is ad-libbing that.

 

EDIT: OP confirmed.

[neufuse Veteran]

30 minutes ago, bikeman25 said:

Nope it only Trims the SSD if i ran it manually in the past,  doesn't say it's defragging or anything,  Just Says Trimming the times i did run it manually on the systems

 

Learning now that theres no reason to mess with the scheduled settings,  i did in the past, but i probably read some outdated info on SSDs, and changed it on the systems without thinking back then

 

I still limit writes to The SSDs a bit, but not as paranoid on that aspect either than i was when i got my first one in 2016

 

I highly doubt the SSD only does trim if ran manually, SSD's do this automatically within a specific period of time after a block is marked as not needed... windows can't see this, it doesn't show up in the optimize / defrag window...

 

What is your SSD's model? If you let us know this we can tell you if it is a newer one that has automatic TRIM / GC

[xrobwx71]

Never. Windows does a great job at managing this. Let it.

[bikeman25]

I have Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB  M.2((boot drive)),  and Samsung 860 Evo 1TB Game Drive, and 4TB WD Black Storage Drive inside Desktop

 

Previously had a Samsung 860 EVO 250GB Boot Drive in Desktop, and 1TB WD Black storage drive that used to store most of the games, and also media files

 

and Gaming Laptop  128GB M.2 Nvme SSD(Boot SSD), and 1TB Hitachi Hard drive as storage

 

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

15 hours ago, bikeman25 said:

Have Windows Optimize & Defrag app set to Monthly, is that Optimal, or should i switch it back to Weekly and leave it there as it's default,  I tend to use the Systems with the SSD drives daily, for approximately 10-16 hours a day, laptop a little less, probably 4-5 hours or 6 on that one.   

 

Advise Welcome or Suggestions for better system maintenance software wise

 

 

It was my understanding the SSDs don't need defrag - and it shortens life

 

From Crucial:

 

To summarize, do not defrag an SSD

The answer is short and simple — do not defrag a solid state drive. At best it won't do anything, at worst it does nothing for your performance and you will use up write cycles. ... 

[+Random Stranger Subscriber¹]

Edit..

I also have similar setup

 

 

 

I never do anything. Even on backup HDDs for data

 

 

Days of using HDDs as prime drive that you do need to defrag after heavy use are long gone