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SSDs Don’t Need Defragmentation

Thanks to the way SSDs work, the effects of file fragmentation aren’t nearly as pronounced. An SSD doesn’t take long to access data from any location compared to another. In fact, if different pieces of data are stored in memory chips using different memory channels, it might even be faster to retrieve the total data since the bandwidth of multiple channels and chips are combined.

While you certainly can run a defragmentation routine on your SSD, it’s unlikely you’ll notice any difference in performance. Plus, there are potential drawbacks you should be aware of.

Defragmentation Can Be Bad News For Your SSD

Defragmentation is not recommended for SSDs because it can potentially decrease the performance and lifespan of the drive. This is because SSDs have a limited number of write cycles, and defragmentation can use up a significant portion of these cycles, resulting in reduced performance over time.

In addition, defragmentation can be time-consuming, especially on larger SSDs. Due to how SSDs read and write data, asking the drive to essentially erase and rewrite itself can saturate its resources as it shuffles data to and from its internal cache as it writes to its memory cells.

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